{Connor's Birth Story}

 Hi everyone!! I am 10 days into mommy-hood and things are going great so far! But more on the first couple of weeks later.  I am here today to share Connor's birth story :)   Connor man decided not to come on his own so we were scheduled to induce on Monday, May 20th.  Sunday night, the 19th, my husband and I headed to the hospital to check in a little before 7.   We got there, checked in and were taken to the room we would call home for a few days.  They didn't waste any time....I was in my gown and in the bed by 7:30, ready for them to hook my IV up and start the Cervidil.  Before inserting the Cervidil, they checked me one more time to see if I was dilated at all but I was still at a 0.    So, they inserted the Cervidil and explained that it would probably make me cramp some but it would hopefully help me dilate overnight.  I knew I needed to get some sleep because I had been awake since 3 AM that day and I knew the next day was going to be long and tiring.  My doctor had previously approved for the nurse to give me Ambien so that I could sleep.  They brought me the Ambien at 9 and I attempted to take it but it immediately made me throw up.  Boo.  So, I tried to sleep but no luck.  I was cramping pretty bad and had to go to the bathroom once an hour, plus I was just restless...so needless to say I did not sleep at all that night.  By 5 AM Monday when they came in to take out the Cervidil and see if I was dilated I was exhausted.  But, I was dilated 1 cm...finally some progress!   They started the Pitocin around 6:30 AM.  Around 9 I noticed a big change in my contractions...they were more frequent and more painful.  At 10 they came to check me again and I was 2 cm dilated.  Around this time I started asking for the epidural.  The contractions were AWFUL and coming every 2 minutes.  The first time I asked for it, the nurse called my doctor to let her know but my doctor asked for me to try to wait a little bit longer to see if I would progress some more on my own.  She was worried the epidural would slow things down.  They did give me Demerol and Phenegren to help with the pain & nausea but that just made me high as a kite....the room was spinning, my arms got so heavy that I could not even lift them to get my water and it caused me to throw up.  And it didn't really help the pain.  By 11 I was in the worst pain I have ever experienced and I told the nurse that I HAD to have the epidural ASAP....I didn't even care at that point if I had progressed any or if this would end in a C-section.  I just needed some relief.   All of our parents were at the hospital at this point.  When they came in to do the epidural they made everyone, including my husband, leave the room.  They said they have had too many husbands pass out so they make everyone but 1 nurse leave the room.  They guy that was about to do the epidural looked 5 years younger than me so that made me a little nervous.  I got into the position he told me to, then he told me to let him know as soon as I was starting to have a contraction so that he could stop.  I had 3 full blown contractions while he was doing the epidural so he had to keep stopping and waiting for them to pass.  But as soon as he was done, I felt immediate relief.  Thank God for epidurals!    Between being awake for over 30 hours and all the medicines, I was finally able to sleep.  I slept off and on until about 2:30.   At 2:30 my doctor came in to check me.  I was watching her face and the look she gave me and the nurse made me think I was still at a 2....but then she got this big smile on her face and said I was FULLY DILATED!  I thought she was kidding!  But thank goodness she wasn't.  She went ahead and broke my water then she said she had to run back to her office for a little bit but we were going to start pushing in 30 minutes.    So, for the next 30 minutes my husband is frantically texting our friends and letting our family know.  My dad and step-mom had just left the hospital to go back to where they were staying so they turned around and came right back.   It ended up being a little longer than 30 minutes, but right before 3:30 my nurse (whose name happened to be Leslie too) came in and said it was time to start pushing.  They were going to let me push for awhile then call my doctor to come back when he was getting close to coming out.   So, I started pushing at exactly 3:30.  My husband, my nurse and one of my Mom's best friends (who works at the hospital and used to be a L&D nurse), Lori, were the only ones in the room.  They would tell me when I was starting a contraction and I would push for 10 seconds, 3 times during each one.  After pushing during the 1st contraction the nurse said she could see his head and it was full of hair :)  When she said that I knew I wanted to watch the birth in the mirror.  When they first offered the mirror I said no.  I never thought I would want to watch but I am SO glad I did.....not only is it just amazing to see your baby being born but seeing his head gave me just the amount of motivation I needed to keep pushing.   When I saw his head and saw myself making progress, I was determined to not let this end in a C-section.  My husband even "went south" and saw what I was seeing too.  I was not too sure I wanted him to see all that but now I am so glad he did, and so is he.  Speaking of my husband...he was amazing thru the whole experience.  He was so excited and he was my biggest cheerleader....constantly encouraging me and saying the sweetest things.  Going thru that with him makes me love him so much more than I already did.     So, the nurse put the big mirror down at the end of the bed and we kept pushing.  After 15-20 minutes I was at the point where I could tell when I needed to push before the nurse told me when. Finally the nurse told me he was almost out and she needed me to not push anymore so she could call my doctor and get her over to us.  Well...that worked for a few minutes but soon I HAD to push.  The nurse had called my doctor and told her to hurry and that this baby was coming out in 5 minutes or less.   My doctor made it in to my room about 2 minutes before he came out....she did not even have time to finish putting on her scrubs and gloves! Ha!   Connor was born at 4:13 PM on Monday, May 20th.  He weighed 8.3 lbs and was 20.5 inches long.  And we are so, so, so in love with him.  Within 10 seconds of being born he was on my chest and it was the most amazing, emotional moment of my life.  I will never forget that feeling.    

  Here are a few pictures our time in the hospital!

 

      I got really lucky and had a great experience with labor and delivery and it turned out to be pretty easy (well...as easy as pushing out a 8 lb baby can be...and mostly thanks to the epidural ;)  ).  We are loving our new life as a family of 3 and things are going pretty great so far! I will be back in the next couple of days to share more about the first 2 weeks!   Thank you for all the sweet comments, emails and texts!! :)   xo