Catherine started having small contractions on Wednesday evening. They weren't regular but it was enough to get us excited. Thursday night the contractions we pretty strong and about 9:45pm Cat called the hospital just to see what they said. She talked to a nurse named Anne who told her it seemed good and to keep monitoring and to call back in an hour. So we did. The contractions hadn't changed much, and Anne told Cat she'd know when it was time to come in and "we'll probably see you in a few hours".
Well, that didn't happen. Cat tried to get some sleep and I got a few hours but not much. On Friday morning the contractions were nothing like they had been. So, off to work I went. Cat gave me updates throughout the day. By the time I got home the contractions were about 8 minutes apart. Cat toughed it out but at 4:00am enough was enough. We called the hospital and they said see ya in a few. So, all of 8 blocks later we were there (it was 4:30)
Cat was dilated to 4cm and her cervix was 100% effaced. This was great news!!! From there things progressed kinda slowly though. Later in the afternoon the contractions got pretty tough and Catherine got some staydol (a drug that makes you loopy, and it was pretty funny to see Cat on that stuff). Eventually she needed more pain management so she had an intrathecal (basically a morphine shot in the spin). That helped a lot, though it did take 4 tries to get it. It takes away the contraction pain, but unlike an epidural it doesn't numb you so you still fell the need to push.
And push we did. Catherine was ready to push around 9pm (long day!). By happenstance Anne, the nurse Cat talked to on Thursday was our nurse for this shift. She was so helpful and was amazing. She really helped make us feel comfortable and safe. Cat pushed for an hour and a half and was really getting exhausted and the pain was getting intense (the intrathecal had started to wear off). Dr. Pond said we could certainly keep pushing but it might be a long while yet. She hemmed and hawed around the subject of a C-Section, not actually giving us the option, but hinting at it. So, around 10:30pm she finally said a c-section was a definite possibility. And we took it.
We did't have to rush because the baby wasn't in distress but it didn't take long before Cat was prepped, I was in my scrubs and we were off to the OR. I had to wait while they did the spinal block. I was in this room all by myself, which was ok, except the 5 minutes I was supposed to wait had turned into 25 and I was starting to panic. A nurse kept going by and saying things like," they're still working on the block", "Still trying", "not yet". That same nurse finally came out and said "the block didn't work they have to use general" but she was leaving as she said this. I was like "WAIT, what is going on, nobody has told me anything" and she actually said "I don't know I just got here". I almost blew up (literally, the words were on my tongue) when Anne came out the door. I just looked at her and started to cry. She gave me a big hug and explained what was happening.
The anesthesiologist (the same one from earlier) couldn't get the needle in the right spot. He tried 4 times with no luck. So they were going to have to put Catherine to sleep. She told me later that she cried because neither one of us would be there to witness Jonah's birth. Anne calmed me down and took my camera to take pictures for us (which will be posted later).
Shortly thereafter I could here crying...Anne brought me the camera with pictures! She told me to go and talk to the folks in the waiting room (Grandma Calcaterra, Grandma and Grandpa Hardenbergh, and Aunt Mary and Uncle Dennis) that Jonah was born. Then they came and got me to see him. He was so precious. I held him and cuddled him.
All the while I was still worried about Catherine. They brought her into the recovery room shortly after and the three of us were finally together!!!!!!
So Jonah's birthday was rather hectic! But we all came through wonderfully. Catherine is doing great. Jonah is....well there aren't words enough......I'm good too, though I cry way more than I thought I would!
I'll leave you with a picture of newborn Jonah and we'll have more tales to tell soon.
