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Here’s Harrison!

by Megan

Finally getting around to writing Harrison’s birth story. If you’d like the short version here it is:

I had a beautiful, healthy baby boy on June 27th, 2013, at 6:02pm. He was 8 pounds, 7 ounces, and 20.75 inches long. We named him Harrison because Daniel loved the name, and I didn’t have one I liked enough with which to fight back, so he won this one! We will call him Harrison as well as Harry for short. His middle name is Gerald, after Daniel’s father. We are all enamored with him and so happy to be a family of five!

Here’s the long version for you brave people:

From the beginning of this pregnancy, the doctors and I had discussed the possibility of inducing at 39 weeks. With Vanessa I waited until my appointment on my due date to schedule an induction, which then had to be 8 days later. I knew that with my third (considering how my first two were both late and both over 9 pounds) I wanted to have an induction scheduled no later than my due date (or maybe a day or two after). When I went to my 38 week appointment, we scheduled the induction for June 27th, which was 39 weeks and two days.

I should mention, however, that with this pregnancy, my original due date was pushed forward from July 11th to July 2nd, after an ultrasound measured me further along. So that already bought me nine days. Then we induced five days early and, considering how Vanessa was 8 days late, this pregnancy was a total of 22 days shorter than my last! And I was still going crazy by the end of it!

The lady who schedule the induction told me that the hospital would be calling at some point on Wednesday (the 26th) to tell me when to come in on Thursday. I just knew I would spend the day on pins and needles waiting for the call, so when 4pm rolled around and they hadn’t called yet, I called them!

Good thing I did, too, because I did not know the way this hospital worked. Turned out that they would call about an hour before they wanted us to come in…and that meant they might call at midnight for us to come in at 1am, or even at 3am for us to come in at 4am! They said that based on how busy they currently were, we wouldn’t be called before midnight. So Daniel and I dropped the kids off at my parents’ house and went home to wait. I decided to stay up until midnight, and if they didn’t call right then, I’d go to bed.

The phone rang at about 5:30am, and they told us to come in at 8am, which we did. They got us set up in a l&d room, and I changed into my Mod Mum delivery gown, which got tons of compliments throughout the whole time we were there!

They started the “gels” at 9:30am, and I was supposed to stay in bed for an hour, then walk around for an hour, and then bed for another hour, which is exactly what we did. They said they’d check me after that, and then we’d do that whole three hour system three times or until I was at 4cm. So from 10:30-11:30am Daniel and I walked around the fairly small maternity ward and our own room. He “made it fun” by having me touch certain things around the room, like “five silver things” or ten black things.”

My doctor came in to see me after the first round, and he decided to break my water instead of doing any more gels, walking, etc. So at about 1pm he did just that. I was really nervous because I didn’t know if it was going to hurt. The only other time I’ve had my water broken, I had already gotten an epidural. But it didn’t really hurt- just a lot of pressure.

At that point, they asked me if I wanted to get the epidural, saying that “things would go quickly now.” I was having contractions, and they were manageable, but I figured I might as well go for the epidural since they were offering it then. I got it around 1:30pm, and that got me really relaxed and feeling good for awhile.

At 3pm I was only 4cm and discouraged that I wasn’t further along, but nobody seemed too concerned about it. At 4:30 I was at 7 or 8cm, and feeling a lot better about how far I had gone in just 90 minutes!

The epidural was super strong on my left side, and that whole leg felt like stone. At one point the nurse was moving my leg, and it was super creepy because I couldn’t feel it at all. Around 5pm the epidural started to wear off a little bit, and I could move my right leg a little bit. I started to feel uncomfortable, but a few pushes of “the button” and it started working again!

At 5:55pm, the doctor came in and they told me to start pushing. Just a few minutes/contractions/pushes later, Harrison was born at 6:02pm!

They put him right on my chest, and (as per this hospital’s protocol) they kept him there the whole time they did…everything that they do. Cutting the cord, cleaning him up, taking his temperature…whatever else they do. Then, instead of weighing him right away, they wanted me to nurse him. This is where I got a little frustrated. I wanted them to take him and weigh him and fully bathe him and then bring him back to me so I could nurse him. Instead they basically made me nurse him for an hour before they finally took him for those things. When they did finally weigh him, he was 8 pounds, 7 ounces, so he was probably a little lighter than that when he was born.

My parents came by with Carter and Vanessa around 8pm. Carter brought a balloon, and Vanessa brought blue flowers.

Their reactions to their new baby brother were typical of them; Carter smothered him in hugs and kisses, and Vanessa took one look and said, “I’m not happy!” Then she ate all the leftover fruit from my dinner. She has since warmed up to the baby.

And that’s pretty much the story! Later that night we got moved up to the third floor, where the recovery rooms were. The next day was filled with nurses and paperwork and tests and pain medication! We also attended an infant CPR class that they offer each day, which is something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time. That was one cool thing that this hospital offered.

Speaking of cool things that the hospital offered, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention THE FOOD. This is the first hospital I’ve had a baby at (and I’m at three so far) that had a menu and instead of just getting what they made that day for that meal, you got to order exactly what you wanted for every meal. The day I had the baby, I had a smoothie in the morning on the way to the hospital, and then I didn’t get to eat again until about 7pm, so that was the most amazing turkey sandwich I’ve ever had in my life. During my stay there, I ordered turkey sandwiches, chocolate cake, fruit, cheesecake, pineapple, cheeseburger and french fries, chicken soup, cranberry juice, and coke! I’m not even joking when I say that I wish I could go back just to eat my meals there. So. Good. Baby #4 will most definitely be born there. They also offer a special steak-and-shrimp dinner (or lunch) for mom and dad after delivery, so that was the one time that Daniel got a full free meal, and they even let us do two separate orders (he got the steak and shrimp, and I got another turkey sandwich/chocolate cake/coke combination). I had a great overall experience with this hospital (Banner Del Webb in Sun City, in case you were wondering), but the food gets five stars!

We went home the following evening, around 8pm, and we had the night to just the three of us since my parents kept the older kids for another night.

And that’s the story! Three down, one girl to go! ;)

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5 comments

Taby Jean July 21, 2013 - 12:52am

Congrats again, he’s adorable!!

Reply
tmack July 22, 2013 - 2:49am

so sweet! Our little guys name is Harrison !
http://newbornmama.blogspot.com

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Karrie Smith July 22, 2013 - 3:59am

Congrats! Thanks for sharing such a special moment with us! You are the first Mama I’ve seen that looks glamourous after giving birth!!! I can’t wait to see more pics!

Karrie

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Leslie @ Violet Imperfection July 26, 2013 - 3:36am

I am such a sap for birth stories! And let’s talk about the important things, like the food. My hospital had amazing food as well. I still dream about the chicken pot pie. We were lucky that both my husband and I got meals three times a day. Thank goodness too because I was there almost a week with all my blood pressure issues.

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