Our baby boy made his appearance June 23rd, 2017.

 I had gone in for my routine prenatal appointment Tuesday and was sent for a stress test due to small fundal measurement for the 4th week in a row, and some reduced fetal movement the last few days. I was also sent for a biophysical profile ultrasound at the same time to check on baby's growth and make sure everything was okay. The ultrasound tech asked me if I was leaking fluids (I hadn't noticed that I had been...), and double checked my due date. The measurements showed baby in the 32nd percentile for growth (previous ultrasounds all showed ~50th), but fetal movement was good and baby passed the stress test with flying colours. I was sent home and told my dr would call if there was anything to discuss... 

       The next morning I was woken up by a phone call from my husband asking "are you ready to have a baby today?". Apparently I had missed the call from my dr and she had called my husband at work- baby's fluids were low and there was evidence of IUGR, so she wanted to induce ASAP. We arrived at the hospital an hour later, met with several different doctors who looked at baby and confirmed I did indeed need to be induced. 

Around 4pm I was given cervadil to get things started and had painful, but irregular contractions all night. The next morning (Thursday) at 11am my dr confirmed I had dilated to a 4 and did a membrane sweep and began a pitocin IV drip to move things along. Contractions came hard and fast, and by 2:30pm (dilated to 5cm) I had decided that despite my plan for natural birth, to opt for the epidural. Once it was in place I got relief for about 4 hours and successfully dilated another cm. By then though, the epidural had worn off on my left side and I could feel my contractions full force again about 3 minutes apart. My dr had attempted to break my waters several times throughout the evening but due to the low fluid and baby's position hadn't been very successful and my nurses had informed me that only one side of my cervix was thinning the way it was supposed to. 

 I laboured this way until 12am, when my dr checked and confirmed I was still "stuck" at 7cm. 

At 1:30 am she returned and informed me that due to my stalled labour our best option was to go for a c-section. I was terrified, but exhausted, and desperate to meet my baby and know they were okay... as they were preparing to move me to the operating room my nurses happened to mention the "button" for my epidural, when I looked confused she asked me "did they not tell you there was a button for the pain medication you could use?". Apparently the anesthesiologist had forgotten to tell me or my husband how the epidural worked...not that it would have affected the outcome- but perhaps I would have been more able to manage the pain during my labour...

Anyways, by 2am I was prepped for surgery and my husband sat beside me while I had my c-section. I was shaking, and on the verge of tears the whole time- this was NOT how I planned it at all... I was so afraid something would go wrong and my baby wouldn't be okay. My husband kept talking to me, distracting me and telling me everything was fine... A few minutes later I heard a cry and my husband announced it was a boy. 

We had asked for skin to skin if baby was healthy but unfortunately the nurse taking care of him right after birth said she had never seen that happen in the operating room before... she towelled him off and wrapped him and gave him to my husband, who brought him next to me and held him pressed to my cheek while baby cried and cried. We spent about 40 minutes like that with him while I was stitched up and then I was moved to the ICU for monitoring for an hour (most stressful hour of my life being away from my new baby for so long right after birth), before going back to meet my baby boy right side up. We spend 48 more hours in the hospital (the minimum time allowed after a c-section), then were finally sent home Sunday afternoon with our new little love ❤️ 

Our rainbow baby 🌈 Augustus "Augie" Henry, born 2:27 am June 23, 3017. 6lb 3 oz. The most perfect gift I've ever received 💝