House of Hylton: March 2015

The Thursday night before my induction I raced home from work, did a last minute cleaning spree on the house and then Eric, Elle and I headed to our last dinner as a family of 3. After dinner we headed to mom and dads to spend the night so Elle wouldn't need to wake up super early, we hoped she would sleep late since we were scheduled to be at the hospital at 7am Friday morning. I slept surprisingly well, just normal tossing and turning from being uncomfortable. I cried when I snuck in to get Elle a kiss goodbye in the morning. And I finally started to get nervous as Eric and were driving to the hospital, mainly just nervous about the epidural. Actually having the baby was easy breezy with Elle, it was quick and I didn't feel anything so I expected the same this time around. Wrongo! I took this pic with Elle before we went to bed on Thursday. My last pic with my only child.

They started me on Pitocin once we were all settled in our room and just like with Elle it did nothing to kick start my labor. Around noon they broke my water to get things moving and brought in the anesthesiologist for my epidural, it was pretty clear about 20 minutes later that the epidural wasn't working, I was pretty uncomfortable. They brought the anesthesiologist back in for my 2nd epidural and this time I was completely numb from the waist down within seconds. Reading the doctors body language I quickly realized this wasn't good. I went from feeling great and thanking him to asking if I was paralyzed. I tend to overreact. :) Within an hour I was able to wiggle my toes so they gave me my third (and final) epidural. This one just flat out didn't work. At all. My parents, Mary and Will all came to the hospital that night. They would all take turns hanging with Elle on the main floor of the hospital. At one point I remember Mary and my mom were in the room with me and my contractions were unbearable. I was crying, mom was trying to get me to do LaMaz breathing which I kept insisting people don't do anymore. Eric had gone downstairs to see Elle and everyone was getting ready to leave because it seemed like Oliver wouldn't be making his appearance until sometime the next morning. My mom was in the room and I told her to go downstairs and get Eric, I was in so much pain! I'm not sure how much time passed between my mom leaving and Eric coming back in but it felt like an eternity. In that time Oliver decided he was ready! I was pressing the nurse button over and over and when no one came I started yelling for help into the hallway. I honesty thought I was going to have him all by myself in that room. When Eric got back in the room it was about 5 minutes before he was born. 5 minutes of me screaming and begging Eric to find someone who could give me medicine. All the scenarios that ran through my head when I was pregnant, I never even entertained the idea of having a baby without pain medicine. I don't handle pain well, I was positive I was dying. :) At 10:33 pm on Friday, February 20th I was holding my perfect little Oliver Russell. 7lbs 11 oz, 22in of perfection.

Oliver was wide awake after he was born. Love his little wide eyes in these pictures!

My sweet boy.

We were able to go home on Sunday. Eric and I joked that when Eleanor was born we weren't ready to leave the hospital and they kind of pushed us out. This time we were the ones asking to speed up the process. Every patient but one on the maternity floor was leaving that day and we made sure we were the first to go! I was so ready to get home to Elle and let her meet her new brother!

My dad brought Elle to our house on his way to Charlie's 1st birthday party. She immediately walked over to tell Oliver "hi" and laid down the law right away by telling him "the pink loveys are mine". She wanted to make sure that very important detail was covered right away.