The doctor signed me up for a scheduled induction on Wednesday, August 19th, 2009 at 1:00 in the morning. So tuesday was the day to get everything ready to go. I made && ate dinner around 8pm that night and right after midnight we hit the road and headed to the hospital. (Good Samaritan in Clifton). Dani was kind enough to pack herself a bag and join us for the big adventure, and I'm really thankful that she did. She came down with us at 1am and stayed with us until the baby was born.
So we got to the hospital around 1:15am, and they admitted me and hooked me up to all the machines around 2am. They started me on a medicine to induce the contractions, and to measure them and monitor them and eventually make them more frequent and close together. I tried to get some sleep during the next several hours, which was sorta hard to do because of the discomfort of being in a hospital bed and being hooked up to all kinds of machines, not to mention not being able to lay on my side. We put Weeds: Season 3 (disc 1) in the DVD player and Kevin passed out on the couch, and i eventually dozed off for a lil' while. Poor Dani stayed up the entire night drinkin' coffee and playing UNO on her phone lol. They'd keep coming in and checking my vitals and all that good stuff which woke me up and made it hard to get back to sleep.
Around 8 or 8:30 am the contractions started to get REALLY strong and painful, so they went ahead and offered me the epidural. I was extremely terrified at the thought of getting one, and i was very hesitant. I woke Kevin up and made him come hold my hand while i cried and cried and cried... eventually caving in and getting it done. It actually wasn't as bad as i thought it would be. I'm sure it helped that they numbed me and all that good stuff, and I certainly didn't look at the needle! Immediately, the pain subsided and i lost the feeling in my legs. What a relief!!!
Kevin's Dad came down after his dialysis appointment, around 9am or so... and my Mom came down around 10 or 11am, and stayed with us until the baby came. They decided to break my water around 2 or 2:30pm (which was SO strange to me... watching the doctor poke me inside with some kind of a stick and NOT being able to feel it or feel anything for that matter...) The next several hours were spent waiting for my body to fully dialate and be ready to start pushing. Dr. Blumenthal had come in several times to check me and i wasn't ready, so he'd go on out and do the next girl in line. Apparently there were lots of moms there giving birth that day. lol
Around 6pm, the nurse did a check of my cervix and thought that I was ready to begin pushing, so we got started. Kevin held my left leg, the nurse held my right, and i pushed with all my might! Mom and Dani would switch off with Kevin with holding my left leg too. I have no idea if i was doing it right or what, but all i know is that pushing was the most exhausting and painful thing i've ever done really. All i wanted was FOOD!!! i was absolutely starving!!! Once i pushed for a lil' while (about an hour or so...) Dr. Blumenthal came back in, and did another check of the cervix-ish area, and he said that I still wasn't ready to be pushing. i was like WTF?! I'M NOT READY?! I'VE BEEN PUSHING FOR NOTHING?!?! oh i was maddd...
Dr. Blumenthal said that a C-Section would be the best option for both myself and the baby. The baby's head was turned to the side, and my cervix wasn't fully dialating after having been on the medicine for over 12 hours. He said they could go in with all the tools and try to turn the baby and all this, but there were so many risks involved for me and the baby that the cesarian was the safest option. I went ahead and gave them the green light on taking me in for that (after a little spaz moment... hey i was really freaked out by the thought of being cut-open on an operating table!!! wouldn't you be too?!).
By this time, Desiree && Brett had came down, Kevin's bff Chad came down, my friends Danielle && Mike Smotherman had come and gone early in the day, and Lisa had come and brought Mom & Kevin their Frisch's but didn't stay cuz i was just sleeping and playing the waiting game.
Anyway -- They rolled me down the hallway in my bed to the OR for my c-section, and Kevin had to go get "scrubbed in" to be with me. I was only allowed to have one Support Person in there with me, which of course was going to be him. I was terrified to be going, and i wish he could've walked down the hallway with me to talk me down. Everyone that was back in the room had to pack all our bags back up and move them down from Room 6 (where we had been all day up to that point) to Room 8 where they took me after the c-section.
