The Delivery

I woke up on sept. 25th at about 6:55am. My stomach was feeling kind of crampy, but i wasn't sure if the baby was just sitting weird and i had to pee or something-which happened many a mornings :) I thought these might be contractions but figured that since the dr. told me the day bfore that it could be any day, that most likely i was just hoping they were contrations and was more excited than anything. So i kind of layed there and tried to go back to sleep but the cramping weird feeling just kept coming so i started to time them...this was hard because the weird feeling kind of faded in and out and didn't hurt at all so it was hard to tell when it started or ended-which is why i still wasn't sure it was contrations. From the best i could do i was getting them every 4, 6 or 7 min. it was very uneven still. I sat up in bed to read, everyone still asleep and when josh woke up a few min. later i said "i think i'm having contractions, but i'm not sure. they are not coming regularly and they don't hurt at all..." so we agreed to just sort of see what happened in the next hour. The dr.'s office opens at 8 so i was going to call and see what they said. Well by then i definetly knew they were contrations, they still didn't hurt but they were coming every 4-5 min. and getting much stronger. I called the dr's office and they said they would fax over my paper work to the hospital. So i started packing riley's over night back and putting the freshly washed carseat together...now i was DETERMINED to look better than i did last time so although the dr told me the day before that when they are 5 min apart i better get to the hospital fast because he knew this baby would come fast, i hopped in the shower, got dressed and did my make-up! I guess i wasn't too concerned because the contractions didn't hurt yet.
By about 9am, with a slim-fast in hand(i totally did NOT want to poop-i know it happens and it's normal, but that was the last thing i wanted to happen that day with people watching!) we were on our way to drop riley off at my mother in law's house, we stayed there about 20 min. switchin her carseat to my mother in-law's and taking our last family picture, my last belly picture and just taking our time for some reason....we tried to explain to riley that "mommy was going to the dr's because her baby was going to come out of her tummy today" well she looked confused then ran and got her doll and said "i got my baby" so that was that :) i did run back in once to tell riley she will always be my favorite, i just wouldn't be able to tell her anymore ;)
Now, finally on our way to the....grocery store....ha, we figured josh better load up on snacks because it might be awhile...so walking around the grocery store, my contrations were much stronger, i could say they were hurting by that point. They were coming about 10 min. really strong and i would get one inbetween that wasn't as strong-so weird. After that we finally got to the hospital and on the triage bed by 10am. The nurse took all my info and put the monitors on to start looking at my contractions. The baby's heart rate was a little high, which she said could be caused by me being dehydrated so i got a huge cup of ice water and they helped. She checked and told me i was 4-5 cm. dilated and 90% effaced. She also said my bag of water was "bulging" and should break any time. How exciting! We found out they were crazy busy, so i was lucky to get a room after being triaged! About 11:30 the nurse checked me again and i was at 6cm dilated and the nurse informed me i would deliver in 4hrs. aprox. She knew i was going to try to go for no pain meds, no epidural so we had a deal, i would ask when i wanted something and she would tell me if the anesthesiologist (sp?) got busy so i would have a fair chance for one! The contractions hurt, but not enough to make me tear up. I think the worst part was waiting for them to go away, they seemed to peek then take FOREVER to fade out. I was definetly holding on to my side rail when i got one and squeezing the heck out of it saying "joshhhhh, they huuurrt" Still waiting for my water to break, the nurse came back in at about 1pm and checked me, i was at 8.5-9 cm dilated, she sat me up hoping gravity would help break my water. She said while we tried that, the dr. was on her way to break my water and i would deliver soon after! A couple min later i met the dr who would be delivering me and she was AWESOME, i want her for the rest of all my deliveries! Anyway, she broke my water, which there was A LOT OF. Even the dr was, err, impressed? She sat on the end of my bed for what seemed for ever and just kept helping it all out...pretty gross, i told her "sorry, it's so gross" she laughed and said "no it's not, its what we do" and i said "but it's probably gross to be in someone's gushiness!" and she just laughed :) Well by this point she double checked that didn't want an epidural. This is how that conversation went:
The dr: "do you want an epidural?"
me: "will it hurt anymore than it does now?"
the dr: "no, you've gone through the worst part"
me: "okay, if the pain doesn't get worse than this i can totally handle it.."
the nurse: "you dont' look a little unsure"
me: "well, i dont' really believe you guys, hahah"
we all laughed-i'm telling you, when i'm in real pain i get this adrenaline surge and laugh about everything-weird fact about me!
