Our Brayden's due date was July 27th. I was scheduled to see my OB doctor the morning before on July 26th at 8:20am. Previously, I had only dilated to a one. When I was checked on the 26th, I was dilated to a two!! This was fantastic news for me, simply because I never went past half a centimeter with my first born even 10 days past my due date. My doctor decided we should go ahead and induce since he was measuring in the 80%ile for weight. He asked me to come in that same evening at 5pm to begin Cervidil. I told him I really wanted to put our daughter, Emersyn, to bed on her last night as an only child, could I please come in around 8:30pm. He told me to be there no later than 8pm. He had his nurse go and check the schedule to make sure there was room in the hospital for another scheduled induction. She returned and said there were several other high risk mom's scheduled, so they would have to let me know that afternoon if there would be room for me.
After my morning appointment, I rushed home to prepare for the possibility of going to the hospital that evening to have our baby boy! It was a very emotional day waiting for that 3pm phone call. I was trying to get everything in order just in case. Bags packed. Instructions left for those who would care for Emersyn. House cleaned. Spending those last moments of playtime and cuddling with my first born before her world would forever change. Finally, the nurse called and said we were good to go and to arrive that evening for Cervidil and induction the following morning. I was even more a mess! Of course I was thrilled to finally have our baby boy, but all the anticipation and slight anxiety of change were right before me. I wanted to wait until Daniel was home to tell Emersyn what would be happening over the next several days. He was trying to tie up loose ends at work before leaving, so he arrived home later than I had hoped for... which built up more anxiety. I continued to play in my head how Emersyn would react when we told her we would be gone several nights, she would be getting a new brother, etc. It never turned out good in my head. FINALLY around 6pm, we all three were able to sit down at the dinner table and explain to Emersyn what was ahead. Her exact response... a loud excited squeal followed by the words, "that's awesome!" All those tears I had shed throughout the day were for nothing!! She was excited for brother to finally be coming and could care less that we were leaving her after I told her Aunt Cindy would take her to the park or library to play and Mimi and Pappy were going to spend the night at her house and take her to her friend Harper's birthday party. I sat at the dinner table and had my "last meal" before being cut off from food: Cheerios with peaches!!! As you can tell there was no time to cook that day :)
We put Emersyn to bed and my parents came over to spend the night with her. We loaded up and headed to the hospital. On the way around 8:30pm, I told Daniel I was starving so he stopped in at Chick Fil A. I REALLY wanted a number one, but was scared because the chicken sandwich and fries had made me nauseated throughout my whole pregnancy. Although I was really hungry, I only ordered a diet frosted lemonade. We arrived at Spartanburg Regional right before 9pm (yes we were supposed to be there at 8pm) and headed up to the 2nd floor. Right as we entered the doors into the labor and delivery section, a nurse said, "Are you Erica McDowell?" I told her yes and she directed us to our room. Another nurse immediately came in and started asking the million questions and filling out paper work while another started prepping me with an IV and hooking me up to the monitors to check for baby's heartbeat, contractions, and my blood pressure. They apparently had been waiting on me! I wasn't even able to finish my diet frosted lemonade... it melted on the counter beside me :(
After all paperwork was completed and I was hooked up to all the monitors, they gave me the Cervidil, and I was to lay still for 2 hours. Apparently all my anxiety and nervous feelings were out of my system because I easily went to sleep and slept most of the night pretty easily except when the nurses came in and out of the room. In fact, the nurse asked me if I wanted a sleeping pill when I first arrived. I denied it because I have never taken one before and was afraid of how my body would react, so I just asked for Benadryl. This was not the case with Emersyn. I think I was awake 85% of the night on the night before she was born. The nurse returned around midnight to give me a Benadryl, but she later told me I was sleeping too good to wake.
Around 5am the nurse came in to remove the Cervidil and told me I could get up to shower and prepare for the day. An hour or so later she return to check my progress. I had previously been told my cervix was very hard to locate because it was still high and to the left. She checked me and said I was half a centimeter. WHAT? I told her that couldn't be possible because the morning before at the doctor's office I was 2 centimeters. She told me again it was only a half. A bit later my OB doctor came in and asked her how the Cervidil had progressed me. She told him I was half a centimeter and had not really softened anymore than last night (basically the Cervidil did not work... didn't work with my first born either). He checked me and said I WAS at a two and he was going to break my water. This was a little after 7am. I was shocked because with Emersyn they waited and let my water break on its own. I had assumed it would be the same this time. Nope, he came in first thing... good morning... let's break your water and get this party started!!
