Friday, April 17, 2009

~~~ April 17, 2003 ~~~

I will never forget this day as long as I live. Today William Austin Romans was born. Our joy has increased a million fold. What a handsome baby, our baby, and moreover he is doing so well! It truly is a miracle. I don't think he could be more perfect. I wish I could be with him every second and I'm thinking about him every moment we're not together.

Kurt is such a cute dad. I love watching him. He is just beaming with pride and love and joy. He is about a thousand times more handsome to me. He went with Austin to the NICU straight after he was born. He would check back on me to make sure I was still alive and then run back to the NICU to see Austin. It was adorable.

Okay labor was straight from hell! It was the worse, most terrible pain and hard work I could EVER imagine. I don't know why people have more than 1 child because I definitely never want to do it again! It is nothing like you can imagine or prepare for in your mind. I struggle right now to find the right words to express the agony I went through this morning. Maybe details are better left unsaid. But I know if I don't record them I'll end up in the same situation (LABOR) a few years from now. I'm not ready to think about that yet!

Here are the events that brought my precious baby into the world:
~ Kurt left for Pella around 10 pm. He needed to get more clothes and stuff from the house.
~ I was having mild pain and cramping while he was away.
~ He had only been back from the apartment and sleeping for an hour when I HAD to wake him up.
~ They had restarted Pit @ 1 am. I could feel the difference right away. Kurt took a shower to get woke up and then started some music to help with my breathing and relaxation through labor.
~ I told the nurse, Mary at 2:30 am that the pain was a lot sharper and more severe than yesterday. My contractions really weren't measuring on the monitor which was really frustrating to me. I asked her to check me to see how dilated I was. She did and I was at an 8! I totally would have taken an epidural if I wasn't too far along!
~ Mary gave me some fentenyl but it barely touched the pain and lasted a half hour.
~ I was breathing through most of the contractions but they got really bad. My whole body was shaking with pain, I really couldn't control it any longer. My breathing was completely forgotten as I just tried to survive the pain!
~ At 5:40 am I COULD NOT take it any more!!! I knew that if I started to push and get the child out of me all the pain and agony would STOP! I was feeling some pressure to push but it was not overwhelming. I was exhausted and knew I couldn't take it any more. It was TIME for Austin to come.
~ I was completely effaced on one side and had just a little more to go on the other so my first couple of pushes were to get my cervix completely effaced.
~ Pushing was so painful! I always thought that labor was the worse and the pushing was small fries compared to labor. I was so naive about the whole thing! It was brutal.
~ Mary called Dr. Mangsager when I was close enough. Pushing the whole time. It felt like I was going to rip into shreds. I told the Dr. and he already had the scissors in his hands to do an episotomy. I could feel him cutting but compared to all the other pain it was nothing.
~ After the episotomy I gave 2 strong pushes and he was out. The head and then the swishing of the body. He came out kicking and screaming (at least we know his lungs are developed!) Dr. Mangsager suctioned him and then passed him over to the NICU staff.
~ The pain stopped the millisecond he was out. It was heavenly and so greatly needed. AMEN!
~ I watched them fuss and work on Austin while Dr. Mangsager stitched me up. Kurt was hoovering over him, taking lots of pictures like a proud daddy.
~ Just before they took him to the NICU Kurt brought him over for me to hold. He was all bundled up with a hat on and an oxygen mask that covered his whole face. I could barely see him. It was so good to hold him. And then they took him away. As they stitched me up I lay there in complete awe and gratitude for a healthy little preemie son.
~ Austin weighs 3 pounds and 15 ounces and is 17 inches long. He is so much bigger than we had ever hoped or anticipated. It was sweet joy to my ears. And he is doing so well.
~ Kurt went into work at a quarter to nine and I slept. I was exhausted by that point. I woke up close to noon, had lunch and moved into my new room on the 3rd floor at 1 pm. I had visitors, a shower and started pumping my milk by the time Kurt returned at 3:30. Together we went straight upstairs to the NICU to see our son, William Austin Romans.








The tape is holding his feeding tube in because he kept riping it out!


The picture gives a great measurement of how small Austin was in compasion to Kurt's hand.


The joyful and very blessed Romans family on Easter Sunday in the NICU - Austin is 3 days old.

4 comments:

Dirk said...

I have enjoyed remembering! Thanks for sharing the journey. It's not over yet but it is joyful. Enjoy the journey. You're doing an amazingly great job!

Happy 6th Birthday Austin!
WE LOVE YOU and your family!!

Grandma Richards

'T' said...

this is the post i've been waiting for! i knew it was quite a journey getting him here, but i had no idea... wow... what a good boy.

TulsaT said...

Aren't you so glad you journaled this to look back on. It was quite a journey. Thanks for sharing. Happy birthday Austin!

Tracey said...

Happy birthday Austin. I enjoyed reading your memories leading up to his birth. What a ride you all had!

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