In grand fashion, He has arrived!

It has almost been 3 weeks since our son made his entrance into this world, three weeks before his due date which was November 25th.

On October 29th Eric and I went in for my routine 36 week ultrasound and midwife visit. We went in together for the ultrasound as usual, everything looked perfect. Once the ultrasound was done Eric was sent back to the car as I waited for the Midwife. The nurse came and got me, took my vitals and told me that my blood pressure was very high. This had never happened before so she assumed it was a fluke and said she would check it again in a few minutes. The midwife came in, did my strep B test and checked my blood pressure again. It was 156/110 and she told me I needed to go to Labor & Delivery at the hospital right away, not to even stop for my bags at home. So I went out to the car told Eric and started crying immediately. I wasn’t ready. We still had to meal prep haha. Eric being the trooper that he is calmed me down and drove to the hospital. Once hooked up to monitors I had lots of blood and urine testing done. Everything fortunately came back normal but I was diagnosed with severe Gestational Hypertension which could lead to preeclampsia and is very dangerous for both mom and baby. I was discharged and allowed to go home but I had to go back to the doctor first thing Monday morning for another blood pressure check.

Monday morning came along, we went in at 8am. My blood pressure was still high and the Dr. made the decision that it was best to induce me at 37 weeks for both mine and baby’s safety. I walked out to the car, looked at Eric and said "well we are having a baby this week". We were told to check in to the hospital at 10pm on November 4th. I was a basket case of nerves but grateful to have a few more days to get everything ready and organized. We prepped 35 meals to be frozen, washed all baby gear, got the cars ready, set our dog up to go for a week long board and train program and let the future grandparents know so they could make arrangements to travel into town. Due to COVID no visitors were allowed at the hospital but they wanted to be there as soon as possible.

At 9:40pm on November 4th we left our house and made our way to the hospital. I was pre registered so check in was quick and easy. Our nurse came out to greet us and led us back to our room. It was a nice large room with a huge labor tub, private bathroom, bed for me, pullout couch for Eric and most importantly a TV since I certainly did not expect to spend the next 39 hours in that room!

After 6 attempts my IV was finally placed and at 11pm the midwife came in to place my first Cytotec pill vaginally to start the process of dilating. I was 1cm dilated and 60% effaced already, which I was hoping was a good sign. Four hours later I was checked, no change so a second pill was placed, another 4 hours and still no change so a 3rd pill was placed. 12 hours in and I was 1.5cm dilated and 70% effaced. It was time to try the foley bulb. For those unfamiliar it's basically a medieval torture device. It is a balloon inserted through the vagina and cervix via catheter, between the cervix and amniotic sac. Once in place the balloon is slowly inflated to put pressure on the cervix forcing it to dilate. Once you are dilated 4-5cm the bulb will fall out on it’s own. The amount of cramping pain and pressure caused by it was unreal. The midwife gave me morphine and zofran to take the edge off so I could finally relax. Bouncing on a yoga ball also helped significantly and I did that for about 3.5 hours straight. Four hours later the bulb finally fell out, I was now 5cm dilated and 100% effaced. It was time to start the Pitocin to get the contractions more productive and regular. They were currently mild enough that I barely noticed them. They were 3 minutes apart and 1 minute long. We waited 12 hours, not a single change. The next step was to have my water broken and max out the dose of pitocin. At this point I chose to do an epidural anticipating the pain to become too much, especially after 28 hours of no sleep or food. They placed the epidural, waited a few minutes and then broke my water, upped the Pitocin and we waited. An hour in I felt the contractions hot and heavy through the epidural so they gave me an additional dose, which caused my entire left side to swell and go completely numb for the next 13 hours. Four hours after breaking my water I was 10cm and ready to push. We tried pushing twice however baby’s heart rate dropped significantly so we chose to “labor down” for 2 hours which is where you sit still and let the contractions do the work of pushing the baby down. Around 8:30am the contraction pain started to happen again to the point I begged the midwife to push. At 9:23am on November 6th after 34 hours our son Noah Glenn was born. Another 30 minutes later the placenta was delivered and finally at 1:30pm I was able to feel and move my legs enough to be moved to recovery and EAT. Best chicken tenders and french fries I have ever had in my life.

The entire process was a blur, a whirlwind, emotional, exhausting and amazing. As soon as I heard his little cry and saw him I couldn’t help but start crying and constantly asking if he was ok. He was so tiny and so perfect and I was in absolute disbelief.

On November 8th we got to go home and we couldn’t be more in love. We still cannot believe he is here, he is real and he is ours. He truly is a miracle baby in every sense and we cannot get over the journey it took to get here. While the pain of Azoospermia, IVF and infertility will always be there and infertility will always be a reality for us, it is much less now and easier to forget. It will always be part of our story and forever be what made and gave us Noah.