We are so over the moon that our precious little guy made his appearance on September 12, 2013 at 2:18 am, weighing in at 6 lbs. 2 oz and measuring 19 inches. I had my first contraction at around 3 am on the 11th, and while I would have greatly preferred not to have a September 11th baby, I just wanted my mom to see him before she left on the 12th, so I figured if it had to be the 11th, so be it. I spent the morning excited thinking this could be it, only to go to my 2:30 appointment and find that I was no further progressed than last week. Talk about discouraging! (Warning, long birth story ahead...)
So we get home around 3 and I'm feeling really depressed that my mom is going to miss it. I know that part of it was hormones, but I was crying as I was chatting with Dan via gmail about how much I hate living away from the kids' grandparents, how we need to move to SLC, like, today, so my mom doesn't miss out on stuff like this, etc. He was of course being as encouraging as he could be via chat (and the fact that he was at work, haha). And then not even 15 minutes later, I was having regular contractions. And
they were HARD and they HURT. I was thinking, "Holy crap, this is the real
thing." They were coming seven minutes apart, then four minutes, then two and a half minutes
(all this within like half an hour or so). So I call Dan and tell him to
get home NOW so I can get to the hospital. We get there around 6 pm,
and they check me again. I'm in so much pain that I'm thinking, "I've
got to be at least a 6 now; this is worse than ANYTHING I ever felt with Kate, even at the end of labor." Nope, I'm at a 2. Are you kidding me?!?
Keep in mind that with Kate, I was in labor for 17 hours before we got
to the freestanding birth center, and my contractions were so mild they
felt like nothing more than cramps, and I didn't even think I was
in labor, only to find out that I was dilated to an 8! With Kate, labor
was crazy easy and I did it completely natural; there was maybe only an
hour the entire time (24 hours) that I was like, "Ugh, I don't know if I
can do this" (and then my first words upon seeing she was out were,
"That's ALL? I'm done?") So I assumed that this time it would be a
breeze to do it completely natural as well. I absolutely LOVED my
experience with the midwives and the birth center, and I was
disappointed that this time, due to insurance changes, I'd have to
utilize the hospital.
Uh, yeah. Ok, enough back story. So they have me walk around the
hospital for a bit and come back around 8:30 pm and check me again; I'm a
3.5. What the heck? I am in so much pain from the back labor (which I NEVER
had with Kate) and him being positioned kind of weird; it was literally 10
times worse than anything I ever experienced with Kate. So they admit me
to L&D and I'm like, "Screw it. I did natural childbirth once; I can
check that off my bucket list; I'm not going to suffer so badly." Back
labor is a whole new ball game. So now I'm at a 4, sobbing from the pain
(and all my natural birthing techniques are doing JACK SQUAT in the
face of this excruciating back labor, partially because the contractions
are coming literally 1 minute after the other, and they're not building
up and then peaking; they are just hard and strong for the whole 45-60
seconds).
So I tell them I want an epidural at 9:30 pm. The anesthesiologist
finally comes in at 11:30; I can say those were the worst two hours of
my life (and I may or may not have yelled "Where is the *bleeping* anesthesiologist???" a couple times). She gets the epidural in and.... ah. Awesome relief
immediately.
They check me again, and I'm at a 5. So I slept
from 11:30 pm to 1:30 am (although I kept waking up because I knew if I could just get to midnight--which obviously, looking back at it, I'd have to, since there's no way I'm going to go from a 5 to a 10 in 30 minutes--I wouldn't have a September 11th baby), and I was so relieved when the clock hit 12:01. Yay; a September 12 birthday! At 1:30 they check me again, I'm at a 9. The dr.
says, "If you want me to break your water we could probably get to where
we can start pushing." So he did, and all of a sudden I feel a lot of
pressure and I'm like "oh boy, I have to push."
I started pushing right at 2:00 am, pushed for 18 minutes (and, as a side note, the epidural doesn't
completely dull the pain like I thought it would; I could still
definitely feel the pushing sensation and it was uncomfortable, so I was
glad I had my natural birthing experience to fall back on in terms of
coping techniques) and then bam! Owen Daniel slid out, Dan looked at him
and said with surprise, "It's a boy!" (hethought it was going to be a
girl, I thought it was a boy.) They placed him on my chest immediately
and I was in love. :) He was so little for being 8 days late; six
pounds, two ounces, 19 inches, but perfect. All in all, despite the original
excrutiating pain, it was a good experience.
So, as much as I was disappointed that I wouldn't be able to utilize
the midwives and birth center this time around, it turned out to be the
best thing for me to be in the hospital this time around. :)
Kate is completely in love with her brother and wants to hold him every
chance she gets. My heart just melts every time I see her with him! And
I'm so glad my mom got to spend all morning and early afternoon with
him before she left! Of course I'd rather her still be here, but I am
just SO GLAD he came in right under the wire and she could at least meet
him!
He is absolutely perfect; a very calm and sweet baby. I don't want to jinx myself but he is such a good sleeper; last night he only woke up once to nurse (we went to bed at 11:30, he woke up around 2:30, and then again at 6:30, but for being not even two days old I think that is great!) He loves being held and is very content as long as he's with his mama. :) I'm so in love!
Here are some shots; of course I will be uploading tons more over the next few days!
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