Woo, what a week! Collin Randall Slade made his debut at 1:53 AM on April 8, 2009. He weighed in at a whopping 6 lbs even, and was 18 inches long!
As I said before, I was scheduled for an induction on Friday, April 10th. I really thought I was going to make it... and was really loving the predictability of it! I had quite the detailed to-do list and was happily working my way down it so everything would be done by the time I had him. Well, that's what I get for trying to plan things. On Tuesday the 7th, I had my last OB appointment. I went in and for the 3rd week in a row, had high blood pressure. It wasn't terribly high, but enough for the Doctor to want to send me to the hospital for testing. He made it sound like it was no big deal, especially since I was scheduled for Friday. So I took Macey with me across the street to the hospital where they took my blood pressure every 10 minutes and did some blood work. I called Randy and told him to come over to the hospital so Macey didn't make my blood pressure any higher than it had to be. :) The nurse told me by the looks of the testing (and my awesome cankles and swollen hands and face), I was starting to develop preeclampsia. She thought that we would be able to go home, though, since I was scheduled in just a few days. So I am gathering my things together and getting ready to go home to finish working on my to-do list when the nurse comes back in and says "just kidding... the doctor wants to start you right now." I was shocked! I didn't even have a hospital bag ready! I hadn't done the dishes, yet! I hadn't put away the groceries that were sitting out on the table! There was still so much to do. But the doctor said it wouldn't benefit anyone (especially me) since I was full term, the symptoms would just get worse. So I digressed. I gave Randy the best instructions that I could through my panic... he had to get the stuff we would need for the hospital, and also clothes/supplies for Macey and take her over to his brother's house. He was a champ and was so excited we were going to have the baby that night (meant more work off for him. HAHA).
They hooked me up to pit at 8:00 PM. Broke my water at 8:15 PM. We watched America's Funniest Home Videos while my contractions gradually got more intense. Once they got to the point of kidney stone pain I requested the epidural. This was at 10:30 PM. When they broke my water I was dilated to a 2, and gradually moved up to a 3 and then finally to a 4 at 1:30 AM. I was in for a long night!! The Doctor that was on call came in to check me, told me I was a 4, and that he was going to go to the sleep room to get some shut eye. Well, not even 10 minutes later I told the nurse that I definitely feel some pressure and she needs to check me. She didn't want to, but I insisted. When she did she looked at me in disbelief and said "you're complete!" I went from a 4 to complete in 8 minutes! She told me to give a mini trial push, so I did. Her eyes got big and she told me to stop pushing and literally ran out the door to go get the doctor. I waited through about 4 contractions for him to get there and get everything ready. He gave me the go-ahead to push on the next contraction, so I did. And the baby came out. That's right... he came out in 1 contraction, people!! It was heaven! I seriously couldn't believe that it was so easy. I do have a 2nd degree tear again (had a bad one with Macey), but this recovery seems like cake compared to hers. The worst part about it is the awful swelling. I couldn't even wear shoes out of the hospital it was that bad! Holy cankles!
Anyway, we're home now just enjoying having a newborn in the house again! He is so sweet. We've been very blessed to have family and friends close by who are taking good care of us. Macey loves Collin to pieces!
