I started this blog a long, long time ago. In my first (and only hehe) post I said that I would probably be VERY bad at updating. Well, go figure, this is my only post since then. Well, a lot has changed. Ryan and I welcomed into this world a beautiful baby boy on September 5th, 2010. Two days after my due date, I was induced and was SOOOOOOO happy about it. Pregnancy was great, but I was ready for it to be over with. We went into our appt at 40 weeks exactly and I hadn't made any progress from the week before. It was terribly depressing. The PA went ahead and scheduled us for the following day to try a method called Cervidil. The gel does not induce labor, but it is supposed to move everything along. The idea was that we'd go in and get three doses and if I went into labor I'd stay, if not we'd go home and still wait. The next day we got up bright and early for our 5:30AM appt with the hospital.
Driving to the hospital was such an odd experience. Ryan kept saying things like, "Well what is this going to be like once you're in labor?" We really didn't intend to have the baby at the hospital just yet. We figured we'd drive home that night sans baby. Deep down inside I was hoping that wasn't true, but I had read some stories regarding the gel and I figured it would be awhile. Well, I got to the hospital, they took all my vitals and they had me put on the hospital gown. Ugh, I hated that thing. I felt so exposed (well I guess I was..haha). I was hooked up to a contractions monitor, a baby heart beat monitor and an IV...not fun at all. After taking some blood and what not, the nurse came back in to tell us that we'd be leaving with a baby. Turns out my blood pressure was so high at that moment, they didn't want me to go home. Awesome? Yes. Scary? Oh yeah!!!
About 8:30 rolled around and we got this entire thing on the road. The most horrible thing happened, they had to put this gel in. I won't go into details, but I've never been in so much pain in my life! Well I stand corrected, but that will come later. After the entire process I had to lay down for an hour and couldn't really do much. I was in so much pain and totally uncomfortable. After some time they came into check me again, no progress...ugh..bummer. They applied the second dosage, even MORE pain this time. Not just when applying, but the cramping and contractions started and they were miserable. My mom was there and she was able to remind me about breathing through them. Amazing how you forget to breath when you're in pain. After the time went by they checked again. I was making progress in thinning out, but nothing as far as dilating. UGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
Since I was making some progress they weren't going to do the final dose of the gel (woohoo) instead they were going to start me on Pitocin to get my contractions going and hopefully move along more. A lot of crap happened for the next forever hours, I can't remember it all and for the most part it was uneventful. The contractions were more consistant and were stronger. I even had to hold Ryan's hand through some of them and I'm pretty sure I was crying as well. During a really really bad one I heard this pop and it felt like the baby had kicked me really hard or something. Ryan called the nurse and I told her I think my water broke. It sure did!!! She told me the contractions would get worse now and that was the understatement of the year. Within five minutes They went from bearable to horrendous! I've never felt so much pain in my life. I was shaking, crying, squeezing Ryan's hand...oh man this was horrible. The nurse checked me and I STILL hadn't dilated past a 3. I was worried I couldn't get an epidural yet, but she said I could get it whenever I wanted.
The doctor came in to do my epidural, they kept telling me to sit still. Yeah, like that was going to happen. The contractions were hurting, I was shaking and cold, and the stupid blood pressure cuff kept going off! What felt like a lifetime was then over and I felt this warmness throughout my body. I was so happy to no longer feel the pain. I could get some rest and hope that something would happen.
At around 5AM the nurse checked me again and I was a 4, seems like not much, but after being in labor forever at 3, a 4 seemed like a mile. Right before she left at 6:45ish, she checked me one more time and I was a 7!!!!!!! I was SO excited. Finally, we were almost there, this was going to end soon, I could see the finish line. The nurses changed shifts and so did Ryan and my mom. Around 7:45 Ryan decided to run down and get some breakfast (Lucky guy could actually eat), the nurse said she wouldn't check me just yet, since they had about an hour ago. She told me to get some rest and let her know if I was feeling any pressure. Well it was only about ten minutes later and I felt extreme pressure. I had my mom buzz the nurse in, she checked me and I was ALL ready to go. My mom called Ryan and he dropped what he was doing and came back up to the room. Poor guy didn't get to eat his breakfast.
I'm going to be honest, everything from the pushing to the aftermath is a little here and there. I remember parts of it, but others were just a blur. In the end, a beautiful BIG boy was placed into my arms. His name is Austin Hunter Smith. We decided to keep him name a secret until he was born, so this was the first time pretty much anybody heard his name. He was 9lbs 6ozs and was absolutely perfect.
We spent two days in the hospital after birth, boy was I happy to be home. We're adjusting well to him being home. He has a schedule pretty well set and we're trying to adjust our lives' around his schedule. It is hard to go from being just the two of us to adding a baby, but I'd say we're doing well. I can't wait to see him grow and be there for all his milestones. I love him so much!