I remember when they brought me into the OR, the radio was on and it was playing classic rock. I can't remember the songs exactly, but i know i said something to the guy that was closest to me like "Nice Music" or something like that lol. The OR was SOOOO much more intimidating compared to the delivery suite which is all nice and cozy and comfortable... but i tried not to let it get to me. I was just a complete wreck. They moved me from one bed to the other, which was weird to me... Having NO control over my body, and they're moving me all around... i felt like i was going to fall off the side of the bed. it was just so different. Something i have certainly NEVER felt before. They lay me out on the bed with my arms spread out wide, they hang this big sheet up at my chest to where i can't see anything, and the doctor starts pinching me asking me if i can feel it. Thank god i couldn't. I heard them listing off all the operating tools they had laid out... Scalpel one two three four... Scissors one two three four... etc. SCARY!!! Kevin came in and had his big blue hair net on, blue scrubs and a blue mask over his face. All i could see was his eyes. That was all i really needed, because i can tell anything from his eyes. He was so excited to be moments away from seeing his child for the first time, and he was SOOOOO great to me the whole time we were in the hospital. He comforted me and calmed me down when i was stressing out. I'm so fortunate and grateful that he was there for me through all that. ((Oh and mind you, we still didn't know the gender of the baby and DIDN'T have names picked out at this point!)) I couldn't feel a thing, i had no idea when they pulled the baby out or anything like that. I don't even remember hearing his first cry really. I just remember them finally saying "It's a Boy!"
They brought the baby over to Kevin and he was all bundled up, and all i could see was his face and one of his little hands. His color was very light, but his hair was extremely dark! I probably started to cry, but i can't really remember either way. I just remember being super-cold and my whole upper body was shaking uncontrollably like i was having convulsions. I know i reached out to touch him, even though i was hooked up to all kinds of IV's and whatnot. The doctor asked if we wanted HIM to tell our families that it was a boy or if we wanted to tell them ourselves. We said to wait, and let us tell them. Apparently, Kevin went out to the waiting area or wherever everyone was waiting and shouted "He's got a PETER" or something like that! I dunno. I sure wouldn't put it passed him. :)
When they took me back to room 8, as i was rolling down the hallway with my little bundle of joy in my arms, that was when i first called him "Mommy's little sugar bear" and that's the "pet name" that i've stuck to him since then. I couldn't really feel my body anymore, including my upper body, so i didn't really feel safe holding him but i held on with everything i had in me. We were only allowed two visitors at a time from that point on, including kevin, so at first i had them send back the grandparents. Mom and Tom came back and visited, and then i had them send back Dani and Desiree. I had Dani get me my cell phone and i had Desiree help me hold his neck up, cuz i couldn't anymore. my arm was giving out on me. I then took the first picture of him on my cell phone and tried to send it out to everyone. He still had the gel in his eyes and everything. We still didn't have the name picked out at this point, either. After they visited for a little while, i told Dani she needed to take her butt home and get some rest, since she had been up all night and all day doing her million-and-twelve Facebook updates keeping everyone else out there posted on our progress. (which is VERY MUCH appreciated, by the way) I had them send back Kevin and Brett, so that Kevin could be there with us for the rest of the time, and so Brett could head out with Desiree when he was done. Brett was saying how he'd never seen a baby that soon after being born, not even any of his own nieces and/or nephews. I thought that was very nice of him to come down and see us, considering he doesn't come out for very many things. Anyway, after Brett took off, Chad came back to visit. That's when Kevin started really debating on names.
They said that when they took me back for the C-section, that everyone went out to have a smoke break, and noticed it had started to sprinkle or rain. And that pretty much as soon as we were done with the operation and our son was born, the rain subsided. It was a brief, and non-torrential rain, almost a happy sort of rain. We had been set on Genesis for a week or two prior to the induction, for either male or female name, even though we were still in love with the name karma for a girl. But we were still really up in the air for the middle name(s). When Kevin suggested "Rain" i said "R-A-Y-N-E" maybe, but not "RAIN." It is a little "off-the-wall" but I'm not gonna lie, it kinda grew on us over the next day or two, even though i was still debating on the middle name "Thomas" after Kevin's dad. We had a day or two before we had to fill out the birth certificate information, so we took advantage of that grace period. Wanted to be absolutely sure that we were in total agreement on the name before we made it official. Luckily the hospital provided a free notary and all that good stuff, making the process a little bit easier. We named our handsome little man Genesis Rayne Hendrix.
Chad stayed most of the evening with Kevin, and my Dad and Tracy came to visit around 10pm or so. When they got there, Kevin and Chad ran back to the apartment to clean up and grab a change of clothes. They ended up rearranging our bedroom so that the pack 'n play could fit next to my side of the bed. (i had been bugging Kevin about that needing to be done) I wasn't expecting them to do that at all! Kevin took a little video on his cell phone and sent it to me. I was very surprised and happy when i seen it. I was so proud. :)
Tracy fed Genesis his first bottle, one of those 2 oz. hospital sample similac bottles. When it was time to burp him, she turned him around and he ended up burping himself. It was SOOO cute. Dad drew a picture of a guy and a car and lightning bolt on our dry erase board. The nurses asked me about it every time there was a shift-change over the next few days.
