Our Pride and Joy Has Arrived, Michael Anthony Armand

Labor and Delivery
Well, the wait is over… little Michael Anthony Armand is finally here!! YAY! We were scheduled for an induction on Thursday March 11th 2010. That morning I woke up having contractions, mild and ranged from 4 minutes to 1 hour apart. We had a 9:00 A. Dr’s appt that morning for an ultrasound to verify that the little man was correctly positioned. He was head down however his back was towards my back, which meant a more difficult delivery and a lot of back pain (which was pretty normal by this point anyways, lol). We left there, ate some food, and ran a few last minute errands and returned home to finish up getting ready for our departure that afternoon.


After a short nap and grabbing a small bite to eat we headed up towards the hospital to be induced. Nick and Tabby were there to greet us and make sure everything was okay. Shortly afterwards my dad and step-mom arrived along with my brother Jeremy to spend a little time with us before they started the drugs to ‘officially’ induce me. After the nurse was done Dad, Liz, and Jeremy came back in to visit and keep us company while the mild contractions started kicking in. Shortly after that it started becoming a bit of a blur, ha-ha! My mom, Pops, Vinnie’s parents, Derek, Alicia, and I think even Josiah came by to see how things were going and visit for a while. When the moderate contractions set in I asked everyone to leave for a bit. They all went, got a bite to eat, walk around outside, or even just hang in the waiting room to kill some time.


In the mean time, the contractions got stronger and closer together. Shortly after I reached 4 cm dilated and was 75% effaced the contractions were getting quite painful due to the back labor I was having, so I asked to get an epidural. They said I could get one but the anesthesiologist was in surgery and it would be another hour at least before they could give it to me. I was a little upset because I told the nurse (and gave them the birth-plan) that I wanted the epidural as soon as possible especially since I was at a higher risk for a c-section. After she told me that it would probably be over an hour before I could get the epidural she gave me the option of a very low dose I.V. pain medicine, which had little to no side effects to the baby. It was about 11:30pm or so and I decided to go ahead and receive the I.V. since I was almost in tears from the back labor. She gave me the I.V. and in seconds I started feeling a little woozy and slight relief. Within 20 minutes the anesthesiologist from the O.R. came in to administer the epidural, since the anesthesiologist from the labor and delivery was still busy. He did a great job and I felt almost instant relief from the back labor pains. After the epidural had time to kick in and things settled down again, everyone came back in to visit for a while. It was a nice to see everyone and converse about everything that was going down. Everyone was getting anxious and we started taking bets on times he would be born (which we all were wrong on, LOL). Everyone said I must be feeling good because I was laughing and cutting up during major contractions. Alicia even said that I ‘danced’ during one contraction. The nurse came in to check and see how I was progressing so, once again, I asked everyone to leave while the nurse checked my vitals and progression. She said that it was hard to read my contraction monitor with all the commotion so I told I informed everyone that we needed to calm down and be quieter so my body could relax and continue to make the progression towards labor. That seemed to help my body transition into labor a bit faster, which was nice and before I knew it, it was time for the nurses to check me again. Everyone left for the last time before Michael made his debut so the nurses could check my vitals and to see what phase I was in. At that point, around 3am, I was about 6cm and 75% still. I decided that from that point on I just wanted it to be the two of us in the room until Michael got here. We enjoyed everyone’s company and support but since I was in the last stage of labor I wanted to spend some time with just Vinnie and he felt the same way.


About 7:30 am, just after staff rotation switch, the new nurse came in to check me and she said that I was fully effaced and completely dilated. She said she had to step out to call Dr. Doyle and let her know. When she came back in she informed us that the doctor wanted us to start pushing real soon. The nurse got everything together and ready to deliver the baby and we started pushing just before 8am. So we started pushing and shortly after the nurse said she could see his head and asked Vinnie if he wanted to see. Without hesitation Vinnie went to take a peek as his little head and from then on he decided to observed little Michael work his way into the world. Right when Michael was ready to make his entry the Dr. had just finished suiting up for the delivery. Three hard pushes later out came a little miracle. Overflowing with emotions we both began to cry with feelings that no one can describe. It was the most amazing feeling in the world to look upon this miracle that God had blessed us with and think that he was here and ours to love and care for. The wait was finally over, 9 months of carrying this child inside my womb and roughly 26 hrs (including the start of contractions) of labor he was here with us! He was born at 8:36 am, 7lbs 13.8oz, and 19 inches long. Daddy cut the umbilical cord and they placed him on my belly to clean him off. We gave him hugs and kisses before they took him to clean him off, get his APGAR test and weight. While they were doing that Vinnie sent out a text to everyone letting them know that Michael was here. The nurses gave Michael to Vinnie and Vinnie brought him to me to be breastfed. Before I was even decent and barely got started breastfeeding we could hear everyone gathered right outside the door, lol. I told Vinnie to make everyone go wait while we bonded and everything was cleaned up. Vinnie went and told everyone that we needed a little time as a family before everyone came in to see him. Everyone was very understanding, despite the LONG night they had waited up in the hospital waiting room to meet the little man. After a little bonding time and the clean-up I told Vinnie that everyone could come meet and hold him before they took our baby to the nursery whenever Vinnie was ready. Vinnie went and got everyone pretty much right away. I bet it must have looked like a herd of people coming down the hallway because they all piled in to see the little guy minutes later. Everyone was able to hold him and get a picture with Michael before the staff had to take him away for his bath, vaccines, eye ointment, and incubator to stabilize him temperature. Everyone left to get some rest shortly afterwards and we were transferred to the recovery room by about 10 am.






