Tom and I welcomed Jude Thomas DiMarco into the world at 4:06 pm on Tuesday, July 28th, 2015. He was 6lbs 13oz and 22 inches long. We couldn’t be more proud.
On Tuesday, July 14th I went to my 39th week check up at my ObGyn. During my appointment, I wasn’t showing any signs of labor so my doctor and I started talking about inducing me the following week. He decided that on the following Monday when I came in for my 40th week check up, if I still was not dilated at all, he would then send me to the hospital that day and admit me for something called “cervical ripening.” (It’s a process that kick starts labor, they insert hormones and it dilates the cervix.) If the cervical ripening worked, he would induce me the following day, on Tuesday. However, if I came in on Monday and I DID dilate then I would be able to go home and he would still induce me on Tuesday. I just wouldn’t have to go through the “cervical ripening” process.
Well, I left that appointment somewhat excited and even more so, nervous! The date had been picked and little Jude would be here the following Tuesday. When I got home my nerves soared. I felt like I was evicting him! So I googled “cervical ripening” and freaked myself out. There was a chance it wouldn’t work, a chance I would have to get a c section or a chance everything would be fine (and I was just being a hypochondriac.) I know google can be the enemy when it comes to health but I just couldn’t help myself! Anyways, I then researched all the ways to naturally dilate your cervix so I wouldn’t have to do the “cervical ripening” thing and just get induced on Tuesday. I am no guru with the stuff but i’ll tell you what, all weekend I did everything! I ate pineapple, pizza, did labor dances and you know what? It worked! On Monday when I went into my appointment I was dilated 1.5cm. I didn’t need the “cervical ripening”. So the doc sent me home and told me to go to the hospital at 3am to start the inducing process.
Tom and I both came home that night couldn’t sleep. I took a bath and relaxed in bed. My alarm was set and when it went off at 2am we both jumped up, took showers and headed to the hospital. We checked in, was brought to our delivery room and the nurse started my IV. Shortly thereafter the Pitocin drip was turned on. (Pitocin is the hormone they use to induce labor.) After I was all hooked up to all the monitors the nurse told me it could take a while for Pitocin to start working so Tom and I went back to bed.
Around 9:30am we were awakened by the anesthesiologist who came in to speak to me about an epidural. She told me when my contractions got bad enough to call her and they would give it to me. I was experiencing baby ones, but nothing severe. At 10:30am things did a complete 180 degrees. All of a sudden I felt like I was being crushed from the inside out. I held on to the side of the bed, clenching for dear life and begged Tom to get me help. Tom then pushed the nursing button to let the nurse know I was ready for my epidural. I guess he didn’t realize he pushed the emergency button because 20 people came rushing in, all ready to take on whatever emergency was going on. Tom was standing there and told everyone “She is ready for the epidural.” At that time, I felt like it was an emergency!! (Thank god we didn’t get in trouble.) Shortly after, I received my epidural and it was like the clouds opened up in the sky and the lights from heaven beamed down. I went numb from the waste down and didn’t feel a thing.
The doctor came at 12:30pm and broke my water. When he checked on the baby, he was in a position called Occipital Posterior, which means he was belly side up (normally babies are delivered belly side down.) You can deliver babies belly side up but it is a lot more difficult. So, for the next couple hours they put me on my side and alternated between left and right for 30min at a time. This technique is suppose to help the baby flip over. Thankfully, when he came back at 3:30pm and checked on baby, the technique had worked and he was belly side down. At that time I also dilated all the way to 10cm and I was ready to start pushing. The doctor said it was game time and in came all the nurses, techs and equipment. I was ready to go.
After 20 minutes of pushing through contractions with my mom by my side and holding tight onto Tom’s hand, little Jude was brought into the world at 4:06pm. The minute Tom and I saw him we both just completely melted. It was truly the most unimaginable experience. We finally got to meet this little man that I carried around for 10 months so close to my heart. We spent 3 days in the hospital. It seems like a big blur. The nurses taught us so many things, family and friends came to visit us and we spent hours just staring at our new son.
We’ve been home for 10 days now and both of us are just soaking up the time with Jude. Taking in the scent of his sweet newborn smell, snuggling with him and trying to figure out our role as new parents. We couldn’t be more happy and I am looking forward to sharing more stories with you as this little bean continues to grow.
