So I have not had the time to read the entire last page of posts, and I will just quickly type this while I get the chance...
Baby Rafael was born on September 24th, at 07:57 pm!
I ended up going in for an induction, simply because that was the only way to ensure my SO could be with me all the way and not miss the birth. If I had waited for spontaneous labor, he would have had to do the COVID test when checking in at L&D, and he would have to wait 2-3 hours for the results until he would be able to join me.
We did the covid tests 2 days before the induction, so we had the results ready, and we arrived at the hospital at 7 AM. It took a while until we got everything sorted out with the paperwork and until we were able to get a private "suite". Then it took a few more hours until they gave me some hormone (dont know which one) to try and start contractions.
We waited 4 hours for the hormone to work but turns out it didn't trigger any contractions for me. So my doc came in around 5pm and broke my waters. Gosh was that painful! 30 mins after they broke my water, contractions started. Managable at first.. but they were starting to come on really intense and sometimes with not much of a break inbetween! I definitely underestimated the pain of labor contractions. Also, I was overly tired from only sleeping 2 hours the night before, and didn't feel like I was in good shape to handle the pain, so I ended up going with an epidural. No regrets at all! Such a relief.
The crazy thing was that I apparently progressed from being 4-5cm dilated (when I got my epidural) to being ready to push within about an hour! I did not expect that at all, it all went so fast. The doctor came in just to check my cervix and was like "oh, looks like baby is about to come out"! When I had only been 5cm dilated an hour before.
So they rushed me to the delivery room, and once I was set up there, I literally pushed 3 times and little bubba was out. It was crazy! And soooo surreal. It honestly felt like I was in a dream, I couldn't quite grasp reality when they were putting my boy on my chest for a few seconds before whisking him away to check him and weigh him.
Oh yeah, speaking of weight... Remember how he was 99th percentile, then 75th percentile, and the doctors were CONVINCED he'd be huge, chubby and at least 4kg (8lb)?! Baby came out a perfectly normal 3290 grams (7 lbs), and 50cm in length. He is tiny! Even his size 56 outfits are too big for him.
Spent 2 nights in the hospital, and they were rough. Luckily we had great help from the nurses who taught us stuff, took care of our bub from time to time, etc.
He's 4 days old now and let me be honest... I have never been so sleep deprived in my life. I'm thoroughly exhausted, and so is my partner. But sooo in love with my lil guy. He's the most precious thing I have EVER seen in my life.
So that was only a really short simple version of it all. and bubba is waking up right now. I will catch up with you ladies very soon and hope all of you are doing wonderfully
