Travis & Micall: Griffin Travis Godderidge...

The common response to our announcement of G baby's arrival was "seriously? During 4th year? Are you crazy?" Yes it seemed like a slightly inconvenient time to have a baby but it was not an accident it was not an oopsie...anyone who knows me knows I don't do accidents, I plan things. Griffin was planned to the "T". While planning out my 4th year I found that we have a bit of control over when we have vacation weeks. So I clumped 4 weeks vacation in September together just ya know in case... because September was perfect. I would be in the yucky 1st trimester during my easy spring semester, then I would be pregnant during a minimal amount of 4th year. I could maneuver my most of my surgery and anesthesia rotations to after the baby and things would be great. So it was settled we would have a baby in September. I know I'm controlling.

Well Christmas morning I took a pregnancy test and low and behold it was positive! I wrapped it up and gave to Travis, he cried and we danced. G baby was due September 1.

I had 4 weeks of vacation starting September 1, with rotations right up until. Don't worry I had a back up plan, what if he came early, what if I was put on bed rest, what if he came late, Plan B-I would graduate with my class in May of 2015 and make up any rotations I needed to after. We decided we could live with a back up plan but it was not ideal. So I was just determined to not have to use it.

Braxton hicks started at about week 23 this was kind of concerning considering I was having 12-16 contractions an hour all day. Crap. You can't come this early. Well all is well because it was just a result of being on my feet 15 hours a day and being a 4th year. Annoying but unproductive contractions.

As 40 weeks came closer, I became worried about going late. I had been prepping my doctor about inducing me since appointment one because I have 4 weeks vacation starting September 1 not starting whenever baby arrives. If I were to come late then I would eat into my precious time off, so I began working my doctor. She agreed that if things were looking favorable and my cervix was dilating then she would possibly induce me on my due date.

Friday August 29, the last day of my Orthopedic rotation I woke up at 3:30 AM with some fierce contractions, not braxton hicks, those I knew, but real deal hurting, cramping contractions. WOO baby I was ready. I wandered the house from 3:30 to 5:30 timing contractions, they were about 5 minutes apart consistently. I was still not sure because I wasn't doubling over in pain like the movies so I just laid in bed timing. I decided that I might as well go to the school for Rounds. Our friday schedule was really light with only one appointment and the weekend was minimal patient care with only one dog, so after rounds I asked my ortho team if it was ok if I left and went to the hospital because I was pretty sure I was gonna have a baby.

I called Travis at work and said I think it might be time but I didn't know, he came home and continued to work from home while I paced around wondering what to do! I called my mom who was flying in Saturday night, and told her I was pretty sure I was in labor. She promptly told me to get off the phone she had to call the airlines! My contractions had been 5 minutes apart consistently for over 3 hours now so I decided alright let's go to the hospital. They put me on the monitor and sure enough the contractions were super consistent and strong but I was only dilated to a 2. BOO. We went walking and bouncing and walking and bouncing for an hour all while the contractions were still 3-5 minutes apart. They checked me again and I was only dilated to a 2.5. Ugh. They called my doc who said I was definitely in labor but it seemed to be really slow "early labor" so I might as well do it at home. So we went home very discouraged. Travis went back to work and I bounced on my yoga ball and walked the dog, took a bath, laid on the couch, bounced some more. Travis came home and the contractions were still 3-5 minutes apart still coming strong and getting stronger but I refused to go to the hospital in fear of being sent home! My mom had changed her flight and was flying into Pullman at 6:45. We picked her up from the airport with intense contractions still coming. Decided to go get something to eat, enjoyed our favorite restaurant while pausing for contractions. I paced the house for a bit longer until I decided I was over this, I wanted to labor in a hospital with drugs, not at my house on a yoga ball. So we went to the hospital, only dilated to a 3. ARE YOU JOKING. The monitor showed intense consistent contractions every 2 minutes but no dilation. We walked the halls while my mom hung out in the room, after an hour of walking I was at a 3. They called my on call doctor since mine had gone out of town, he said I could go home or he could come in and check to see what was going on. I said PLEASE come in, by the time he came in he checked me and said "Oh ya your in labor you can have an epidural for sure!" Woo, so happy. After the drugs I was much happier. We all tried to sleep a bit, but little G baby's heart rate kept dropping and making them a bit worried. They suspected the cord was wrapped around his neck, they put me on oxygen and prepared us for the possibility that we would have to go to a C-section. They said don't worry yet we will let you know, his little heart stayed mostly stable so we just monitored it. I continued to progress pretty slow until I hit an 8 at about 6:30 AM by about 6:45 I was at a ready to push they called my doc and he checked me and said YUP let's go. 7:00 we were ready to go, my mom began pacing the waiting room and Travis graciously held a leg since they were under staffed. 8:15 Griffin was born! We couldn't have been happier!