The Birth

The night before we checked into the hospital for our induction was busy with grandparents getting in town and Maggie being in full on entertaining mode. We tried to go to bed at a decent time, but I knew I wouldn't sleep very well. I didn't, but that was okay with me.

We kind of felt like old hat at this induction thing. We had been induced with your sister and while it went very well, it also went VERY fast and we expected this one to be very similar. We checked in at Labor and Delivery at 5:45 a.m. and I was hooked up to the monitors by 6:30. My OB came in and said hi and we started the Pitocin around 7 a.m. Contractions pretty much started right away. I had been walking around at 4 cm dilated for the past 2 weeks and honestly couldn't believe I hadn't gone into labor on my own.

After about an hour of consistent contractions I was dilated to 5 cm and was told that if I wanted the epidural, I needed to get it as soon as the contractions started really getting painful. With your sister I hadn't had time to get one and they were expecting my labor to go very fast with you too so didn't want me to miss the window again. I waited for awhile, but knew that the doctor was going to come break my water soon and wanted the epidural before that happened. I got the epidural around 9 a.m. and felt amazing right away. About 30 minutes afterwards, I started feeling really sleepy... like I could hardly stay awake. I mentioned it to the nurse who checked my blood pressure and found that it had taken a huge dip and was around 80 over 60. She gave me some IV fluids and it bounced back up and I felt so much better!

My contractions kept spacing back out so they had to increase my Pitocin several times. I remember mentioning to my mom that I was surprised it was taking so long ("so long" being relative as most labors average 12 hours), but I was dilating well and was about 7 cm at 10:30 a.m. At that point I was just hanging out and watching Breaking Bad episodes on the iPad when I noticed that during contractions your little heartbeat was dropping pretty severely. I started to worry that you were in distress and started imagining emergency C-sections and very, very scary scenarios. The nurse came in when she noticed the decelerations on her monitors too. She asked me to roll over to one side saying that sometimes the cord can get compressed during contractions. We waited for another contraction and it was even worse! We tried the other side and worse yet again. At this point I was nearly sick to my stomach when she simply said, "Let me check you one more time. I know I just did, but sometimes decels during contractions can mean baby is in the birth canal ready to go." Sure enough, 10 cm and completely effaced! I had felt absolutely no pressure and was sort of shocked. It really shouldn't have surprised me as it happened the EXACT same way with Maggie, only I KNEW I was complete with her because she practically was forcing her way out and the pressure was incredibly intense. With you, the epidural did such a great job that I felt nothing.

The nurse called another nurse in to assist with a practice push. Your father and I just looked at each other in amazement and I said, "I wasn't ready for this, but okay, I guess we are having a baby!" Your dad was so cute and just stood there with excitement on his face. He was much more calm this time too. We did a practice push since I had never really had to push before with your sister. I was apparently good at it and you were in the perfect position. They had me stop pushing and wait for several contractions while the doctor came in and got ready. I think I pushed through 3 contractions and you were born. It was the best thing in the world. I was happy, not hurting, not scared, just full of joy and able to soak in the moment. I wanted to notice everything about you and remember it all. You were perfect and were born with a grumpy old man face, but I could tell right away that you were a beautiful newborn. You seemed so tiny to me, I was guessing about 6 lbs, but you were 7 lbs 11 oz! A big baby compared to your sister, though average for most. They cleaned you up and gave you back to me. My mom and dad (your Nana and Papa) came in to see you shortly after and fell in love too. Your other grandparents and Maggie came a bit later and watching her see you for the first time is a memory I will never, ever forget.