Baby Escalante's Birth

Our sweet baby boy was finally born on January 5, 2012 at 9:26pm.  I say "finally" not only because I was 11 days late, but because I was in active labor for about 50 hours prior to his arrival.  But before I get into those details, I'll catch you up on the events leading to the birth.

My last blog ended on New Years Eve, so I'll begin this blog with January 1, 2012.  New Years Day marked my 1 week over-due date.  We headed to church and went about the day as usual.  Deb, Michael's mother, was still scheduled to be in town for a few more days.  We were all hoping the baby would arrive before she had to fly back to Utah.  But at the end of the day, I was still pregnant.

Monday we went for a hike at Sleeping Giant State Park.  The day was cold, marked by the nor'eastern winds.  A 1 1/2 mile scenic trail lead us to a stone observation tower on the peak of Mt. Carmel, which provided an excellent view of the Long Island Sound and New Haven.

Michael and his mother, Deb

It was pretty windy as you can see!--Brrrrr

The hike back down the trail grew difficult as I began to experience cramping and contractions (I experienced some on the hike up, but the intensity was increasing as we began our descent).  I began to grow hopeful that labor was near.

We stopped by a small little sandwich shop in Hamden for lunch, complete with hot chocolate!  The contractions ceased as the day went on however.  Monday came and went-still no baby.

Tuesday I had a doctor's appointment to check the fluid levels in the placenta-they wanted to ensure the placenta was still holding enough amniotic fluid and had not yet began to deteriorate.  They also monitored the baby's heart rate for about an hour to make sure that he was not experiencing any distress.  Everything looked good!  Next we headed to a check-up with my OB.  Still no dilation.  The Yale hospital doesn't like women to go beyond 2 weeks overdue, so we put my name on a waiting list to start an induction Wednesday evening.  Technically I won't be 2 weeks overdue until Sunday, January 8 but of course they want to avoid a weekend induction.  Michael was also considering flying out to California for his grandmother's funeral on Saturday.  I was really hoping the baby would come on it's own because I wanted to experience a natural childbirth.

Later that evening contractions resumed and by 7pm I started timing them because they were coming fairly consistent: 6-10 minutes apart.  The three of us (Deb, Michael and I) sat down to watch a movie.  I spent a lot of the movie up and about pacing with the contractions.  The contractions maintained all night and into Wednesday.

Wednesday we called the OB and went into the clinic to be checked.  I had dilated to a 2 and was 90% effaced.  I was excited to finally be making progress!  We ran a few errands but stayed pretty low key most of the day.  The contractions maintained at about 6-9 minutes apart and were growing with intensity.  Wednesday was possibly one of the longest nights of my life...not to be overly dramatic.  The intensity of the contractions increased, while the time in between decreased to about 4-5 minutes.  Michael and Deb went to bed with the assumption that we would be leaving for the hospital in the middle of the night.  I didn't sleep at all, but spent all night pacing and breathing through contractions.  Around 4 in the morning, I had Michael call the on-call OB to inquire about going to the hospital.  After talking with the doctor, he informed me that once I was experiencing contractions 3-5 minutes apart for about an hour, I would be ready to go the hospital.  I got off the phone and broke down in tears.  I had already been having contractions for over 24 hours and didn't know how much longer I could handle them at their current intensity.  Michael gave me a priesthood blessing of peace, comfort and endurance.  I am grateful to be a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and for our belief that the power of God can be called upon for healing purposes today.

By about 8:30am on Thursday, we decided to go to the hospital because I was absolutely exhausted and the contractions had reached 3-5 minutes apart for the past hour.  We called the OB clinic on the way and let them know.  Once at the hospital, I was devastated to learn that I was still only dilated to a 2!!  The only progress that I made throughout the course of an extremely long and painful night was that I was now fully effaced.  To make a long story slightly shorter, the doctor said that I should go home and walk around for a few hours.  I kindly declined that option and was admitted to the hospital where they gave me some morphine and started the smallest possible dose of pitocin in hopes to encourage the little guy's arrival.  After a few hours, I was relieved to learn that I had progressed to a dilation of 5cm.  However, the progress seemed to freeze again after that.  The morphine didn't seem to be helping much, and with growing exhaustion, I defeatedly consented to have an epidural.  I could recognize that I would need some strength/sleep to be able to complete the birthing process and this was my best hope due to the intensity and frequency of contractions.

I don't know that I ever fell asleep, but the rest was relieving and slightly rejuvenating considering I had not slept for 2 days.  I finally dilated to 10 cm around 7:00pm-a full 48 hours after the contractions began to be consistent.  They turned off the epidural and I pushed for 2 1/2 hours before gladly welcoming our son into this world.  Michael didn't get to cut the umbilical cord because as our baby came out, the cord was around his neck so the doctor quickly cut it to enable breathing.

Love at first sight

So glad he's finally here. (I love Deb's smiling face in the background)

Finally moved into our recovery room about 10pm

Beaming Grandma

Deb had to extend her trip by one day to be there for the birth.  I'm glad she was able to meet her newest grandchild

Cuddling with Dad

Our friends the Granges came to visit the next day (Friday)

More cuddling!

View from our room on Friday night

Our first family photo with the new addition

Deep in thought

This was taken on Monday morning.  We took him in for his first doctor's appointment.  I just think he looks like such a little man here.  It's so funny!

So, it took us about a week, but we finally came up with a name for our little guy: Dominic Noah Escalante.

Well, that's plenty long for tonight!  I need to get some rest so I can wake up soon to feed Dominic!--The joys of parenthood are upon us.