Cinco-de-Mayo a Fiesta for the Douds!

Despite anticipating Dirk Allen's due date in May for over 9 months, I still find myself shocked that he is finally here. I am overjoyed to welcome him into our family, and this is the story of how he arrived!

The night of May 4th I had a date to meet a friend for a pedicure. My friend ended up having a conflict, but I was so pumped about getting some rest and relaxation time that I showed up for our appointment solo. It was an hour of much needed downtime and I came out feeling refreshed and with much prettier toenails! 

We did our usual routine that night, getting Dakota to bed around 8 pm and staying up to watch The Voice. While laying in bed, I felt what I thought might have either been me wetting the bed or just possibly, my water could have broke. I was hesitant to mention anything to Dirk cause it sounded like he had just fallen asleep. I tiptoed to the bathroom to see what was going, immediately giddy. I had an idea that this was it! Sure enough, this was something entirely different than wetting the bed. Since I wasn't experiencing any contractions, I decided to get back in bed and see if I could sneak an hour of sleep in. Not five minutes later though, I felt more water. It was clear that whatever was happening, was not going to allow me to rest. In an instant, I was a mad woman who needed to clean the house, pack the rest of our things, find the phone number to call the nurse and see exactly when I should come in. Once I was out of bed, I casually mentioned to Dirk, "I'm pretty sure my water broke."

He sprung out of bed too, grabbing toiletries and helping load our bags in the car. I had left a message for the hospital noting the time of my water breaking and was waiting on a call back from the nurse to see what we should do. When the nurse finally called back, we were told to make our way to the hospital. I was over the moon excited! We had scheduled a c-section for May 13th, but I had been praying I'd have a chance to get this labor started naturally. My prayers had been answered. I felt certain my body was ready to deliver this baby! We text our friend Rebecca, my pedicure date from before, and she agreed to come crash at our house so that Dakota could sleep through the night.  

My Granny holding me over 33 years ago

By the time we were on the road, I could feel the contractions starting to come more regularly. None were so painful that I was holding my breath, but I was feeling things progress. We arrived at the hospital around 1:00 am and were so excited that we couldn't remember our way to the labor and delivery floor. Luckily, we saw another pregnant woman in labor and followed her. It was a busy Cinco de Mayo at Seton, and we had to wait for a delivery room to become available, though I was admitted to the hospital. I had the usual issues with my veins not wanting to cooperate, but I eventually got my Hep-lock in. Dirk kept me laughing at this point though I was certainly feeling the contractions hit harder. Horse breathing and sing-humming through them helped me to cope. We lucked out that my Ob-gyn Dr. Reich was on-call Wednesday night, and she'd be checking in on me.

The level of contractions hit a new level when I was finally told I would be headed to a delivery room. We were wheeled to the new room and I remember having some strong ones hit en route. Dirk and I had still not brought in one bag in from the car. I was nervous for him to leave me. I had been on a list for an epidural as the contractions were starting to feel unbearable. I tried to breathe through the contractions, stretch, and at one point I asked Dirk to hop in the bed with me and massage my hips and forehead. When I didn't think I was going to be able to stand it any longer, the anesthesiologist finally arrived at 4:00 am. Relief came quickly after that, but my contractions were still frequent and very intense. When Dr. Reich came back in after the epidural, she was impressed with the progress we'd made! Baby Dirk was head down and at a lower station, but was still face up instead of face down. We used a peanut ball and lied to the right and then left for a while to get him to rotate to a more optimum position. 

At 6:00 in the morning, Dr. Reich came in and was worried about a deceleration in Baby Dirk's heart rate. She checked me... and lo and behold- I was at 10 cm, and Baby Dirk had rotated to face down! She was enthusiastic, and said we could try some pushing, but warned us with the deceleration, she didn't want to put too much stress on him. We tried a round of pushing, and made some progress. Unfortunately, not long after Baby Dirk had a 7 minute long deceleration. He eventually became stable again, but with the intensity of the contractions, she wasn't sure how much more pushing he could withstand. With another round of pushing, Baby Dirk started having another round of decelerations. She looked at me, and I knew it was going to be another c-section. Coming so close, I was a little heartbroken, but knew it was the best call for the health of our son. I shed a few quick tears, and was quickly wheeled to an operating room. I was amazed at yet again how many people came rushing into our delivery room to whisk me away. It felt like 5 minutes later the blue curtain was up, a flurry of cold liquid came rushing through the IV, and I heard them announce he was born at 7:15 am in the morning. I still remember when they laid him on my chest, how relieved I was that he was healthy, but how I also felt that I knew nothing about him yet! I had yet to discover who this tiny baby was. He came out so quiet and already seemed so different than Dakota. I have to admit I worried if I could become as attached to this baby as I was currently to Dakota. 

After the c-section, we discovered the cord had been wrapped around Baby Dirk's neck, most likely contributing to his heart decelerations. I felt even more fortunate that he was here and healthy. I was also surprised to learn he was born at only 6 lb 3 oz! We had expected a bigger boy from the ultrasounds taken, and in the end he weighed less than Dakota weighed at birth. 

It wasn't much longer that we had family coming to meet Baby Dirk, but who I was most anxious about meeting Baby Dirk was Big Sister Dakota. We had not seen her in what felt like forever, and I couldn't wait to see her expression. She gave Baby Dirk a sweet cheek-to-cheek hello, but was more excited to have her Nana and Mimi there with her! I also think it made her nervous to see me in a hospital bed and hobbling around.  I didn't want to traumatize her so we kept her visit short, and made plans to see her the following day.

Being able to go home on my birthday was the best present! I was still very exhausted from the past 36 hours, but I wanted to be in my own bed, and we had a healthy newborn who had learned to breastfeed very quickly. Baby Dirk had failed his first hearing test, so we were only waiting on him to pass that test before they released us. He took the longest amount of time, but in the end got the score he needed so that we could be released. I also had the sweetest visitors, my Mom and Dakota visit and bring up some cupcakes so that it really felt like a birthday. 

We are now getting into the swing of things as a family of four. Baby Dirk is growing so quickly, and Dakota has blossomed in her role as big sister. She helps bring wipes and diapers for Momma, and constantly asks, "What Baby Dirk doing?" or "Baby Dirk coming?" if I say we are headed somewhere. He is a curious and strong baby, and was so quiet his first week at home. Every time I look at his face, I see so much Dalmolin in him. I even told my Mom he looks like Uncle Weeds, and she said the same thing after seeing him again! He is such a sweet sweet baby boy, and I am so glad he is finally here.  Welcome home Baby Dirk!