Oden Adventures

In keeping with what seems to be our tradition, we had another early baby - and an induction due to last minute weirdness in what was an otherwise healthy pregnancy.  So today, on what is a week after my August 6th due date, we've already been enjoying little Oliver Patrick for almost two weeks!

On Wednesday, July 30th, Vianne's Grandpa came to pick her up for their weekly bike ride, and I settled onto the couch to rest & work on projects before my 1:00pm weekly check-up with Dr. Han.  As I sat there, I started to feel very dizzy and nauseous, even while just sitting, and I felt nervous about driving so I asked Patrick to take me to my appointment.  Turns out, my blood pressure was high (and I'd gained 6 lbs since the previous week - yikes! - but likely all water retention).  So Dr. Han said that she had to send me to check in at the hospital because of the dangers related to hypertension with pregnancy.

So Grandpa got his Vianne Time extended and we headed over to Kaiser Hospital in Baldwin Park, bringing our hospital bags, just in case.


...and we thought we were going home, when the doctor came in and said, "I'm keeping you here for sure!"  Quick change of plans!  Increased liver levels meant I had to stay and I should be induced.  When they start throwing around words like "stroke" and "seizures", you don't argue...

We were settled into our delivery room by about 5:30pm and the induction preparations began.  I was having contractions, they said, about 10 minutes apart, but I wasn't feeling anything.  Finally, about 2:00am, when I'd gone from 1cm to 3cm dilated, there started to be some pain but it seemed too early to me to get an epidural (clearly, I was lacking sleep at this point) so I opted for a narcotic medication.  Holy cow!  That was C-R-A-Z-Y.  I was saying all this crazy stuff, but part of me was aware that I was saying it, and I was drifting in and out of sleep and it felt like some kind of trippy fun house mirror world that I was trapped in.  Really bad idea - should've just gone with the epidural.

About 8:00am, I was still at 3cm, but started to have painful contractions so asked for the epidural.  While waiting, I had to endure about a half hour of awful pain (which I handle very poorly) so I'm very thankful for Patrick's hand to squeeze the heck out of.  But then, the glorious epidural!  The miraculous, wonderful epidural!

I then settled in for a few more hours while Baby made his way down, feeling almost nothing all the while.  And thus, feeling good enough even to let Patrick take silly pictures of me...

The doctor (finally) came in to check me again about 3pm and - just when we thought we might get our August baby after all - Baby was about to come out!  So the nurse quickly got things ready, the doctor came back, and after only about five pushes (hooray!), Oliver Patrick Oden made his big entrance into the world, Thursday, July 31st, at 4:19pm, weighing 6 lbs, 13 oz, and measuring 19 1/4 in.!  He came out crying; his Mama briefly panicked about his head shape, then cried with joy; his Daddy cut the cord and watched him get checked out...







We were settled into our new room by about 7pm, and shortly after, Patrick's parents (who'd been graciously watching Vianne all this time) arrived with Vianne.  We were so excited to see her reaction to meeting her baby brother at last, and she did not disappoint!  She was completely taken with him from the first moment.

So thankful to be heading home, with a clean bill of health for both of us!