Wow time flies when you have a newborn. He's already 3 weeks old! It feels like just yesterday I was sitting in the hospital waiting to meet him.
I had a few health problems during my pregnancy, nothing too major, but my doctor felt it would be best to induce at 39 weeks and I was more than okay with that. I was surprised I made it that long, to be honest. I had been contracting a lot for about a week and a half leading up to it. Stephen and I went into the hospital Tuesday, February 24th around 9 pm. We got settled into a room to spend the night and my nurse gave me some medicine that was supposed to help my cervix soften and spread. She came back in a few hours later to check me and decided to give me another dose for safe measure. Around 4;30 I started contracting pretty regularly. At 7 they gave me pitocin and decided to break my water and attach a monitor directly to the baby's head and to my uterus since the monitor I was hooked up to kept losing his heart rate and wasn't picking up my contractions.
The OB came in to break my water and was surprised at how easily it broke, he didn't have to use any tools. Things got moving pretty quickly once my water broke. Suddenly my contractions became pretty intense and moved from the front to my back. They lasted about 90 seconds each and were only 60-90 seconds apart. Let me tell you, back labor is no walk in the park. Side story, before we went in I had told Steve that I wanted to wait a while before getting an epidural because I wanted to experience labor and see how tough I was... Long story short, I was not tough. After about 10 minutes of back labor I was close to tears and was more than ready for an epidural. The anesthesiologist came in quickly and got me all set up. Bless you, you wonderful, wonderful man. After I was all numbed up, things were pretty easy (aside from some pretty intense nausea). My nurse came in and turned off my pitocin because my contractions were too strong and too close together (she should have done that before the epidural... maybe I could have lasted longer). Around 2 pm the nurse came to check me and found that I was a 10 and was ready to push! We decided to do something called "rest and descend" and it's exactly what it sounds like, I rest, the baby descends. It's supposed to make for an easier delivery. Pushing isnt supposed to take as long. The nurse came back in around 2:30ish and we started pushing around 2:40. There was a clock right in front of me and I just watched it... soon it was 3, then 3:30, then 4... My nurse gave me a little break to "rest and descend" and we came back to pushing. 4:30 came and went and I wasn't getting closer. My doctor had a class she had to attend at 5 and was hoping the baby would be here before that, after coming and checking my progress, she said she'd let them know what was happening and she'd leave at any time to come back if she needed to. 5 came and went, then 5:30. At this point I was feeling extremely tired and discouraged. I'd never heard of anyone pushing for more than 2 or 2.5 hours and not end up needing a C-section. Up until this point I'd tried to stay focused and positive. Steve and my nurse, Gina, had been amazing at being so supportive and encouraging. But I started to doubt my ability to push this baby out of me, my epidural was wearing off, and I was exhausted. I started to cry. We decided to rest for a bit more. My doctor came back around 6ish and I thought we were going to start talking about using a vacuum/forceps or a C-section. But she came in and was just the thing I needed. We had talked about my birth plan before hand and she knew I didn't want to use a vacuum or forceps and she knew I wanted to do all we possibly could to avoid a C-section. She walked into my room and told me that his heart rate was just as steady as could be and he wasn't showing any signs of distress. He was coming vaginally. She was just what I needed to find more strength and energy to keep pushing. So that's what we did... we kept pushing. For a little over an hour. By the time he FINALLY came, my epidural was pretty worn off. I felt like I could feel everything. I have never felt pain like that before. Side note: I don't know how women go natural. Kudos to you, ladies.
Finally at 7:09, after screaming "I want him out of me!!!" he came out face up. That little stinker was facing the wrong way, no wonder he was so hard to get out. I was completely overwhelmed when they placed him on my chest. All I could think about was the fact that he was finally here, I was able to push him out and he was finally here! Poor little guy came out with the worst cone head I'd ever seen, but he was (and still is) so perfect. We've loved every single second of Henry, he truly is the best baby. I never understood how people always said their children were their greatest joys (don't get me wrong, I've always wanted/loved kids, my mind just couldn't comprehend it), or when people told me I'd be so overwhelmed with love, but I get it now. This really is bliss.
P.S. My friend Chelsea Homer did a birth video for us. She did such an amazing job and I'll never be able to properly thank her for capturing this moment for us. I will always cherish this video. If you need/want a videographer, hit her up. Click here to go check out her blog. Not only does she do amazing work, she's one of the kindest souls I've ever met. You won't regret it.
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