Beckett Graham Stoicoiu entered the world one week early on November 1 at 11:06 am. He now has the pleasure of sharing his birthday with his Uncle Greg! Monday I had a doctor's appt and I was around 2cm and 50% effaced. She asked if I wanted my membranes stripped and I said sure. We did the same thing with Tenley and it didn't work but I figured hey, it was worth a shot. I went into work after that and felt crampy (which was to be expected either way) for most of the afternoon. I also knew I was starting to get sick because besides feeling pregnancy crappy, I felt sick crappy. I went home that night and pretty much went straight to bed.
Tuesday, I woke up just feeling like crud. Sore throat, stuffy nose, you know the drill. I had been a trooper up until this point at work (or so I like to think at least) and I just couldn't do it that morning. My whole body hurt, I was sick, there was no way I could hang at work that day. Later that night I started to feel extra crampy and contractions started happening off and on. By the next morning they were feeling a little more painful and a little closer together. I figured I'd give the doctor a call just to see what she said. Of course since it was my 4th child and you just never know how fast things can go, they asked me to come in to be checked.
We arrived at L&D and got set up. They checked me and I was only slightly more progressed than my appt on Monday. They told me I could walk for a bit and see what happens, so that is what we did. We walked for about an hour and got re-checked. I was 3 cm! Progress! We ended up doing some more walking with little results and made the decision to go home and wait it out. I was starting to have flashbacks of Morgan's labor and delivery because that was pretty much how it started.
Thursday morning contractions were coming but nothing was consistent. I had started bleeding a bit so I of course had to call the OB again, who advised me to come in. We headed in AGAIN and got checked. Everything was fine except for the fact that I still hadn't progressed any further than the day before. I also thought there could be a slight possibility that my water was leaking so they decided to check my fluid. I got sent for an ultrasound where everything checked out and water was still intact. At this point I was still having contractions but we went home anyway. I was starting to get real tired of the coming and going. This was Morgan 2.0 and I knew that this wasn't a false alarm, this is just apparently how my body starts labor...days ahead of the actual birth. Annoying.
We went and got something to eat and headed back home. By this time I was tired and sick and sick and tired. I went to lay down and my contractions all but went away. I was surprised but also thankful for the break. I was woken up around 1:00 am with some pretty intense contractions. I decided to wait to wake Paul until I timed them for a bit. Around 3:00 I woke him up and let him know that I had been having more intense/painful contractions for over an hour at 5 minutes apart. To which he looked at me and said "What do you want me to do?" Apparently this was his first rodeo. I didn't even answer him I just went to get in the bathtub. I knew if this was the real deal the contractions would not go away in the bath. I was in there for about 15 minutes before the contractions started coming hard and fast. Paul came in the bathroom and asked me the same question again. I explained that he needed to call my mom and the doctor and tell them it was time.
My mom finally got to our house after what seemed like forever and I was in awful terrible back labor. The ride to the hospital was awful. We got upstairs and I got checked. I still hadn't really progressed so they couldn't admit me yet. WTF!?! I was so irritated and in so much pain and I just had to wait for them to monitor my contractions. Turns out some of those contractions weren't even showing up on the monitor. Since we had left the house I had been having contractions about every 3 minutes. I knew I would be having him but having to sit and wait to be admitted was excruciating. She came back to check me and finally, FINALLY I was at 5cm. She took me right over to my room and they started getting my IV set up. I needed something to take the edge off so once I got my IV in (which seemed liked an eternity) they gave me something. Nurses changed around this time and I happen to get the one I'd seen the last couple days. She was a saint and ordered my epidural right away! I will say I was nervous that by the time they came to give me my epidural I would be too far progressed. Thankfully I was at 7cm (right around the cutoff!) and was able to get it. That was around 8:45 am. Finally I was able to relax and rest for a bit.
Around 10:30 or so I felt some pressure and let the nurse know. She confirmed that I was 10 cm and ready to push. Everyone got set up and away we went. Of course as soon as I was ready to push my contractions started getting further apart. They gave me some pitocin to help me out so I wasn't doing all the work on my own. Get it together uterus! I started pushing and was actually surprised when he didn't come out right away. Rylee and Tenley had come out in only a few pushes and it was fairly easy. The doctor at this point made mention that it looked like he didn't have much hair or that if he did it was blonde. Both of the statements shocked me. I knew he had to have hair. All my kids had lots of hair. Lots of dark hair to be exact. Weird. A little bit later during another push she said "Oh wait, that's his forehead. He's sunny-side up." That started to explain quite a bit. The pain I was in most of all. Plus that fact that he hadn't come out in a few pushes. I finally pushed him out at 11:06 am He was 8lbs 3oz (my smallest!) and 20.5 inches long.
The girls came to meet their brother after Morgan got home from school. I think they would agree that we are all in love with the newest little guy in our life! Thanks to everyone for all the well wishes!
