Well, that was quick…
On Monday the 13th, everything looked good on the ultrasound, sounded good on the fetal monitoring, and was pronounced good by the amazing Dr. Oliver. Who, let it be noted, also predicted that we wouldn’t make it to the induction date of May 27.
On Wednesday the 15th, Gram and Bubba arrived from Alabama. Bubba, planning to stay for a day and then go home, was delivering Gram, who would be staying for several weeks to help before and after Little Brother’s arrival.
On Thursday the 16th, and close your eyes for a second to spare yourself the medical detail or gross imagery, around 8:30 in the morning, I lost the cervical mucus plug. The contractions I’d been feeling on a sporadic basis for a few weeks suddenly became regular and not-very-far-apart. At 9:30, we called Dr. Oliver’s office, and they told us to time them for another hour. At 10:30 we called back, and they slotted us in for noon.
At noon we showed up at Dr. Oliver’s office, had a quick exam, and got sent straight over to Labor & Delivery. At 12:30 I was tucked into a bed by Super L&D Nurse Gina, at 1 Dr. Oliver broke my water and Gina called the anesthesiologist, and by 1:30 I was nicely epiduralized.
The rest of the afternoon was taken up by blood work, monitoring, ice chips, popsicle, and a nap. Then it got interesting. Around 5:30 I woke up from a pretty deep sleep feeling pretty deeply pukey. I was hot and cold all at once, had violent shivers that only got worse, and then started throwing up. As it was time to push, I spiked a fever over 102. Then there were three pushes … head, shoulders, all … and William arrived.
William Collier Usey, born at 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 16, 2013.
Seven pounds, 14.9 ounces … 21 inches long
There was more excitement after that… my fever went over 103, William had a little fever, both of us were tachycardic for a while. It turns out that somewhere between having my water broken and that nap, I developed chorioamnionitis, which is a nasty little infection that can affect both mama and baby if labor is too prolonged. Fortunately, labor lasted hardly any time at all, and after a precautionary visit to the NICU, William got a clean bill of health and was able to come stay with me the rest of the time. (My infection seemed to clear up but didn’t, necessitating a return hospital stay the next week, but that’s a whole nother story and we got through it.)
So now we’ve all been home for several days, Gram and Daddy and Thomas are taking great care of Mama and William, and we’re off on a new adventure. Come follow the brothers at O Brothers, our new blog that picks up where this blog and Thomas Today leave off.
Forty Weeks 