Recovery at the Hospital


After a long night of labor and delivery, we were brought to our recovery room to rest and recoup while they had Michael in the nursery. We got a couple hours to rest and catch some sleep, though looking back I don’t think we got any actual sleep (After a night like that it’s hard to relax with all the adrenaline pumping through your system, Lol). I had the worst headache and was very nauseous after my epidural started to wear off. About 1:00 lunch came by and I was so hungry that I stuffed the breadstick down and started eating my spaghetti. I wasn’t able to eat much because of the nausea. The nurses brought Michael to our room after they were finished and his temperature was stable to spend some time with us and be fed. Dad, Liz, Mom, and Bruce all came to visit and see how we were doing a few hours later. The hospital brought dinner and as soon as it entered the room I became very flushed. I paused and asked Mr. Bruce to hand me the cover to the food and the fumes from the food filled the room and my lungs. Right then I sat up fast and vomited all my lunch, and then my headache got twice as bad instantly. Mom and Bruce decided to give me some time to rest and recover. Dad and Liz chose to do the same, especially since they had a 4 hour drive ahead of them but before they left they prayed for my recovery. The nurse gave me some medication for the nausea as well as for the headache. They had the doctor who gave me the epidural come in and talk to me. He said that I very possibly could have a leak of spinal fluid from the epidural. He recommended laying down as much as possible and drink lots of caffeine and that if it did not go away I had the option of getting a blood patch (which is where they draw roughly 20 mL of blood and inject it into the spinal column through an epidural needle, that way the blood clots the hole that was made by the 1st epidural). After taking meds and drinking a lot of fluids and caffeine the pain subsided. The next night it came back when I went to get up it hit me like a ton of bricks. The day we went home they did a blood patch on me and I began to feel relief immediately. They told me that we could go home that day according to my doctor’s orders and instructed me to lay flat for the next 24 hours so the blood patch had time to clot and fix the hole. My doctor gave us the okay to go and we were discharged Sunday afternoon, after a few hours of making sure the blood patch was working. During our stay, we did have a few visitors to see Michael and visit with us. Thanks to all of you who stopped by at the hospital to see us!


Arriving Home


Once we got Michael loaded up in his car seat and put in the car, I got in the backseat with him and we headed home, finally!! We were so ready to be home. As we drove down the street we saw a bunch of balloons tied down to the mailbox. I was excited to see them, it was a great idea and we felt so special. Then we got out the car and headed into the house with Michael for the 1st time. We opened the door and there was a huge banner saying ‘Congratulations and Welcome Home Vinnie, Jolene, and Michael’ with signatures from Derek, Alicia, Josiah, Mom, and Bruce. The house smelled wonderful and everything was so nice and clean. They had also set the table with some gorgeous flowers and balloons tied a chair. It was fantastic to walk into a nice clean house with a newborn baby. Everyone was so extremely awesome and thoughtful to do all of that for us. Thank you all a billion times over for all you’ve done for us, we really really appreciate it all!


The 1st Week


The 1st night was horribly long, we didn’t get but maybe 2 hours of sleep that 1st night. Trying to figure out his sleeping/eating patterns, not freaking out about every little thing, staying sane, trying to sleep, and TRYING to follow the dr.’s orders by lying flat seemed impossible to do all at once. We were both already exhausted from the labor, delivery, and hospital stay so lack of sleep and general exhaustion from the 1st 2 days home really started to set in. But after the 1st 2 nights things started to calm down and become somewhat ‘normal’ or at least more so that it had been. Each night is a little different and has continued to improve for the most part. We are generally able to get about a 3 hour stretch of sleep at a time, and sometimes 4 – 4 ½ which is nice. Let’s hope and pray he continues to sleep well. We have really enjoyed having him here with us. He’s a little gas machine but we love him anyways, Lol! We are soaking up every little minute we get to just sit there and spend time with the little guy. It’s so hard not to just hold him all day and kiss his little hands and feet. He truly has been a blessing from God and we feel so honored to have him in our lives. Words honestly can’t explain the feelings you have for the little life that has entered your life and changed it in every way. I know this is just the beginning of the new chapter in our lives but we are so excited and can’t believe that he’s finally here. Thanks for reading the blog and sorry it took me a week to get it up. Lol! I want to thank all of you for coming to visit us in the hospital and during our 1st week home. We also want to thank and let you know how much we appreciate all of you who prepared dinner for us. It really did make a Huge difference and gave us more time together as a family. We greatly appreciate it. Also, Thank you to those who helped get the house all beautiful for Michael’s arrival. Take care and God bless! Feel free to leave comments.


Love,


The Armands <3