me: "so when i'm pushing it's not going to hurt more than the contractions"
the nurse: "people have told me it feels like a "ring of fire" when the baby is crowning.
me: "okay lets do it but one last thing, if you have to stitch me up you will numb me first right?!"
the nurse: "of course, haha, it's already set up!"
me: "okay, lets do it!"
that was the jist of it, as best as i can remember. But i do remember totally not believing them when they said it wouldnt' hurt more as i was pushing.
After the dr broke my water she felt for the head during my next contraction and had me push to see what would happen. She decided i was ready to go and had me push with the nurse during the next few contractions while she got a few things ready. They set me all up and i started the whole pushing "ordeal" and got to a point pretty quickly where i didnt' know where to hold, what to sqeeuze, what to say or do because it HURT. i remember saying "ok, ok ok this hurtsss" now i'm not a "screamer" but i was definetly squealing. The noises just sort of came out as i was pushing as hard as i could and it hurt. Not enough to make me cry, but enough that i was trying and failing, to physically get away from the pain. I even had to stop pushing once because i was laughing, scared i was going to poop and said, laughing "sorry, i'm nervous i'll poop!" the dr. just laughed at me and told me not to worry about it (hey but it all payed off, no pooping! Too much info i know, but who cares?!) The baby was crowning and i felt that RING OF FIRE...or what i like to call "THE DEATH RING OF FIRE" the nurse was right in her description, but i'm glad i knew it was coming. It made me want to push all the harder and more to just get it over with. During this moment was the only time i doubted no epidural...thank goodness i only had to push about 20min. Out came the head...awwwww relief! Then came the shoulders, a little more burning, than everything after that didn't hurt, or i just didnt' notice....We asked right away if it was a boy or girl and we were SOOO excited to find out we got our little boy :)
The joy and emotions of just having a baby, a baby boy, OUR new baby, was overwhelming and we just loved every second of it. The dr didnt even give josh the chance to cut the cord for some reason, he was little dissapointed, but what can you do. I instantly held the baby and fell in love, soaked up all his features. After the nurse did her thing with the baby i got him back, and he knew just what to do...he was hungry :) We looked at him and had to decide on a name...i was dissapointed that he just didn't "look like a 'troy'" -my favorite name that day. But he did look just like a braden to us. Josh held him for awhile and felt the same way.
I was and am SOOOOOOOOOOO proud of my self for acheiving my goal of not having any pain meds or an epidural, but i can't take alll the credit. My contractions seriously just didnt' hurt that bad. Dont get me wrong, they were hurting but nothing i couldn't handle. Compare to my last delivery they were cake. Having contractions with riley hurt incredibly bad, i got to a point where i couldn't even think straight. It, luckily, just wasn't like that this time. The entire time i was at the hospital before i delivered was just under 4 hours, so that helped too! I feel like i really was blessed with an easy delivery.
We stayed in that room awhile while they found a room for me on the, also crazy busy, post partum wing. The nurse told me he would be a little blue/bruised on his head and face, but it was normal, from such a fast delievery. Once we got to the new room, the baby's nurse came and took him to do an assesment. She came back with out him and told me they had to watch him and do a chest x-ray. He was breathing too fast and having some retractions " very very, mild respiratory distress" scary! So after she left i started bawling...i was just so scared for him...Oven an hour later we got our Braden back, and she said he was just fine, they found nothing in the chest x-ray, she said it was mostly likely him transitioning. Everything after that was great! I stayed in the hospital just over 24 hrs...dying to get home. my butt was so numb from just sitting there :)
Since we've been home everything is great, he has his night's and days mixed up but is getting better. He wakes to eat between everyon 1-3 hours at night and is just so sweet :) Riley loves holding him and kissing him. I totally miss being pregnant, and wans't expecting to feel that way. I mean i love to have Braden and don't want to be pregnant with HIM again, but i think i will be baby hungry before i know it! weird....

Last belly shot. 38weeks and 2days
Right after delievery, my double wide wheel chair, josh made fun of me for sitting in a huge wheel chair, called me a fatty- all that good husband love stuff :) I was feeling really good, i only asked for a motrin 600. I was throbbing pretty good but felt great :)

We got sooo many visitors and love from family and friends!
Josh's brother Adam and his girlfriend Heidi

My best friend Carrie

Josh's brother Andrew and his wife Crystina

Josh's brother Matthew

Josh's brother Justin

Josh's cousin Russel, his son Nathan and his wife katie

My stepdad Monte My mommy, Nancy

Josh's mom Lynne

Josh's youngest brother Daniel

Josh's brother Ben, his wife Lisa and their son Luke

Josh's dad, Max, the first of the family to hold Braden.