The water breaking was not very painful and an immediate success. They began the Pitocin and continued raising it every 15 or 30 minutes (my brain honestly can't remember). After an hour or so I began to feel some cramping and pressure during the contractions and they were around 3-5 minutes apart. The pain was manageable, but I did not like to talk or be talked to during each contraction. Around 10am the contractions were closer, stronger, and beginning to be more painful. I wanted to try to wait as long as I could to receive the Epidural because I knew it could slow down progress. I was checked around 10:30am and was dilated to 4 centimeters. She told me I could get an Epidural whenever I was ready... I told her I would wait a little bit longer. Finally around 11am, the pain was getting worse and worse and after discussing with Daniel, we decided if I was getting an Epidural, I might as well go ahead.
I was pretty nervous about receiving the Epidural this time because with Emersyn it caused my blood pressure to drop and her heart rate to drop which almost lead us to a C-section. The anesthesiologist came in to talk to me about the side effects, dangers, and procedure. I expressed my concerns to him of how my body reacted with the last Epidural I had. He was super informative, kind, and a wonderful listener. He explained that they would have plenty of fluids on hand to help prevent that this time, and if my blood pressure did drop, he would have another medication on hand to give to help it rise. He also said he was going to do a test run before giving me the actual medicine and then instead of giving the normal dosage, he would begin very slowly and gradually raise the amount. He assured me what happened last time was not the normal, rare, and probably would not happen again.
The Epidural was inserted in my back and the test run went well. They gradually began to up the dosage. He said they typically begin normal patients at a 12 (not sure what exactly that number means) and then move up as needed for pain. Things were going good until they tried to go past an 8. My blood pressure began dropping and my heart rate rising. Thankfully it never affected baby's heart rate as it did with Emersyn. After about an hour and a half of trial and error, they found a happy medium. My OB, Dr. Giep suggested I relax and take a nap to try to help progression. As time passed, Daniel and noticed from looking at the contraction sheet print out that my contractions had become further apart and not as strong as we knew Epidurals could do. Not much happened for a few hours. I slowly moved from 4 centimeters to 5 centimeters around 2pm. I napped a little bit but was waking often. I was shivering and shaking from head to toe as a side effect of the Epidural, so it was hard to relax. The nurse came in a little later with concern of my blood pressure. The bottom number was staying the the 40s and top number in the 70s-80s. My heart rate was well over 100 and topping out in the 120s. The man who was regulating my Epidural medicine level came in concerned and asked the nurse to give a new fluid bag and he started injecting medicine into my IV port to raise my blood pressure. It took 4 rounds of the medicine to finally get my bottom number to the 60s. He told me I was a "lighty" and couldn't tolerate much medicine. I told him it was a good thing I wasn't a drinker ;) He said he would not be able to go over an 8 (which later I realized would not work as well as it did with Emersyn). Dr. Giep suggested they cut off the Pitocin completely since I was not progressing well and then restart it a little later.
In the meantime, the nurse suggested I try the "peanut" to help me progress. I had no idea what the peanut was!! I was imagining something small to sit under me or change the position I was laying. NOPE, not at all what I imagined. It was basically as huge as one of those large exercise balls but in the shape of a peanut. She had me turn on my side and place the peanut between my legs. Talk about weird... but hey I was willing to give it a chance if I got my baby here sooner. After about 30 minutes, she turned the Pitocin drip back on, and I started feeling the pressure of contractions again. I closed my eyes and tried to rest/sleep as much as possible. Around 4:30pm, they checked me again and I was 9 centimeters! The peanut worked :) She said it was time to prep for his arrival and that she was calling Dr. Giep to get ready and the other staff and nurses to prep the room for delivery. Dr. Giep came in and checked me and he confirmed it was go time. He told me he was supposed to leave at 5pm, but he was going to stay to deliver and take care of us, and if his wife got mad he was late for supper he was telling her to talk to me haha!
