The Birth of HAMMER!

Sorry for such a horrible quality picture in the last post.  I just wanted to get something up here.  I promise I'll provide photos that prove Austin's complete cuteness.  I wanted to write down everything I can remember about his birth, so here goes nothing!

Waiting and waiting...

Austin Friedrich Greiner was born on Monday, May 2, 2011 at 11:07 pm.  He weighed 9 lbs 2 oz and was 21.5 inches long.  He was actually due a week earlier on April 25, but he decided to be my Mother's Day present instead of my Easter present.  Totally okay.  I had been in pre-labor/early labor for about three weeks previous to his birth with contractions coming about 3 to 7 minutes apart.  It was absolutely delightful. :( NOT!  My amazing doc, Dr. Watabe, was even kind of surprised himself that I hadn't gone into labor earlier.  He was sure that I'd beat my due date, but Austin had a different idea.  We had gone to the hospital the Friday before my due date, thinking he was definitely coming, but after being monitored in Labor and Delivery for about two hours, they sent us home because I wasn't progressing.  Major major bummer.  I decided to keep busy and went in on Sunday, May 1st around 2:30pm, in labor.  My old Mia Maids advisor, Sarah Thomas, was my nurse and she did EVERYTHING she could to keep me there that evening, but by 6:30 we were headed back home again.  Sarah was sure that I just needed some rest after not really sleeping for three weeks, so she gave me a Percocet and told me to pass out.  That night was horrible.  I had slept for about 4 hours when we got home, but the meds wore off and I was having legit, hurty contractions all night.  By 10:30 Monday morning, we were back at AF Hospital ready to have a baby.  I got admitted pretty quickly and met Dr. Jones, the OB on call.  Coolest guy...loved him.  Once I got to my room, they broke my water and started me on Pitocin to get things moving along.  I had wanted to go natural with the birth, but after being in some form of labor for three weeks, Sarah convinced me otherwise.  The epidural was pretty great, except my right leg was totally dead the entire rest of the day.  My family came to visit all throughout the day and at about 9 pm, I started pushing.  Holy hardest thing I've ever done in my whole freakin' life!  The epidural was kind of starting to wear off at this point, not too bad, but I felt a lot.  Talk about the hardest swim practice ever!  Gregor never left my side and was such an amazing help.  He just held me and helped me to relax between pushes.  He was incredible.  My mom was in there, too and then, much to my surprise, my sisters came in.  All three did so great.  Candice and Kate are total medical people and Car is so empathetic.  It was sweet to have them there.  I think Candice totally got a kick out of helping hold my legs during some of the pushing.  Right there in the thick of everything!  After pushing for a little over two hours, Dr. Jones told me that Austin was stuck behind my pelvic bone.  He told me that it was starting to get serious, Austin's heart rate was through the roof and he needed to get out.  Dr. Jones said he could use forceps to try and bring his head down, but he was only going to try once and if it didn't work I needed to have a C-section.  That completely motivated me to push with everything I had, I wasn't going to have a C-section after all that work!  I told him to do what was best for the baby, and he quietly mentioned to Gregor that a cesarean would be safer.  Luckily, with Dr. Jones using his amazing forcep skills and me pushing my guts out, Austin's head was delivered.  With just a couple more pushes, he was out!  I was so excited to meet my little boy, but he wasn't breathing...Gregor hurried to cut the cord so Austin could be whipped over to the table for oxygen and some breathing help.  Talk about scaring the crap out of everyone in the room.  About 5 extra nurses ran in to help and suddenly the room was way too crowded.  I waited, scared and exhausted, to hear my son cry.  Finally after about 5 minutes, he did.  Gregor shooed everyone out and I finally got to hold our son.  I think I bawled for about 10 minutes.  He was so beautiful!  We were a family, and it was so so so amazing.  The nurses took him down to the nursery and I got all cleaned up and my family came in to say hi.  A huge huge HUGE thank you to Sarah Thomas.  She worked a 12 hour shift already that day and stayed an extra two hours to help get Austin here.  She is awesome!

Our first family photo.  I think we were all overcome with emotion by this point.

Sarah Thomas.  Best nurse/friend in the world!
After some much needed food and some help down to the Mother/Baby floor, I was able to meet up with my family again.  They told me that Gregor had gone down to the Nursery with Austin and had just broken down with emotion once it was all over.  Gregor never cries, but it made me cry to hear that he had.  I love that man!  

All set and ready to go home!
Austin took to nursing right away and spent the rest of the night in the Nursery.  The next day he came in to be fed, but a short time after that, my nurse said that his blood sugar was in the basement.  Like a 22 (it should be above 45 at least).  To treat his problem, they admitted him to the Nursery II/NICU 3.  Its the lowest level of the NICU, but no one wants there baby in any sort of intensive care unit.  They put him on an IV for two days to get his blood sugar regulated.  We were able to go in and spend a lot of time with him, and I got to nurse him as well.  As our 48 hour limit was approaching, we weren't sure if we were going to be able to take him home.  His pediatrician, Dr. Mumford, check him out around 6:45 and said that if he could maintain his blood sugar over the next two hours, he could come home.  He did, and we were able to take our son to our home to stay!

Finally going home
When we finally got in the door around 11:30 that night, I sat down and just looked at my sweet baby boy.  I couldn't help but cry.  Heavenly Father entrusted Gregor and I to raise one of His choice sons.  I was so honored and so overcome with gratitude.  We said our first family prayer that night and thanked God for His love and kindness towards our little family.  I love our son, Austin.  He has been the greatest blessing in my life and I am so honored to be his Mother.  I hope I do a good job!