Tate Michael Brownstein

He's here, & he came earlier than expected which makes me love him even more :)

The play-by-play...

8/28 11:30 a.m.: Dr's appointment where I find out already 2-3 cm dilated and almost fully effaced. Dr. suggested scheduling induction because I am strep B positive. If I went into labor before then, to not wait too long to go to the hospital. My mom was booked on a flight for Wednesday the 2nd but the Dr. suggested we schedule sooner than that. So Monday 8/31 was gonna be the day.
8/28 evening: Several large contractions but they were a couple hrs. apart.

8/29 9 a.m.: Leave the house for 3 hrs. so Terminex could come treat the ant problem (whole other blog post for that!). IHOP with my dad for breakfast. Small contractions every 15 minutes or so.

11 a.m.: Hit a park for some outdoor play time for Max. Poor air quality the last couple weeks from the fires has had us all cooped up inside. Called my sister to tell her she better plan on coming to our house because I was pretty sure the baby was on his way.

12 p.m.: Sis shows up, fed Max lunch, put him down for a nap, left instructions for Grandpa & headed to the hospital.

1:30 p.m.: Admitted to hospital, blood work drawn and IV put in. Waited for the Dr. who was coming in any way for another delivery. Contractions were getting stronger but still bearable. 1st round of antibiotics given.

3:45 p.m.: Dr. came in & broke my water. He said if I wanted an epidural to do it now. The anesthesiologist was due to go into a surgery with a surgeon who was known for being slow so they didn't want me to miss my opportunity for the good drugs.

3:55 p.m.: Anesthesiologist came in to explain the procedure to me and do the paperwork. She said she was waiting on my blood test results which would be a couple minutes and she would be back.

4:20 p.m.: Contractions were unbearable so I sent Mike out to ask where my epidural was.
Nurse:"Your blood work is taking longer so the anaesthesiologist had to go into surgery."
Me: "Are you serious? This really hurts."
Nurse: "I wanted to be honest with you and not give you some story. I don't know why its taking so long. Do you want something else for the pain?"
Me: "Um, hell yeah" (or something close to that).
4:25 p.m.: Statol injected into IV. I was checked again (dilated to a 6). Ticked to find out I still felt enormous pain. The only difference was I also felt fuzzy headed. The nurse informed me that it would only help take the edge off. It sure didn't feel like it. So now I was in pain and incoherent- fantastic.

I'm not quite sure how to explain the pain of contractions & now have serious respect for ladies who go w/o the epidural. The next 40 minutes until Tate was born was just plain painful.

4:45 p.m.: Holding Mike's hand & gently squeezing it (not according to Mike), I told him I had to push. I looked at his face as he looked at my sister who was rubbing my back, it seemed like they were giving each other a "Oh, poor girl. That's not possible" look. I quietly said it again & patiently waited while Mike got the nurse (again, not according to Mike). Humoring me, the nurse peeked under my gown and said "Oh, there's a head!".

Basically the room filled with people very quickly trying to rush and set up. I was flipped onto my back and told to use my breath to "preserve yourself instead of using it to yell". I looked at Mike to give him a "tell her to go take a hike" look. I had to push NOW. Dr. rushes in & at 5:01 p.m. Tate Michael Brownstein was born weighing 7 lbs. 5 oz. & 20.5 inches long.

My nurses and Dr. all made sure to tell me that if we have another child to be sure and tell everyone that I am fast after my water is broken. I'm just thankful it was only 1 hr and 15 min. from when my water broke. I'm fairly certain I would have been trying to knock myself unconscious if it were longer.

We were a little nervous at first because he wasn't breathing well, but apparently it was because my statol injection was given so shortly before he was born. We also didn't have time to give me my 2nd round of antibiotics. Everything ended up fine & Tate ate and slept like a champ in the hospital. Max wasn't so interested in him, but was very happy to see Mike and I. We're home now & adjusting well to having another little guy around. Thanks to everyone for the phone calls, meals and well wishes! Can't wait for you all to meet him.