He's Here!

Tobin Michael
Born: 10/15/2005 at 5:46pm EST
Weight: 9 lbs 7 oz
Length: 20.5 inches
15 inch head circumference. (yes, ouch.)

Here's the quick and dirty rundown of events...

Friday 10/14:

1:30pm: Went to the doctor for a check. As I arrived, he was leaving for the hospital where he'd been called in to do a delivery. He said to make sure I was still there when he got back, as he definitely wanted to check on me. I had left Jack with my friend Paige, so I grabbed some sandwiches and headed back to her house, just down the road, and left numbers to reach me with the receptionist.

An hour or two later, they called and I headed back in. A quick internal exam revealed I was dilated 1cm, and we were a GO for induction.

5:30pm: Dropped Jack off with my brother and sister-in-law and headed out to grab a dinner alone on the way to the hospital. Domani Ristoranti in Ashburn has a great tortellini with prosciutto (sp?) in cream sauce. It tasted all the better as it was to be my last meal for 24 hours. The calamari wasn' t bad, either.

7:30pm: Checked into the hospital for Cervidil.

Saturday 10/15:

8:00am: began pitocin drip.

11:00am: got the epidural. My left leg went numb, but my right side took convincing to be numbed at all. Got adjusted, and was suddenly pain free... which was a very good thing. Dilation: about 3cm

2:00pm: Anesthesiologist came to adjust the epidural to control break-through pain. It took a little while, but I finally felt better and Trip went to nurse the broken bones in the hand he used to hold mine. Dilation: 4-5cm

5:25pm: Excrutiating pain in my pubic bones. When I say excrutiating, I mean "Holy Hell there is NO WAY I can do this!" pain. In fact, I actually said repeatedly "I can't do this!"... Trip and Christie the Wonder Nurse (she was completely amazing) assured me that I could, in fact, do it... and also reminded me I didn't have much choice as the baby was already well on his way. A quick check revealed that the pain was probably due to the fact that I was dilated to 1/4cm less than the full 10cm and the baby's head was pushing insistently on my pelvis to get out.

5:30pm: We're pushing, baby.

5:46pm: Tobin Michael takes his first breath and lets out a very impressive squeal of indignation at being removed from his comfy uterine home and pushed out into a very cold and very bright world.

That's the blow-by-blow. The rest was pretty standard stuff... started nursing, changing diapers, re-learning to use the potty and whatnot. Everything was going according to plan until Sunday night...

I was exhausted, and Trip made me promise that I would let Toby go to the nursery while I got some sleep. The nurse came and wheeled my baby away, and I reluctantly laid the bed back to get some rest. Within about 2 minutes, the side of my head felt like it had been blown off and my sinuses erupted in what I can only describe as The Pain Second Only to the Above Mentioned Pain of Childbirth. There was no escaping the pain, and it grew rapidly worse with each passing minute.

After Tylenol 3 had no effect, the nurse called and got orders for Percocet. 2 Percocets every three hours got me through the night in a drug-addled semi-coma, but at least it was something akin to rest. By morning, I was exhausted and nauseated... and had already seen my doctor and promised to call the dentist ASAP.

The end of this little saga is that I left the hospital and went directly to the dentist chair for a root canal. Yes, apparently giving birth just wasn't tough enough for me.. I had to add the root canal.

SO... all of the drama is over, and we are on to learning to live the day-to-day. Thank God I have Trip for another week... the man is a wonder. The laundry is done, the sink is empty of dirty dishes, the Jack is fed and washed and asleep, and my sport bottle is full of icy-cold watery goodness. If they have Most Awesomely Awesome Husband awards, I hereby nominate him for a super-platinum recognition. Seriously... I'm just waiting to find out he has some deep dark secret, like a serious foot fetish or a collection of nude photos of Margaret Thatcher... Then again, as long as the laundry is done, I suspect I could find it in my heart to find even Margaret rather fetching...

Toby is still figuring out how to sleep in his crib, but he's getting there. Jack has developed a bad habit of wanting one of us to lay with him until he falls asleep. When we don't give in right away, he lays on the floor sobbing his little heart out and saying "Please, Daddy... Please Please Please Please....". Needless to say (especially in my current emotionally fragile state) this results in him getting exactly what he wants because, really, what mother could stand to hear her baby crying and pleading like that for very long?

SO.. to make a VERY long story short... Toby is here, we're good, and I'm beat. Thank you for all the well-wishes, and to Trip's office for the beautiful flowers. It's good to feel loved.