The Details (but not too many!)

This post is really for dual purpose, so I have the details of the day in writing so I can share them with our little Z-man when he gets older (I would like to think I would remember, but I have a feeling its kind of like your wedding day, you start to forget the little details over time) and to share with our family and friends how it all went down! This may get lengthy and I apologize for that!

I actually thought that Monday the 13th was going to be the big day as the "contractions" that I was having were different then the braxton hicks that I had been having previously. I was at work and continued to work my full work day as the "contractions" weren't getting anymore intense or closer together. Then when I got home that night everything completely stopped! I was a bummed! The day before Mike and I had discussed that we really need to pack our hospital bags as we had not done that yet, so we agreed to make sure we got it done on Monday night (good thing!). I went to bed that night without any signs of anything going on, then I was suddenly awaken at 2:30 AM to some activity in my back & belly and it wasn't our little guy kicking around!

I got up to go to the bathroom and I thought that my water had broken, but I wasn't sure. I laid back down in bed and as they started to get closer together I started to time them. (I have this handy contraction tracker app on my phone!) They continued to get closer together, it was about 5:30 AM and I decided I should wake Mike up. So he started to track my contractions for me and after a bit they were to the point that we decided to call in and let them know where I was at. So I jumped in the shower and got ready and Mike said that they said that we could head in. So we did a couple things around the house and said good-bye to the puppies and headed for the hospital at about 7:30 AM.

It took us about 15 minutes to get to the hospital and got all checked in and everything. They did all their checks and monitoring and also did a test to see if my water had broke or not. The test came back that my water had not broken (if I would of known that I would of stayed home longer, but I was supposed to head to the hospital ASAP after my water broke, since I tested positive for the group b strep test and had to get started on the antibiotics. So if it had broken I already would of been pushing it by not going in right away.), I was dilated to 6 cm, my contractions were 30 seconds long and between 2 and 4 minutes apart, and baby was doing great! They admitted me, she asked if I was going to do an epidural and I said no, so we just headed over to our birthing suite and settled in.

They got the IV in me and started the antibiotics (which I think was one of the most painful parts of all, but I don't really like needles at all) and then I had to have it every 4 hours after that, so I had it at noon and then again at 4. We called my family to tell them we were at the hospital and my mom decided to leave work and come up to be with us. She got there around 10:30 and hung out in the birthing suite with us. During this time my contractions weren't that bad at all and only being 30 seconds long I knew I could just breathe through them and actually I walked around a lot and walked them off. At about noon they checked me again and I was dilated to 8 cm, so I decided after my next dose of antibiotics I would get into the birthing tub and labor and deliver there. So at 1:00 my mom stepped out the room, and then they broke my water (now I sure know what it feels like for your water to break! So gross!) and we discovered that there was meconium in the fluid. So then that changed my delivery plans as they do not let you have a water birth if there is meconium in the fluid, but I could still labor in the tub. So I got in the tub and that felt really good, but after about an hour I decided I wanted to go back to my "walking it off" method (so it was fine that I couldn't do a water birth anyways). After about 30 minutes I was dilated to 10 cm and was ready to start pushing. I pushed for about and hour and 45 minutes, his head was a little cocked to the side so he got a little stuck at the end and pushed on my tailbone and ended up popping it out of place.

He came out all safe and sound and as perfect as perfect can be! There was no problems with the meconium or the group b strep. He was 7 pounds 14 ounces and 19 inches long and that was after he peed and pooed a ton!

His lungs working great!

So overall things went great! I was in labor for a total of 15 hours but it wasn't really a big deal until they broke my water. Then the last 4 hours were a bit more intense but still not that bad at all. My mom asked me now going through the whole process what was the worst part. And I have to say the first several weeks of my pregnancy when I was so sick was the worst part. With labor I at least knew it was nearing the end, but with the morning (noon and night) sickness in the beginning I didn't know when it was going to end. But I have to say I'd do it all again to have the end product of our beyond perfect son! I am so glad that I decided to do it all without pain medication, there wasn't a time throughout the whole days events that I thought I should of gotten an epidural, well maybe until the last 2 contracts! :-P But then the light at the end of the tunnel was so bright I knew I could get through it! I truly praise God for such an awesome experience and for how great everything went!

THE END, or should I say the beginning!