My Valentine. (Part 1)

He is finally here! This will probably be at least a two-part post, but I want to write out the story of Nolan's birth while it is still fresh in my mind. There are so many little things I never want to forget...

My last week of pregnancy was rough to say the least. On Sunday, February 5, I woke up and had a hard time getting Nolan to move. I started to get nervous and Chris and I decided to go into the hospital for monitoring. They tried using a buzzer on my belly and he didn't respond at all. They kept watching his heart rate and finally determined that it was not fluctuating a lot, but it was enough to send us home with instructions to count his kicks. I was frustrated but I had an appointment with my midwife that Wednesday so I figured I'd just talk to her then.

At my appointment, she did an ultrasound and decided to hook me up for a non-stress test because he still was not very active. When they started, they told me it would only take about 20 minutes. They kept coming in to check his stats and nobody would tell me why they weren't letting us leave. They tried to buzz my belly and had me drink some apple juice to try to get him moving but it wasn't working. After about an hour of monitoring, they came in and said they were finally able to "get him to pass" and we could go home. They told me to come back that Friday for another round of testing and I left with an induction date of Thursday, February 16 (today.) I was so upset. I was scared to death that nobody was listening to me and there was something wrong with my boy.

We went in for our next NST on Friday, February 10. My midwife was not working so there was a different doctor that was looking over Nolan's stats. He asked when I was being induced and when he realized it was not until the following Thursday, he said I needed to make an appointment and come in on Monday to meet with my midwife. He said that I would be having a baby "very soon." With that, we left.

We got home that evening and I was a ball of stress. I couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong and we ended up back in the hospital that night after over 2 hours of trying everything to get Nolan to move with not even the slightest kick. They hooked me up to all of the monitors (again) and tried buzzing my belly (again) and nobody could get him to kick. However, his heart rate was fluctuating like it needed to and looked a lot better than it did earlier in the day, so I was sent home (again.) I felt a little bit better though because he was able to do really well on his final NST and I knew he wouldn't be in there for that much longer.

The weekend went pretty smooth and Chris and I spent most of the night of Saturday, February 11, laying in bed and playing with Nolan in my belly. He was really playful and active. Chris used the flashlight on his phone to get Nolan to move around and follow the light. It put me at peace and for the first time in over a week, I felt like I would be okay to wait until the 16th to meet my boy (even though it was a week past his due date, which I was not thrilled about...)

We went to our follow up appointment with my midwife on Monday, February 13. They checked my blood pressure and for the first time in my pregnancy, it was through the roof. They couldn't even get their machine to read it so they had to check it by hand. I was a little bit concerned, but I figured it was just the result of being nervous about the appointment and stressed about the week prior. We were moved to the exam room and a few minutes later, my midwife walked in and the first words out of her mouth were "nine o'clock." I said "tonight?!" and looked over at Chris to make sure he realized what she was saying.

To be continued...