Aiden James Taylor was born on Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009 at 12:16pm. He weighed 6 lbs, 8 oz. at birth and was 18 1/2 in. long. It was love at first sight!
During the last couple weeks of my pregnancy, I had begun having high blood pressure along with swelling in my feet. My doctor took me off work on May 8th, and I began the eager waiting process. I had to check my blood pressure 3 times a day, and overall it was only a little high, until I'd go to my OB and then I'd have white-coat syndrome, get nervous, and my blood pressure would go up.
On Monday, June 1st, I went in for my last weekly OB appt, and my blood pressure was very high (I'm not sure exactly but it was definitely over 140/90), so my doctor said that they were going to induce me before it got any higher. My appointment was at 2pm at her office, and she asked me to meet her at the hospital at 4pm. At the hospital, Brandon met me, and they inserted a foley catheter which is supposed to cause you to dialate to 2 cm, and then the catheter just falls out. It was fairly easy and then they kept us for another 45 mins or so to monitor, and then told us to go home and get a good night's sleep and come back the next day to have the baby!
So we left and went from there to Subway for dinner. Well...... I started having contractions in Subway.... only an 1 and 1/2 hours after the foley catheter was put in!... (my OB had said the catheter may cause me to feel some mild contractions, but it probably wouldn't be much, so we were surprised at how fast they came on!) After Subway, we decided to get ice cream, and by this time they were actually starting to hurt pretty badly. Brandon was supposed to be playing hockey with the guys at church, and so we started back to the church so he could open up the church for them at 6:45pm. By this time in the evening, they were coming every 4-5 mins and were uncomfortable, so Brandon and I decided he shouldn't play hockey and we went home to try to get a good night of sleep. We had our hospital bags all packed and were all ready, so we were pretty excited! I made some calls and emails to family telling them Aiden would be born the next day, and then it was around 9PM on June 1st. We decided to go to bed since we probably wouldn't be getting much sleep for the next several weeks.
Well, that didn't happen. By 11pm contractions were coming every 3 mins, so we called the nurse at the hospital and she said we could come in if we thought we should. But we wanted to labor at home as long as possible. The contractions started getting more painful, and I was using a rice heating pack to ease the pain, but I couldn't sleep.
By about 2AM, contractions were coming every 1 and 1/2 to 2 mins and were very painful!!!!! I couldn't do anything by now, but pace the house, bend down over the table or counter when the contractions came, and take a warm bath, then shower to try to ease the pain. But since my doctor had said that the catheter is supposed to just fall out once you've dialated to 2 cm (which it normally does!), and since it hadn't come out, I just figured I was a wimp when it came to pain. I thought I still wasn't even 2 cm after all the labor I'd been doing all night. It was a rough night.
Finally after laboring all night at home, we called the hospital and they said to come in at 8AM (Tues, June 2nd). At this point I was kind of out of my mind, and the car ride to the hospital probably looked pretty funny to drivers next to us on the roads! We got checked in easily and went straight up to triage, where the nurses were waiting for us. We got right into the delivery room, and they hooked me all up with the fetal monitor.
All of a sudden, about a half hour after starting the pitocin (about 10am), the contractions started coming almost back to back and REALLY strong (from the pitocin).... and I suddenly needed that epidural very badly!! By this time I was already about 8 cm only 2 hours after coming into the hospital. Unfortunately the anesthesiologist was working on several patients at the same time and it was now delayed. I was kind of going crazy and screaming for Brandon to hunt down the anesthesiologist :). Finally, I got the epidural around 11AM. The nurse did a check to see how it was working though, and she tested different spots, saying I should feel pressure but not cold. I could still feel cold! I don't think it fully kicked in honestly. Very soon after, I started feeling A LOT of pressure, and they checked and I was 10cm and ready to push!!
I started pushing and the nurse asked if Brandon (who had been attempting to hold my hand/comfort me through all this) wanted to see the head!! At first he was apprehensive, but once he looked, he was absolutely amazed, and couldn't stop watching the whole process. He kept talking about all the hair on Aiden's head, and giving me a play-by-play, but I was not in a state of mind to really think about anything but pushing. There got to be a point in the last 2 pushes where I thought the pain was almost completely too unbearable, and I felt that all I could do was give up, but then one more push and all of a sudden Aiden was born!!!!! It was 12:16pm.
He arrived so quickly that my mom didn't even make it on time for his birth ... we'd been telling her there was no way he'd be born until Tues late afternoon or evening!
When Aiden came out, they immdiately put him on my chest, and I just cried tears of joy and Brandon and I just stared in awe at him. There is no other moment on earth like this!! Finally we got to meet him after 9 months of loving him on the inside. They took him again and did all his weight and stats, etc. and diapered him, put a hat on him, and then brought him back to us. A nurse helped me try to breast-feed him and he latched on and breastfed for about 5 mins. Then they left us alone for about 1/2 hour, and it was the most special time, just the three of us, that I will always remember... our new family of three! We just cuddled him and looked at all his little features and drank him in. He just kept looking up at me with his beautiful blue eyes, and I knew he knew that I was his mommy.
My mom arrived just about 45 mins after his birth and it was so wonderful to have her there. They took us to the room we'd stay in for the next two days, and Brandon started making calls to announce his arrival. Aiden got a little bath, and we dressed him in the outfit we'd brought for him.
During the last couple weeks of my pregnancy, I had begun having high blood pressure along with swelling in my feet. My doctor took me off work on May 8th, and I began the eager waiting process. I had to check my blood pressure 3 times a day, and overall it was only a little high, until I'd go to my OB and then I'd have white-coat syndrome, get nervous, and my blood pressure would go up.
