The Birth Story

So, you want the details huh? Here's the play by play....
On Wednesday, April 1st I had contractions throughout the day. I was scheduled to be induced Friday morning, so was dreading having to deal with the contractions for two days, even though they weren't bad, just annoying. That night around 10pm they got a bit worse, pretty much just like cramps, but were still about 8 minutes apart. My friend told me to take a bath. I'd been sitting on the couch ALL day doing nothing. I wish I had gotten up and walked or something because once I got up and got the bath ready, they were pretty bad (still not really painful though). I asked Brian to call the doctor while I got in the bath. The doctor said to just go to the hospital to get checked. If it was nothing, they would send me home. We checked into the hospital at 11:00pm. I was 2 cm and 80% effaced. About 5 minutes after they settled me into the oh-so-comfy bed, my water broke. The nurse hooked me up to monitors for both my and the baby's heart rates and my blood pressure. At around 12:30 the contractions got really painful. The nurse kept asking me if I wanted the epidural and since for the time between contractions I felt great, I kept thinking I didn't need it yet. After watching me go through a rough contraction, the nurse said, "I think it's time for your epidural, stop fighting it". What I didn't know was that I had to sit through a full bag of IV before they could start the epidural. Ugh....the contractions during that time were brutal and I threw up after each one! I couldn't understand why I had been so eager for this moment to arrive. The epidural was finally put in at 1:00am. The anesthesiologist was amazing and he put it in while I was having a contraction so I didn't feel anything. It was awesome once it kicked in too. I then spent the next several hours just laying there, thinking about what was to come. I tried to sleep, but between the nurses coming in every 30 minutes and the blood pressure cuff tightening around my arm every 15 minutes, it was almost impossible. Brian, however, slept great this entire time. At 5:00am the nurse checked me and I was 5cm. Getting closer! I remember feeling so relieved that there was actually progress. I didn’t want to turn back or be sent home at this point! More waiting..... There was a nurse shift change at 8:00. The new nurse said she wanted to check me so she had a baseline from which to judge each time she came in to examine me. After checking me, she said, "well, would you be disappointed if I told you that you are 9 1/2 cm?" All I could think was "holy crap! this is getting close!” She then called my doctor who was already in the building for a meeting. He came in the room in a suit and did a "test push". He then asked, "so, are you ready to have this baby? Let me go get changed and we're going to have a baby." Within 10 minutes he was back in his scrubs. The nurses set up the table for him, the baby warmer, etc. There were so many people in and out of the room and lots of commotion. I was so glad that it happened so fast because there was absolutely no time for my anxiety to build up. By 8:40 I was pushing and at 9:00 baby Jayden David made his grand entrance into this world. Brian was by my side the entire time and was a great cheer leader. The pushing was the part I was most worried about from the beginning, and it was nothing! I didn't feel any pain at all. The hardest part was holding my breath while pushing hard. Brian told me it looked like I was going to pop blood vessels in my face. Jayden was finally born at 9:00am. He weighed 8lbs. 6 oz. and was 19 1/2 inches long. When they put Jayden on me, I think I was in shock. I didn’t really know what to say or do. I couldn’t even cry. I just stared at him. I couldn't believe he was finally here! They then took him to weigh him, give him a bath, etc. When they brought him back and put him in my arms, I knew that every ounce of pain and all 10 months of pregnancy (which I hated) were soooo worth it. Brian and I still stare at him every day and think, "wow, we made that!" What an incredible experience it was. I’m sure it was the first of many great experiences that we will share with our new little guy.