Labor

The big day has arrived, November 29, 2008. At 7 am the water broke. Carrie woke up and I woke up shortly after and we had a quick discussion to see if that's what really happened. According to our class only 10% of people who go into labor have it start with their water breaking. Due to the risk of infection we are supposed to immediately get to the hospital. We got the dog fed, showered, packed and took off. We arrived and were admitted to triage at 10:15 am to confirm that the water did indeed break. We were questioned as to whether or not one of us wet the bed. We both looked at each other for confirmation and agreed neither of us wet the bed. We are house broke. We were in triage for about 45 minutes while they ran some tests and gave us some information about what to expect. It was pretty quiet being a Saturday on a holiday weekend. Fortunately our doctor was the doctor on call so Doctor Baker will deliver our baby, which is nice for Carrie.

At 11am we were moved up to labor and delivery and given lucky room #11. Carrie got comfortable in bed and an IV was started. I think the needle was the worst part. Her blood pressure fell a bit and she got a warm sensation, but then again so did I watching that needle getting poked around in there. I think the nurse was more worried about me. Apparently, a father-to-be earlier in the week took a header after watching that portion and broke his jaw ending up in the hospital across the street. I persevered and survived the initial IV. Carrie survived too. Carrie was hooked up with some antibiotics, pitocin because her water had broke six hours ago and she wasn't making as much progress as they wanted, and some fluids in preparation for the epidural. At about 3pm Carrie asked for the epidural. Surprisingly the epidural went through with out much fanfare. I wasn't watching the needles this time and either was she. The doctor was nice, cracking jokes, and was married to the attending nurse (sound familiar)? The procedure took about 10 minutes and the worst part according to Carrie was the weird sensation of "back cramping." From that point on Carrie was resting comfortably, or as one having contractions every 90 seconds can. At about 4pm she was dilated to 7 CMs and the nurse told us it wouldn't be long.

It's crazy seeing her hooked up to all the machines. She has 2 IV's going, a blood pressure cuff, a pulse monitor on her finger, a monitor measuring the contractions and a heartbeat monitor for the baby and she also has the epidural pump hooked up. The baby's heartbeat is actually really soothing and is making me sleepy. Carrie is on her way to taking a nap before the final rush to have this baby. "Move towards the light!"

The nurses have been great and we hope to have the baby before the shift change. Our current nurse, Penny, is the same one that checked us in in the triage area who happened to shift up to the labor and delivery section at the same time we were moving so we were able to keep her. I think anyone who has been in the hospital or known someone close to them in the hospital knows their quality of stay has more to do with the doctors and nurses then anything else. So far we've had a very positive experience with everyone. If you're having a baby come on down to St. Joe's Women's hospital conveniently located adjacent to Raymond James Stadium (which is where the Bucs take on the Saints tomorrow). We could potentially watch the game out of our recovery window depending on where they move us to next.

5pm and we just got checked again - 9 CMs. We are looking at maybe another hour or so before the "pushing" and the real fun begins. We just went over the baby names for one last moment of agreement. We agreed to continue to disagree. This kid still might be named Favrefour, we'll see in a few short hours. We have discussed Carrie's pushing abilities. Will she be a rookie or an old pro? She is a little nervous but is getting a lot of encouragement from the nurses and of course me. She just found the button that gives her a turbo boost of the epidural meds. Uh-oh. Does that thing have a fail safe stop button? Can you OD on epidural meds? She isn't too comfortable any more so I think this baby is coming sooner as opposed to later.

At 6:15pm we decided it was time to start pushing. The nurse came in and was very helpful and supportive. I didn't realize I was going to be such a part of the action. I am holding a leg and counting off the 3 10 counts per contraction. The doctor came in around 6:25 and was there for the majority of the pushing part so the three of us were in the room. Carrie did very well and hardly broke a sweat as she pushed our new bouncing baby boy into his new world. He was born at 7:20 eastern standard time on November 29, 2008. He weighed in at 8 pounds and 1 ounce, and was 21 inches and 1/4 long with long arms and legs and big hands and feet. He has a ton of long dark hair covering his head. I promise you this is the hairiest kid you will ever see. He should have a full head of hair for years to come. He is large and clearly going to be tall. His fingers and toes are so long. He's already sporting a size 6 for boys in shoes. I can already see the amount of shoes we are going to have to buy him as he continues to grow. He is above the 90th percentile according to the nurse that charted his height and weight. Due to his large size they are concerned about his blood sugar level being too low so he needs to be pricked in his foot every few hours to check it.

He has had a rude awakening after sliding down the tunnel of life. He receives medication for his eyes, a vitamin K shot in the thigh (with needle), the pin prick to his foot, some medication for his remaining cord to help it fall off and he's been rubbed down with towels to clean him up a bit. All of this while angrily screaming at anyone within ear shot. He then gets his first meal from mom, which is a learning experience for both mom and baby. Fortunately dad clocked 3.5 hours of breastfeeding class and has the certificate to prove it. I can coach from across the room. "No, you're doing it wrong. Use the "C" hold not the scissors hold!" Success after a few tries and the baby gulps down his first meal on the outside.

Once mom gets the use of her legs back long enough to be able to stand and walk around a bit they move us to a recovery room where we will stay for the next 48 hours. We are in room 220 and it's a smaller room then the delivery but we are looking forward to some shut eye. Carrie wants to name the baby so without further adieu...

We have decided to name him Quentin Joshua Spiegelhoff. We wanted to name him something unique and we hadn't made up our minds until a few hours after he found the light. Carrie likes Quinn for short and thinks we may call him that. We will figure it out. His middle name follows the tradition of the first name of the father being the middle name of the first born son in the Spiegelhoff family. I don't think too many people will be calling him QJ but we'll see. Q may be okay. He could be in the next Bond flick. Who knows? President Quentin Spiegelhoff? Take that foreign leaders!

It's been an exhausting, exhilarating, emotional day. Carrie did great and from the water breaking to son being born took about 12 hours. We're told that's pretty good. Carrie feels shockingly good but I think she will have a rough morning. We are getting some dinner for ourselves just after midnight and dying for a place to crash for a few hours. Baby Q is about to get his first bath. It's going to take a blow dryer to dry all that hair. Our kid came out a hippie! He whaled through the whole bathing experience and is currently trying to warm up. He'll get one more feeding before mom and baby settle in for the night. I, am hitting the sack. A great day and one we'll never forget. He came 13 days early and no one pegged a November due date in the baby pool but he was healthy and we are looking forward to being the best parents we can.