On Monday, June 1st, I went in for my last weekly OB appt, and my blood pressure was very high (I'm not sure exactly but it was definitely over 140/90), so my doctor said that they were going to induce me before it got any higher. My appointment was at 2pm at her office, and she asked me to meet her at the hospital at 4pm. At the hospital, Brandon met me, and they inserted a foley catheter which is supposed to cause you to dialate to 2 cm, and then the catheter just falls out. It was fairly easy and then they kept us for another 45 mins or so to monitor, and then told us to go home and get a good night's sleep and come back the next day to have the baby!
So we left and went from there to Subway for dinner. Well...... I started having contractions in Subway.... only an 1 and 1/2 hours after the foley catheter was put in!... (my OB had said the catheter may cause me to feel some mild contractions, but it probably wouldn't be much, so we were surprised at how fast they came on!) After Subway, we decided to get ice cream, and by this time they were actually starting to hurt pretty badly. Brandon was supposed to be playing hockey with the guys at church, and so we started back to the church so he could open up the church for them at 6:45pm. By this time in the evening, they were coming every 4-5 mins and were uncomfortable, so Brandon and I decided he shouldn't play hockey and we went home to try to get a good night of sleep. We had our hospital bags all packed and were all ready, so we were pretty excited! I made some calls and emails to family telling them Aiden would be born the next day, and then it was around 9PM on June 1st. We decided to go to bed since we probably wouldn't be getting much sleep for the next several weeks.
Well, that didn't happen. By 11pm contractions were coming every 3 mins, so we called the nurse at the hospital and she said we could come in if we thought we should. But we wanted to labor at home as long as possible. The contractions started getting more painful, and I was using a rice heating pack to ease the pain, but I couldn't sleep.
By about 2AM, contractions were coming every 1 and 1/2 to 2 mins and were very painful!!!!! I couldn't do anything by now, but pace the house, bend down over the table or counter when the contractions came, and take a warm bath, then shower to try to ease the pain. But since my doctor had said that the catheter is supposed to just fall out once you've dialated to 2 cm (which it normally does!), and since it hadn't come out, I just figured I was a wimp when it came to pain. I thought I still wasn't even 2 cm after all the labor I'd been doing all night. It was a rough night.
Finally after laboring all night at home, we called the hospital and they said to come in at 8AM (Tues, June 2nd). At this point I was kind of out of my mind, and the car ride to the hospital probably looked pretty funny to drivers next to us on the roads! We got checked in easily and went straight up to triage, where the nurses were waiting for us. We got right into the delivery room, and they hooked me all up with the fetal monitor.
Then Dr. B (my OB) came in at 8:30AM to check me...... she looked at me with a big smile and said that I was already almost 5 cm and in the middle of active labor!!!! She said the foley catheter must have just gotten stuck!!! This felt so good to hear, because I'd still thought I was less than 2 cm...... it felt good to know that I'd been making really good progress all night, and that I'd actually gone through a huge part of the labor on my own (with Brandon of course) at home!!!! She broke my water, and they started pitocin, and for the first half hour things were still kind of the same as what I'd been going through all night.... So I told them I'd wait a bit longer for the epidural, because they said I was handly the pain well.
All of a sudden, about a half hour after starting the pitocin (about 10am), the contractions started coming almost back to back and REALLY strong (from the pitocin).... and I suddenly needed that epidural very badly!! By this time I was already about 8 cm only 2 hours after coming into the hospital. Unfortunately the anesthesiologist was working on several patients at the same time and it was now delayed. I was kind of going crazy and screaming for Brandon to hunt down the anesthesiologist :). Finally, I got the epidural around 11AM. The nurse did a check to see how it was working though, and she tested different spots, saying I should feel pressure but not cold. I could still feel cold! I don't think it fully kicked in honestly. Very soon after, I started feeling A LOT of pressure, and they checked and I was 10cm and ready to push!!
I started pushing and the nurse asked if Brandon (who had been attempting to hold my hand/comfort me through all this) wanted to see the head!! At first he was apprehensive, but once he looked, he was absolutely amazed, and couldn't stop watching the whole process. He kept talking about all the hair on Aiden's head, and giving me a play-by-play, but I was not in a state of mind to really think about anything but pushing. There got to be a point in the last 2 pushes where I thought the pain was almost completely too unbearable, and I felt that all I could do was give up, but then one more push and all of a sudden Aiden was born!!!!! It was 12:16pm.
When Aiden came out, they immdiately put him on my chest, and I just cried tears of joy and Brandon and I just stared in awe at him. There is no other moment on earth like this!! Finally we got to meet him after 9 months of loving him on the inside. They took him again and did all his weight and stats, etc. and diapered him, put a hat on him, and then brought him back to us. A nurse helped me try to breast-feed him and he latched on and breastfed for about 5 mins. Then they left us alone for about 1/2 hour, and it was the most special time, just the three of us, that I will always remember... our new family of three! We just cuddled him and looked at all his little features and drank him in. He just kept looking up at me with his beautiful blue eyes, and I knew he knew that I was his mommy.
My mom arrived just about 45 mins after his birth and it was so wonderful to have her there. They took us to the room we'd stay in for the next two days, and Brandon started making calls to announce his arrival. Aiden got a little bath, and we dressed him in the outfit we'd brought for him.
I couldn't believe how small and precious he was!
Brandon's mom and his brothers came to meet Aiden on Wednesday, and my dad arrived from IN. on Thursday. We had friends from church visit too, and my sister came to meet him the following week. We were so thankful for all the love and support of all our family and friends at this time, even though we had no idea at that time how sick he would become, and how much we would need their support. I will try to tell his NICU story in the next post.
Today is Aiden's 1st Birthday, and we're so thankful for his birth and for his incredible first year! He is our gift from God!
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