Catching up with the Kellys: August 27, 2012... Best Day of Our Lives

As most of you now know Riggs Cleveland Kelly was brought into this world on August 27, 2012 at 8:58pm! He weighed 7lbs 4oz and was 20 1/4in long. The feeling of seeing your child for the first time is totally indescribable, and so worth anything that may have come in the 10 months or few hours before!
Jared and I spent our last night as a family of 2 1/2 (Rascal) going to dinner at Outback (our first date alma mater), getting yogurt, and hanging out at home. I would be lying if I said the apprehension wasn't setting in, but I tried to enjoy our time together and not think too much about what the next few days would hold. Monday seemed to last forever!! I piddled around the house doing little last minute chores, took a loooong relaxing bath, and checked my hospital bag for the 1000 time. Finally the time came to head to the hospital!
We got there promptly at 3:00 and checked into OB Triage. This process was very short and by 3:30 we were in our labor and delivery room (Room 8). We met our nurses for the next few hours... I LOVED them! Kim was my nurse, but she had a student with her named Leslie as well. Kim has been a nurse for 28 years, so I felt very calm in her hands! One of my biggest fears was the epidural, but she was a pro and it was almost painless. Around 4:30 the on-call doc, Dr. Thomas, came in to administer my first dose of Cytotec. After he checked me, still just a fingertip, he inserted the Cytotec and wished me luck on my delivery the next day! Kim told me I would experience some mild cramping from the medicine and that I needed to wait an hour before I got up again to ensure the medicine took effect.
Around 5:15 I told Jared I experienced a sharp pain that was followed by what I thought was a little contraction, and after that I felt like I REALLY needed to pee! Jared said something to make me laugh and then I couldn't stop laughing because I was feeling incontinent!! Finally it was 5:30 and I got Jared to go get Kim to make sure I could get up. I told her what happened and she said "do you think your water broke?". Well I immediately said.. I don't know what that's supposed to feel like?! I got to go to the bathroom and came back to get in the bed and then I knew... it definitely broke! She checked me and I had gone from a fingertip to 2cm in about an hour and my water was definitely broken! I had a slight moment of panic... my parents were only 30 minutes out of Mobile and I was planning on spending the evening hanging out with Jared and our parents in L&D! Due to the fact that my water broke I couldn't eat or drink anything anymore! Jared was on his way out the door to get us dinner right before my water broke!
The next 3 1/2 hours are kind of a blur..... I went from having moderate menstral cramps to full on hard contractions in about 2 hours time. THANK GOODNESS I went ahead and asked for the epidural when I did! I was still only 2cm (we think) when I said to go ahead and order it because they told me it may be 30-45 min before they got there. After about 20 minutes I was really hurting and they gave me some Demerol to hold me over. This helped, but I was still hurting pretty bad. Jared stood right by my side and held my hand through every contraction, which at this point was coming about every 3-5 minutes. Jareds parents arrived at some time during this, but I didn't do much talking! Anesthesia seemed to take FOREVER!!! My mom arrived about 5 minutes before anesthesia got there, and that was the last time I got to see our parents before Riggs' debut! (I didn't even get to see my dad because he had to go by our house first!) By the time the Anesthesiologist got there I was 6-7cm dilated and feeling EVERYTHING! The epidural was a breeze because I was hurting so badly I didn't really care what anything else felt like! The only tricky part was him trying to find a time between contractions to get it in! He got it in and I immediately felt relief... but only on my right side! My left side was definitely not numb... this is when everything went in fast forward!
I don't know if my sitting up for the epidural started it... but after getting the epidural Riggs' heart rate was dropping and dropping pretty fast. They were trying to turn me in different positions to get the epidural to take on my left side, but more importantly to try to get Riggs' heart rate back up. I could see the worry on the nurses faces, and this made me begin to get nervous! They called in the on call doc, Dr. Martin, and I could also tell he was concerned. They got a heart monitor on Riggs' head, but it was still not good. Finally they tried laying me flat on my back... and it was back.. his heart rate shot back up! Dr. Martin was still very concerned and after a brief explanation he basically told me that we needed to get Riggs out ASAP. At this point I didn't care what they had to do I just wanted him to be alright! They pumped me full of drugs in a last ditch effort to numb my left side... thankfully this worked!! They also gave me a shot of ephedrine when Riggs' heart rate was dropping so I was now shaking like crazy even though I wasn't cold!! It was a very strange feeling!
By Jared's account we rolled into the OR at 8:51pm, they began cutting at 8:55pm, and Riggs was here at 8:58pm! I didn't even know they were cutting... I thought I was still being prepped when all of the sudden I felt a huge pressure out of my stomach... I looked at Jared and just said "He's out". It seemed like an eternity before I heard his first cries... Jared tells me it was about 4 or 5 seconds! After I heard the cry I let my own emotions out! I think I was so shocked by how quickly everything happened I didn't have time to realize what was happening! Jared left my head for just a moment to go take Riggs' first pictures...... I guess they were starting to sew me up at this time because J said he got a glimpse of "my insides"... fun for him! =) When he came back I got to see our baby for the first time! He was perfect! He already had a hat on, but they told me to take it off so I could see all of his hair! He had a head full!! The nurse anesthesists took a few photos of the 3 of us before Jared and Riggs went to the nursery to be weighed, measured, and bathed. They finished "putting me back together" and wheeled me to recovery. Jared met me there and a few minutes later Riggs was brought to us for our skin to skin time. This was a very special time with just Jared, myself and Riggs!
After this we were brought to our post-partum room (224) and were met by the grandparents and uncle Evan!! They had already gotten a glimpse of him on his way out of the nursery, but were all eager to get their hands on him! Jared and I didn't get much sleep the rest of the night, as we stayed up looking at our new baby that God blessed us with!
I know this was an incredibly long post, but I wanted to get it all down while it is still fresh on my mind! I started to cry before I wrote this, but made it through with minimal tears. Riggs is currently asleep in his Nap Nanny and in about an hour and 20 minutes will be one week old! I can't believe it's been a week already. I find myself on quite the emotional roller coaster because I don't want to miss a moment and I feel like time is already moving too fast! However, I don't want to waste time crying that I could be spending enjoying him and our new family. I will post later about our first week! We have our one week check-up tomorrow, so I am excited to see how he has grown!
I will leave you with WAY too many pictures....