Thursday 11/14/13
I had a doctor's appointment Thursday morning. We had an ultrasound estimating baby to be about 8lbs. 11oz. I don't remember his head measurement, but the ultrasound tech did say, "oh, I think you're going to want an epidural for this one." We saw the doctor as was routine and he asked if I wanted my membranes swept. I was 2 days away from my due date and thought, why not? I had pretty much prepared myself to be overdue so I thought it couldn't hurt.
I didn't feel any different once we got home so I went for a walk hoping it might spark something. Nothing. That night I even made Nate watch some reflexology videos and massage some pressure points on my legs and feet that people say can spark labor. Nothing.
Friday 11/15/13
All day Friday I was feeling crampy. Nothing I hadn't felt in the past few weeks so I wasn't getting too excited. I went grocery shopping and while there my sister called to tell me my nephew asked her if today was the day baby adventure was coming. It was super cute to hear, but I told her I unfortunately didn't think any time soon, I was feeling the same as I had for weeks.
Saturday 11/16/13
DUE DATE!
I woke up at 5:11am feeling a little bit off. I went to the bathroom and tried to go back to bed but couldn't get comfortable and kept having to get back up. I didn't have contractions or anything to make me think this was labor, except that I was just getting more and more uncomfortable. Nate was supposed to work at 9am so I didn't want to wake him up for nothing. I finally got in the shower around 6:30am to just relax. The sound woke Nate up and he came to see what was going on and I finally told him "I think I might be in labor." At 7 I started having some signs that something was up but still no contractions. I finally called the midwife at 7 (I didn't want to wake her up early if this was nothing to worry about or a false alarm). She told me it sounded like the beginning of labor and to call when I started having contractions.
Shortly after that I did start having what I assumed were contractions. I told Nate to call into work, that I was pretty sure I was in labor now. From the beginning the contractions were strong and close together. From about 9 to 11 I made Nate time them and write them down. They were consistently 3-5 minutes apart and lasted 40-70 seconds. I was still in a little bit of denial that this was the real deal so I kept putting off the call to the doctor to see if I should go in. I was scared that it was going to be false labor, or I wouldn't be far enough along and we would get sent home. I got super tired during those 2 hours and tried to just sit in my rocking chair and sleep between contractions and was somewhat successful.
Finally around 11:30am I decided this was pretty uncomfortable and I called the doctor. While waiting for him to call back I made Nate start packing me a hospital bag. They say the on call doc will call you back within 15 minutes. After 10 minutes and still not getting a return phone call, I told Nate to screw it, we were going to the hospital now! Luckily, on the way there he called and agreed that I should come in. The hospital is about 20-25 minutes away and of course there was construction in 2 places that slowed us down! That was super obnoxious because by that time sitting was really uncomfortable.
We got to the hospital about noon but after paper work, and waiting we didn't get to a room until 12:30 or 12:45. They had me change into their hospital gown and then get into a bed and wait for the doctor to come and check me out. As soon as I climbed onto the bed I felt a big gush. When the doctor came in I mentioned it and sure enough my water had broken! He checked me and I was already 6cm dilated. I was in quite a bit of pain and discomfort at this point, the doctor asked what I was thinking for pain relief. I had really wanted to try to do it on my own, but I was really scared at this point. I said I wanted to try some IV pain killers and he said if I thought I might want an epidural at all it was now or never. I agreed and we started getting ready for it (kind of kicking myself about it now...oh well). They had to pump a certain amount of fluid in me before they could administer it. So I didn't actually get the epidural until 3:30pm. (Looking back I wish they would have checked me prior to the epidural because I think I was ready to go at that point.)
The epidural was a nice relief though. It calmed me down a ton and let me relax. I had heard some horror stories of epidurals and even getting them, but it was a smooth experience and I barely felt anything. The doctor then said I should be pushing in the next hour. Well there was some miscommunication between the doctor and myself so for a few hours while I was feeling the urge to push, I just sat there waiting. Finally about 4:30pm the doctor asked if I was having any urges to push and I was like yes, a ton (didn't realize I was supposed to tell them when I was feeling this :)
Pushing was slow going, Nate was an awesome coach, sometimes doing the job of the nurse by himself :) Although I couldn't feel the pain of the contractions, I could still feel the pressure to push which was uncomfortable. My favorite part was the nurse telling me, "Oh he's a redhead!" I looked at Nate who looked so confused and shook his head and mouthed, 'no he's not!' Ha! Finally, around 5:30 the nurse told me, "you better push this baby out before 6:30 because I'm off then and I'm not spending all day with you to not have a baby here!" That actually was good motivation, because I could feel so much pressure/pain that I was holding back a little bit to try and get relief. I actually remember having the thought at one point 'if I could just suck him back in this wouldn't hurt so bad!' :)
So telling myself I only had so much time left to get him out made me try a little harder. I was still feeling a ton of pain from his big ol' head the doctor finally said he could give me a little cut and the baby would be out on the next push, I agreed, I wanted some relief! The doctor started to tell me his shoulders might be painful to get out, but he basically fell out from there. He had the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck twice and it amazingly never made his heart beat drop or cause any other issues.
And suddenly Nate and I were parents!
We had a baby!
They set him on my stomach and the doctor said, "his cords way longer than that, move him up on her chest" It was pretty amazing to suddenly be holding MY baby!
I of course cried, as did Nate. All 3 of us cried together :)
He was born at 6:17pm
weighed 8lbs. 4oz.
was 19in. long
My first look at him and I thought he looked just like my siblings' baby pictures. But some of the nurses agreed he looked like his dad! We had 2 names we were debating before he was born and I was hopeful that once I saw his face I would know which name he was supposed to have...WRONG! I had no idea and neither did Nate. We even debated picking a completely new name!
We stayed in the hospital for 2 nights (not sure if that was normal, or if there was a reason we stayed 2 nights). We kept getting bugged that we had to fill out the birth certificate form. We pretty much said, ok lets just decide on one of these names! We figured Spencer was the first name we both agreed on when we learned he was a boy, so that would be it! Nate's sister Allison won our prebirth contest about how much he'd weigh and how long, so Nate told her she could have a say in naming him...luckily she picked the one we had already agreed on ;) His middle name had been decided a long time ago, he is named Oren after Nate's sweet grandpa.
We are already smitten by this little boy, and feel so lucky to be his parents!
