The hospital called me that morning and told us to be to labor & delivery by 7:00 AM. We hustled to shower and pack the last of our toiletries and headed to the hospital. We got checked in, assigned a room, and we took one last belly pic before the action started. I threw on a gown, hopped on the bed and began answering the lengthy medical history questions the nurses always ask you. It turns out our labor & delivery nurse, Linda, was the same one who "delivered" Henry! We absolutely loved her then. This was to be my first birth without my mom by my side and I was a little nervous. When Linda was assigned to be my nurse again, I just had a feeling it was going to be a good day. She also had a training nurse with her who was learning for the day. She asked if she could put my IV in for the first time ever, and I thought, why not? I'm about to push out a baby, there's no way the IV could be worse than that. Luckily, aside from getting blood all over the bed & floor, she did pretty good!
By the time they finally got a bag of IV fluid in me and started pitocin, it was probably 9:30 or so. I started out at 2 cm and 70% effaced, so I figured we had some time to sit & relax. Chris turned on the TV and we browsed facebook on our phones while we chatted and hung out. At about 11:00 AM they wanted to break my water so I asked for an epidural, because I know that I go pretty fast once my water breaks. Once my epidural was put in they checked me and I was at about a 3. We continued to hang out and veg, and at about noon they checked me and I was only at 4 cm. I was a little bit disappointed, thinking, huh, that's weird. I went faster than this last time! So I sent Chris to get some lunch because I figured we had a while.
He came back and hopped on the couch next to my bed. We turned on Judge Judy on the TV (it was literally the only thing on), and Chris closed his eyes to take a snooze. I began to get irritated with the show and a little restless. I was feeling uncomfortable, and I started to feel some of the contractions right down the center of my belly. I picked up the epidural remote and clicked the button to give me an extra dose. Then I tried changing the channel on the TV but I was too restless to watch anything, so I finally turned it off. About that time I started to get the shakes. I figured I was transitioning (about 7 cm) and that's why I was shaking. I leaned back in the bed and tried to relax all the muscles in my body to slow the shakes down, but I was really starting to hurt right in the center of my belly where I could feel my contractions.
It was about 2:00 by now. About that time, Linda walked in to check on something and noticed me shaking. She said, are you feeling okay? I told her not really. She said, would you like me to check you? And I told her yes. She put on a glove, checked me and said, well you're complete! No wonder you don't feel good! She sped into high gear calling the doctor and setting up the bed for delivery. I nudged Chris to sit up, because it was time to have a baby.
I was still in a fair amount of pain at this point, and Chris stood up at the bed and held my hand while we waited for the doctor to be all ready. I asked them to pull the mirror down so I could watch because I had watched with Henry and thought it was amazing. Soon the doctor had her gear and gloves on and was sitting on her stool at the end of the bed. She smiled and said, let's push on the next contraction!
As soon as the contraction started, I took a deep breath and gave a push, and there he was! His head came out with one push and the doctor told me to stop while she unwrapped the cord and sucked out his mouth. Then she had me push again on the same contraction to get his shoulders out. Wowsa, his shoulders were broad! I felt those a little. On that second push out came his shoulders and the rest of his slippery little body, and there he was! My beautiful baby boy! They put him right on my chest and rubbed him down. He was so beautiful I could hardly believe it, and calm and mellow. He let me just snuggle and kiss him for a few minutes. When they finally took him over to the scale to measure & weigh him, they were in shock. He was 9 lbs 3 oz, 21 inches long, and his head was enormous (can't remember the measurement). He was a big boy, born at 2:25 PM.
I feel so blessed to have three beautiful, healthy children. It's such a miracle to have babies, with all the things that have to happen right in order for them to grow and be born. It's such a beautiful miracle, and I thank Heavenly Father every day for my three sweet babies!
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