The day after Genesis was born, Alicia and Maci came down to visit and brought him a little gift bag. It had a really cute baby blue and gray zebra outfit in it, his first pair of Nike shorts, a pack of blue onesies, a travel-pack of wipes and a card. When they were there they finally took my catheter out. That was such a relief!!! Tracy, Carolyn, Jesse and Pierce came down and visited, too. Carolyn brought him his first pair of shoes. Pierce was very hesitant around the baby and kept giving him weird looks. The our365 portrait people came in to do Genesis' pictures while they were there. Pierce was calling the photographer the "purple lady" cuz she was wearing purple scrubs. it was cute. Little man threw up on both the outfits i had brought, but we still managed to make it work anyway. The portrait package that we ordered ended up being $61. It came with a free 'keepsake' though, which turned out REALLY cute. I ended up using it as inspiration for my birth announcement design. The prints came in the mail rather quickly too. I was surprised about that.
We had a lot of really great nurses, but our favorite from our whole stay was a lady named Jill. She was the only nurse that checked with Kevin to make sure he was ok and didn't need anything. Which, in all honesty, he was freezing and starving, so she got him an extra blanket, checked and adjusted the room temperature, and brought him 2 sandwiches and juice cups. She was the nurse on duty when i had my little moment that Friday where i was so exhausted and the baby wouldn't stop crying so i broke down and had them take him down to the nursery so i could try to sleep. I "slept" for about an hour or two (which all i did was have nightmares the entire time so it wasn't anything close to resting) and when i woke up, i got dressed into real clothes and made my way down to the hallway for the first time on my own. Jill was outside of our room and seen me come out, so i had her show me where the nursery was and we walked down there. She talked with me to make sure everything was ok with me and she got the lil' man and brought him back out to me so we could take him back to the room. I felt so bad for sending him down there and when i woke up i felt like i was extremely far from him and i just wanted to be close to him again.
They had asked me if i wanted to go home that Friday, but i wasn't ready so i said that i'd stay for one more day. My pain was still really strong, but i made a lot of progress that day so by the time Saturday came i was SOOO ready to go. Kevin got a little upset with me that i didn't leave that Friday when they offered. He had spent so many days/nights starving, freezing and sleeping on those little sofas and pull-out couches that he was just so incredibly exhausted and not well-rested. He didn't wanna spend another day there. Then Saturday morning he didn't wanna wake up for nothing so when I was ready to go HE wasn't... so it made for a stressful morning when they were working on discharging us. I got up and got the room all packed and everything and put Genesis in his "go-home" outfit, fed him one last hospital bottle and after waiting 45+ minutes while the nurse had to run off and help another patient who had gotten sick, we were finally ready to go! Daddy drove the car around to the discharge area and after the nurse went over our discharge paperwork, we loaded up into a wheelchair and they rolled mommy and baby out to the car. I rode in the back seat with him to watch and make sure he was comfortable and didn't spit up or anything. Traffic was crappy on 75N, like always... but we made it home around 2 or 3 that afternoon. Dani and Lisa were waiting for us as the apartment when we got home, and they had gotten me some (much needed and very much appreciated) KFC. (mac 'n cheese, biscuits, and a half-gallon of Mt. Dew <3) Mom came over with a car load of stuff that we didn't grab in our move, and Terri came over too. Dani and Terri put together his lil' vibrating chair for us an it's proven to be our best shower gift so far; gotten lots of use out of it. It has a little kickstand that you can put up to where it leans the chair back and its practically a mini-bassinet. it helps to keep him slightly elevated after feedings to promote good digestion. :)
So i guess this is all for now. There are LOADS of details that got left out, I'm sure... but you can't always recall everything at any given point in time. And everyone that was there with us for the most amazing event in our lives will have a different perspective on the occasion. Anyone else who is willing to share their experiences/memories from this event is encouraged to write something up or find some way to share it with us to eventually share with Genesis when he's old enough to care and old enough to learn the story from his big day! (typed, written, audio recording, video recording... whatever works!!!) Dani did some recording for us on my video camera, so someday I'll make a DVD from what was taken. Still have yet to do that with my video camera and I've had it almost 3 years now. (shame on me lol)
A HUGE THANK YOU GOES OUT TO EVERYONE WHO WAS THERE TO SHARE IN THE OCCASION, AND EVERYONE WHO SHOWED THEIR SUPPORT AND CONCERN DURING THESE TIMES. THE BIRTH OF MY SON HAS TRUELY BEEN THE GREATEST EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE, AND I'M THANKFUL TO HAVE SHARED IN IT WITH SO MANY FUN, LOVING, AND **AMAZING** PEOPLE!!!
THANK YOU ALL SOOOOOOOOOO MUCH FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART!!!
XOXO
Geneva R. Watson
p.s. hopefully someday i'll be able to go back and add some pictures to this post once i get them uploaded, but don't hold me to it! lol I'm a busy girl these days!
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