December 30th, from start to finish

I'm finally having some time to sit down and blog about Miles birth.  The past few days have been wonderful.  We've spent some time having to adjust to a newborn being around, but things are going smoothly, other then the fact that Miles is apparently on USA time and sleeps all day and likes to be awake during the night.  Gavin loves having his baby brother around: he's very affectionate, loving, and always wants to make sure that Miles is okay.  He calls him 'bebe'.  Captain and Kimmie have been a tremendous help and we're loving having them here.  

Now onto the details of the day.  

We went to bed at midnight after playing a long game of Mexican Train Dominoes (The Sperlings' spent the evening with us) and then we packed our bags and got things all together.  We woke up at 2am, our driver, Saju, who was assigned to me for the past two months arrived, and we left our house by 3am.

During the hour and fifteen minute drive to the hospital, Brooks and mom took a nap.  I tried, but was woken up 3 times with contractions, about 20 minutes apart.  Hmmm.  Before arriving at the hospital, Brooks got up and ate some food he packed himself, to help ensure that he would not have a passing out episode like he did when Gavin was born and it worked!  He was "solid like a rock". 

We checked in and were admitted to the hospital and I was up in my room by 5am.  

Upon entering my room, I was given my first enema. This was required and I did not know it!  Enough said.

6am- doctor on call came in and checked me.  I was 4cm and Miles placement was +1.  I was given my IV and of course, that's when the fun began.  I got sick, mom found me a puke bucket that came in handy, and I had episode #1 of passing out.  10 minutes later and a new robe, we're good to go!  

6:20am- having a few back contractions.  We're informed the anesthesiologists are on their way and they will administer an epidural first before starting the pitocin.  Over here, they feel it's better to get an epidural before labor starts- so your body is more relaxed and you're less likely to move when it gets placed.  I just thought, "okay, sure, that's fine". 

6:45am- Epidural is done.  Two Egyptian anesthesiologists performed the epidural, and things went smoothly.  Until-- I started feeling extreme pain in my right arm, started getting sick-- mom found another puke bucket for me, and I passed out for the 2nd time in an hour.  Doctor said my body went into hypertension or something like that, which is normal once the medicine goes through your body.   They performed a 'cold test' where they placed a cold rag on different areas of my body to determine if the epidural had gone into effect, which it had, and off they went!

7am- my new nurse, Adele came in and we instantly LOVED her!!  

7:20am- doctor comes in to check me.  I'm 6cm, 80% effaced, and Miles placement was -2.  She breaks my water to see if that will speed up my labor even more, on it's own, before the pitocin is administered. Yea, at this point, I hadn't even been "induced" yet. 

7:40am- we made phone calls letting Captain know what was going on and to plan on coming to the hospital sooner, rather then later.  I put make up on, Brooks and mom hung out, and they turned the pitocin drip on.   

7:55am- contractions are already starting to speed up, just waiting for them to get 2 minutes apart.  We all took a nap and relaxed before things got going.  

8:55am- our doctor's assistant, Dr. Evelyn, came in and checked me.  I'm 9cm, fully effaced, and Miles placement is -1. 

9:08am- I tell the nurse pressure is building.  Evelyn came back in and checked me again, I'm 10cm, and it's time! 

9:15am- I start pushing.  We're all laughing at how fast this morning just went and none of us can believe that I progressed as fast as I did, went through the entire induction process "backwards", and are about to meet Miles.

9:27am- Miles arrives in the world!  

I actually helped bring him into the world- literally!  When it was time, my doctor asked for my hands.  I wasn't real sure why he told me to give him my hands, but I did it anyways.  As Miles was being delivered, my doctor placed my hands around Miles and I pulled him out (sorry if that's too much info).  NEVER in a million years would I have thought to do this, asked to do it, or wanted to do it, however, it was a VERY neat experience and a sweet moment when I placed him on my chest.  My mom took a picture of the clock on the wall the moment Miles arrived. 

Miles was healthy and everything looked good!  He has one proud daddy!

I was beside myself the moment Miles arrived.  Of course, they whisked him away to check everything and I had to wait 30 minutes or so to hold him again.  I just couldn't believe he was here!

You know that part in the movie Home Alone when Kevin thinks he made his family disappear and he's stunned, in shock, and then realizes he's now all alone and the fun begins?  I kinda had a similar moment when they placed Miles into my arms and I realized, "Oh my gosh, I just had a baby..... in Saudi Arabia".  I couldn't believe that we did this!  I couldn't believe that every unknown, every fear, every concern about having a baby outside of the USA- actually worked out.  It worked out beautifully and here was our little man to prove it!!

We took this exact same picture when Brooks brought me Gavin for the first time.  I loved getting this moment captured!

Look at all that hair!!  We were stunned when the doctor told us he had a head full of hair while I was pushing.  Never did we expect that-- Brooks and I were both bald forever, so was Gavin.

Kimmie got to share in the experience and was so excited to meet her 6th grandbaby to give her a 'happy heart!'

Less then an hour old.  So cute-- and definitely looks like the Williams side of the family.

1:00pm- My dad, Gavin, and the Sperlings came to the hospital once I had been transferred to our new room and we were beside ourselves waiting for Gavin to get to meet Miles.  Gavin loved seeing his mommy and daddy and loved even more meeting baby Miles.  He loved him instantly.

Captain meeting Miles for the first time.

The 3 Perry Men!!

Miles already surrounded by people who love him!!

6pm- Around dinner time, my parents, the Sperlings, and Gavin left to go get some dinner and we were ready to whine down for the evening- it had been a long day and we were exhausted, running on very little sleep.  However, our evening was very eventful and we didn't get to sleep until 2am.

7pm- I was allowed to get up and walk to the bathroom.  All I can say is episode #3 of passing out occurred in the bathroom, which sent me straight back to the bed for another 2 hours.  Ugh!

10:30pm- I had a small complication that required me to receive an injection of pitocin to put my body back into labor so that my uterus would contract and release all that it needed to.  Needless to say, I spent the next 2 hours in 'labor'.  I experienced more pain during those 2 hours then I did the whole morning I was in actual labor and delivery.  Meanwhile, it was time to feed Miles in the middle of this ordeal, but he got sick- started throwing up, gagging, and chocking.  We were concerned and called his nurse to our room.  She immediately sent him to be seen by the doctor to check for blood in his stomach (based on what his throw up looked like).  A few hours later, I quit having contractions every minute apart and Miles was brought back to our room with a good report!

Overall, it was a good day!

We spent the next two days, including New Years Eve in the hospital and my parents and Gavin came to visit us on Friday.  Gavin couldn't wait to hold his baby brother again.  It was so fun to watch him interact with Miles and was very excited to see he was with Mommy and Daddy.  Brooks and I had a great experience in the hospital, we were very well taken care of, and couldn't be more pleased with the way things worked out.  I'll blog later about a few of the differences between the medical care from the states vs. here.

My two boys!  Priceless!

The Perry Family of Four