The nurse had me do some practice pushing during contractions, and then it was time for the real thing. In the middle of the first "real" push, she got a call and apparently it was super important because she left the room and told me to "hold it right there." Not what you do to a woman trying to give birth!! Daniel, my mom, and my cousin Jeanne were the only ones remaining in the room (none of who have any medical training). I was a bit ill!! But she returned shortly and we continued with the pushing. I quickly realized as his head began to crown that my Epidural WAS NOT WORKING as I hoped it would. I was feeling pretty much everything, and it was painful. With Emersyn, I was numb and did not feel ANYTHING... even my whole legs and feet were numb. This was a shock that I was not ready for!! But I continued to push as hard as I could so it would be over and I could finally hold my baby. It seemed like forever, and I kept asking if his head was out. By the time his head was out, I was in tears with pain but overjoyed that we were getting closer and the hard part was over... or so I thought. This delivery was almost like having a first born again and not knowing what to expect since I felt nothing with Emersyn. I had no idea that the shoulders were worse than the head!! It was definitely the worst pain I have ever felt, and I honestly was not sure I could continue. After 19 minutes (but what felt like 90), Brayden August McDowell arrived on 7/27/2017 at 5:27pm weighing 7lbs and 13oz and 20.5 inches long. Notice all the 7's!!
They laid him on my chest first thing to do skin to skin, and it was immediately worth the 20 weeks of nausea, the hot flashes in the hot summer months, throat and heart burn, all the nights of terrible sleep, and the pain of delivery. My baby was here and nothing in this world feels better than a fresh newborn laying on mommy's chest. His apgar score was a 9 out of 10 (minus one for some purple coloring), and they said he looked wonderful and appeared very healthy. Close to thirty minutes after doing skin to skin he began nursing perfectly, and then they took him to his bed to weigh him and do feet prints. My mom left to go get big sister to meet him. She was so sweet and over the moon. She wanted to kiss and hug on him immediately and ask tons of questions about everything she saw in the hospital.
We were overly blessed to have the same doctor that delivered Emersyn, whom we love, to deliver Brayden. We had wonderful nurses during our hospital stay and our same lactation consultant, Linda, that I adore. We remained in the hospital until Saturday afternoon, and then were able to bring our baby to his home. I am forever thankful that God has entrusted me with another child and feel that being a mama to them is seriously one of the greatest blessings and gifts I could receive!! We love you oh so much Brayden... you stole our hearts from the moment we heard your first heartbeat and you continue to do new things every day that melt us even more.
First thing Thursday morning on the day Brayden was born
He's here!!
Daddy cutting the cord
First tears of pain... then tears of joy when I was able to cuddle my baby!!
Already sucking his finger
Mimi taking a look
Our second pride and joy
Long legs!!
Stamping his foot on our doctor's hat that he signs. He did the same thing for Emersyn.
We better start saving now... both of our children have overbites. Braces are in our future!
Proud daddy
Meeting big sister!!
She got to press the button to let everyone a new baby was born
Getting a big sister sticker
Emersyn wanted to know why Mommy, Daddy, and Brayden had a bracelet and not her. Our sweet nurse went and found one and wrote "big sister" on it for her to wear.
Missed getting a picture of Gigi holding Brayden so quickly snapped this before she left.
When we moved to the 5th floor around 8pm, uncle Clay was the first to hold Brayden because he had to leave for a mission trip to Honduras in the middle of that night!!
Proud big sister!!
Meeting Gran Gran
Her reaction when seeing how much hair he had
Meeting Pappy
and Papa
Mimi holding him for the first time
Cousin Matt
Aunt Elizabeth
Cousin Addison
Aunt Jennifer
Cousin Emma
Future Uncle Britt
Our #1 doctor who delivered both of our babies
Mimi, Pappy, Emersyn, and Brayden
I think she loves him!!
Getting him ready for his first bath
Meeting his great grandparents, Momom and Papa Jones
Meeting his great grandma Shirley
and his great grandpa Lloyd
Meeting his Aunt Cindy
Flowers from Papa (Daniel's dad)
Covering him in kisses!!
Preparing to take our baby home
Always the LONGEST ride home!! So nervous having such a tiny, precious baby on the road...
Welcome to your home buddy!!
Mimi can't get enough kisses in either
Proud grandparents
More proud grandparents
Brayden gave Emersyn a special present when we arrived home... a boy baby. She named him baby Brayden.
Emersyn was and still is in love with her baby brother.
Our new family of 4
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