Meet the Dumpling!

On Labor Day I woke up in the wee hours to a little trickle.
The trickle continued down my legs as I waddled to the bathroom.
I went potty.  Still trickling afterwards.
I told B my water might be leaking?  Then nothing.



And then I smelled it.


I know you're probably gagging right now but I've been told that amniotic fluid sometimes smells sweet.  I had to smell it.
You would have done the same thing.  Maybe.


But it didn't smell like anything.  Not like pee.  Not sweet.  Just nothing.

So I checked in at Labor & Delivery in the afternoon where they found no traces of fluid.
So either I did leak some fluid OR it was cervical fluid OR I peed myself repeatedly.


All these options are feasible and part of the joys of pregnancy.

What I did find out was that I was dilated to 3 cm (YAY!) and having regular contractions.
I'd been having Braxton Hick's since month 7 so this was not news to me.



 BUT more importantly we solved a great mystery!!


A mystery to me and definitely to some of you who want to know how in the world I was so HUGE.
Like look at that belly, it might fall off, how many kids are you having, how are you standing up, kind of huge.



I had Polyhydramnios which is an excess of amniotic fluid!


Lots and lots of fluid in there.  Dumpling was just swimmin' around.
 
They also guessed the baby would be about 8 1/2 lbs which kinda worried me.
I'm only 4'11" you know.
They made a few appointments for extra testing in regards to the fluid
 to make sure everything was OK.



They offered to keep me in the hospital for a while but I opted to go home.
My parents were keeping Peanut over for the night so I went home to relax with B.


I spent the night going through baby names trying to come up with something that B would like.
I failed by the way and we used the name he started calling the baby about 5 months ago.

At 1:35 am I woke up to my first painful contraction.
I went back to sleep and woke 15 minutes later to another one.

*At 2 am I started timing my contractions (with an iPhone App which cracked me up).
*At 2:30 my contractions were 5 minutes apart and we started to get ready to go to the hospital.
*A little after 3 am we were getting into the car when I called L&D
to let them know we were coming in.



They very politely told me that Labor & Delivery at our hospital in Irvine was FULL.


We were being diverted to the Anaheim hospital.
I tried to breathe through a contraction while she gave me the address.
I plugged it into my phone to find it added 20 minutes to our travel time.


That seems like a long time when you are in labor.
I thought about all the stories from friends who missed the epidural because it was too late when they checked in at the hospital.  I'm a fan of pain management. 
I'm just sayin'.  I am in awe of all you women who chose to do it all naturally.


Contractions were 3 minutes apart.

We pulled into the hospital parking lot and had no idea where to go having toured a different facility.


A very nice guard directed us and offered a wheel chair.
When I said I thought I could make it, he insisted saying, "You're going to be in enough pain today, you might as well take it easy on the way up there".  He is a very wise man.


We checked in about 3:45 am.
Everything else seemed to have flown by.
I say this now but contractions seem to slow time down to a crawl.
The nurses were absolutely fantastic and supportive.
The first one talked me through breathing as she tried to wrangle someone to check me out.
Contractions were coming about a minute apart.  I was so relieved to hear I was dilated to 5 cm.


Not only because I didn't miss the epidural but also because I was in labor with Peanut for 7 hours and still only dilated to 1 cm.  It was awful. 

They moved us into a delivery room and my mom joined us while my dad stayed home with Peanut who was still sleeping.


At 7 cm dilated the anesthesiologist came in to give me the epidural.  It hurt.  Not a lot but he did numb me twice.  And then it only worked on my right side.


So I could still feel everything on my left side which made for interesting labor.


In the mean time MY WATER BROKE which I could feel and all I can say is
Thank God I Wasn't Out In Public
because it was a LOT of fluid.  Like drench the bed/table make puddles on the floor fluid.
ut in public that would have been traumatic for everyone.


And my stomach deflated.
It visually went down which is really bizarre. 
That's saying a lot because childbirth in general is just bizarre.


I felt bad for the nurse who had to clean up.
This is why I packed little thank you gifts of Burt's Bee's products and nail polish to give to the nurses I liked.  In my previous delivery I probably would have kept all the gifts because my nurses were all grumpy.  Do you remember how I made Lime Bars?  This time I wish I had brought more gifts because everyone was so awesome.

The anesthesiologist came back in and apparently hit me with another full dose.
The perk is that it kicked in shortly before it was pushing time!
The downside was that he gave me so much I couldn't walk until 4 pm that evening.
It was a little alarming.


The nurses came in, I pushed twice and the little Dumpling was born.


With the cord wrapped once around his neck and twice around his body!


Part of the problem with an excess in amniotic fluid is that there is the possibility of delivery issues. 
At only 7 pounds 4 ounces, 20 inches long (4 ounces and 1 inch smaller than his brother), Dumpling had lots of room to move around and get himself tangled.


A lot of things could have gone wrong, but none of them did.
We are so grateful.

September 2, 2014
I started counting contractions at 2 am,
checked into the hospital at 3:45 am
and had the baby at 7:19 am!











He's lovely and perfect and we are all very happy.
This one is spoiling me for sure.  He actually sleeps.


Big brother is doing well, much better than I expected.
He loves his little brother and takes his job very seriously.
I have noticed an increase in drama and tears lately.
Peanut also started school a few days later so there has been a lot going on
but I think we are all adjusting wonderfully!