Well, after a week of being a mommy, I finally have time to blog about how our sweet baby boy came into this world.
On Thursday March 31st, I had my 39 week visit with the doctor. At that visit, he informed me I would probably be pregnant for at least another week, maybe 2. My cervix was completely closed and thick and baby was sitting at -3 position. He said it could happen any time but to plan on seeing him the next week. I was so frustrated, I was exhausted and starting to get really uncomfortable. After my appointment I just cried because I couldn't imagine feeling that way for 2 more weeks.
The next day, Friday, I was off and spent the day resting, walking and sitting on my yoga ball trying to get him to drop more.
On Saturday, I went to work but, I could hardly walk. I was so sore in my hips, pelvis and lower back. I felt terrible but, I stayed at work and just sat at my desk.
Sunday, I got up and went to work again still feeling bad. After work Heath and I had planned to run some errands. When I got home we went to wash the car, we went to eat and then went to Walmart to pick up some furniture we had ordered. When we were in Walmart I could barely walk. I told Heath he wasn't going to make it until next Friday, I was pretty sure he would come sooner. When we got home I went to take a bath and Heath started working on putting the furniture together. After I got out I started feeling really bad in general so, I laid down on the sofa at about 10. A few minutes later I heard a loud pop, like a champagne cork. Then I felt a long slow burning sensation along my lower belly. I called for Heath to come in and sit with me for awhile. Once he sat down about 15 seconds later I felt water start to gush out. I could see past my belly so I told Heath that I thought my water might have broke and could he see it. His eyes got huge, He jumped off the sofa. He was yelling "What do I do? Do we need to go?" I had to yell at him to calm down.
While I called the doctor, he called his mom to come over. The doctor told me to go to the hospital. So, while Heath packed the car, I gathered up the last few things I needed to pack. I was a little frustrated because I had just taken off all my makeup and brushed out my hair so, I attempted to put myself somewhat back together. While we were getting things together I had my first contraction. I had about 4 more before we left the house, with each one a little stronger than the last. We headed for the hospital around 10:45.
Heath and I spent the drive talking about how we could not believe this was actually happening. By the time we got to the hospital my contractions were about 5 minutes apart and pretty strong. Heath came around to help me out of the car and when I stood up I had a MAJOR gush of water, about a quart or more. I was completely soaked at this point. It was all the way down my legs, into my flip flops. When I walked I squished. All we could do was laugh hysterically and the more I laughed the more it gushed out. I was so embarrassed to walk through the hospital, which only added up to more laughter.
Once they got me checked in I was only dilated to a 1. Kristi showed up just before they moved me to my labor and delivery. By the time I got to my room I was having pretty strong
contractions but they were still only 5-7 minutes apart. By about 2, I was in a fair amount of pain but they wouldn't let me have an epidural until I was 3 cm. Kristi finally called the nurse and asked her to check me and...lucky me I was 3 cm. Waiting the 20 minutes for the epidural was horrible but once I got it, it was such relief. After that, for the rest of the night, we spent our time sleeping off and on. Sometime during the night had a small scare when his heart rate dropped but they were able to get it back up pretty quickly.
Around 8:00 the next morning Dr. Barnes came in to check me and I was at 7cm. He told us we would probably have baby by lunchtime. Well, lunchtime came and went. It took forever to go from 7cm to 9 cm. I finally stalled out at 9.5 cm at around 2:00. They had me start pushing to try to push through the last .5 cm. I was making progress with my pushing the only problem was my contractions were super long and very strong but they were still only 5 minutes apart. So when I pushed him down he would slide back up while we were waiting for the next contraction.
Around 4:00 Dr. Barnes came back in to check on me and they decided to give me pitocin to get my contractions closer together. At that point I had been pushing for 2 hours. They let me push for one more hour with the pitocin to see if I could get him to move down more. If I had not progressed within the hour, my only choice was to have a C-section. I was so exhausted at that point I wasn't sure I could go another hour but, somehow I managed to find it in me to push.
After an hour the doctor came back again and said that I had made progress but, the baby was stuck under my pubic bone and couldn't move past it. He told me he would either have to use the vacuum to help get him out or we would have to do a C-section. I agreed to let them try the vacuum. I had been in labor 19 hours at this point I didn't want to have a C-section now. At 6:00 Dr. Barnes got ready and 5 or 6 pushes later my sweet baby boy was born at 6:23PM, more than 20 hours later.
I will not ever forget this day, hearing his sweet cry for the first time, seeing his beautiful face looking up at me, seeing Heath's face when he saw him, or the way he instantly stopped crying when I talked to him. It was the most precious moment of my life. It is funny how your life can change in an instant. He is more beautiful than I ever could have imagined. I love him more than I ever thought possible. Holding that tiny baby for the first time was so amazing and it instantly soothed my aching heart. I am so glad I never stopped fighting for this moment because it was bigger and more amazing than I ever could have imagined. Labor was the hardest thing I have ever been through but I would do it all again in a second! I love being a mommy!
Here are a few more pictures from our day. (or should I say night and day...and night!)
