Finally! for those of you who like this sort of thing i am finally able to share just how Max Taylor made his entrance on Christmas morning!
So...after being dilated to 3.5 cm for 3weeks, thinking i would go into labor at any minute...it was finally christmas eve morning. Josh, the kids and i woke up in the morning and hurried to get ready to go his cousins' baptism.
We grabbed breakfast on the way-carls jr sausage biscuit thing. We ate in the car as we made the 30min drive to where the church was.
When i got there, i wasnt' feeling so great. Felt like i was car sick...figured it was the greasy breakfast and then being the passenger instead of the driver. (i'm used to driving a lot and so when josh does i tend to get car sick on longer ish travels)
After the baptism we went back to josh's parents house to spend the rest of the day and evening there to celebrate christmas eve. When i got to his parents i was STILL feeling sick. Thought it was weird that i couldn't kick the "car sickness". I layed aroudn on the couch from about 9:30-noon and finally at noon sprinted upstairs to the bathroom where i got an A+ for my performance...i threw up with such force im still proud (hehe) i mean it was projectile and comigng out of my nose like crazy...did not smell good! it was all water luckily. pretty amazing! (yes i'm weird!)
Right afterwards i felt wayyyyyyyyyy better...but then right after that i started having contractions...GREAT i thought, now i'm dehydrated! (which can bring on contractions) sooo i resumed my spot on the couch and my sister in law went to the store and got me some powerade. i was trying to be good and do the rehydration and best rest combo-i was determined not to end up in labor and deliver on christmas eve only for them to tell me, you are just dehydrated not in true labor (like what happened at 32weeks)
so after about 4 or so hours of drinking tons of water and powerade and not moving except for the bathroom the contractions stopped! woohoo! so i stopped drinking so much water and then oops, they started up again...
now i'm thinking this whole time that this couldn't be/isn't real labor because when i'm in labor it feels like BAD menstraul cramps. this felt like sharp pains in and around my ribs that faded in and out like contractions-hence, why i felt like i was just dehydrated.
Well i was telling my sis and law this and she said something along the lines of ..."i don't know, how you are feeling right now is how i felt when i was in labor." me-"whatttt?" then the wheels started turning-FAST! yikes, i think i might be in labor, ON CHRISTMAS EVE. crud. i have kids who need santa to come, i have a baby who probably doesn't want his bday on this holiday! etc, etc.
So i went outside to think and to have space to walk around and see if the contractions would stop or continue...i also called L&D and talked to the nurse there to get her advice...now at this point my contractions were not very consistent. i mean i was continually having them but they were every 2min then every 6min then every 4min, then every 2min...so a little sporadic but anywhere from 2min-7min apart for the last few hours...
Nurse didn't really have great advice. i dont' blame here, without seeign me i think it was hard to know what was going on.
I went inside and discussed with josh all of this and he and his dad gave me a blessing.
We felt it was best to start serioulsy monitoring my contractions and wait a little longer. Josh was able to eat some dinner (where i had not eaten anything since 8am-but was not hungry at all which is extremely weird for me-should of known something was up!) We were able to open some presents with the family and finally about 8:10pm my contractions were mostly every 4min apart and some of them hurting pretty good.
We left the kids with my inlaws (thank goodness we have great family so close by and willing to help us!) and took off for the hospital.
When i got there they checked me and i was at 5cm dilated so they said "youre staying". they moved me into a delivery room and started hooking me up. monitors, i.v. etc.
the first nurse i had was smart and nice but wasnt' our style...i like to joke around when i'm in pain and she was just not getting me and josh. besides a language barrier she was just a little more serious.
She told me twice she was going to call the anesthesiologist and finally when i asked why, she said "so he can do your epidural" i told her not to becuase A. at this point was not longer feeling a sinlge contraction. She looked at me a little confused and said "you are at 5cm and having contractions every 2min." i was thinking, sorry, don't know what to tell you, i'm lucky i guess!
and B. i was going to try hard not to get one (epidural) but i would like the option! she was nice and got the okay for a certain type of i.v. drug just incase and had it in the room ready to go.
sooo me, josh and my mom sat in the room and waited for things to start? well like i said i was dilated pretty good and having contractions but feeling nothing. so around midnight i tried to sleep-the nurse, a new one for me, younger and one who got my sense of humor-suggested i get some rest. i think i slept for 30-1hr but i was so anxious and excited it was hard. my mom was soooo sweet and gave me the best hour long foot massage ever!
so now it was about 12:30am or so and it was time for me to be checked again...i was at a whopping 6cm. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? after 4hours i was one cm more dilated! i was bummed. after that they said my contractions weren't as even as they would like them to be so they put me on a slow drip of pitocin.
that got things going again and again i was feeling nothing. whatever-painfree is good with me, i was just hoping things were progressing fast enough. My obgyn was not on call that night and i wasn't about to BEG him to come knowing he has a wife and kids that needed him and santa too. i was reallllyyyyyy bummed he wouldn't be there, i really like him a lot. great dr. BUT the dr who was on call i also LOVE. she is the same dr who delivered braden and i fell in love with her too. and this dr who i was so blessed was on call was ending her shift at 7am christmas morning...by the looks of things at this point i was not going to be pushing by then :(
3:40am josh and i decide this is best time as ever for him to run home and grab some presents to bring to his parents so the kids would have something to open christmas morning.
20min after he left (just about when he got home) i texted him saying i was finally feeling the contractions but not to hurry it would probably still be awhile-who knows.
well once i started feeling them, they HURT good. i got to the point where breathing a "certain" labor kind of way was not going to happen. i told my mom "however i breath is how im going to breath!" OUCH. but im a weirdo and was excited. I WAS IN LABOR! WOOHOO! i was having a baby and i dont' think i will ever take that for granted. this is something in life i LOVE and feel so BLESSED that i am able to do.i think labor, although painful, is amazing and that is why i avoid the epidural, if i can hang, and try to experience it all.
So at this point the nurse came in to see how i was doing, i asked when she was going to check me-it is easier for me to deal with the pain if i know i'm progressing. especially since i hurt so bad. she said in 30min is when she was going to check me again and told me to call her if my water broke.
Well about 10min after that my water broke-woah. LOTS of fluid is right hehe.
nurse came in and checked me and said i was 8.5 and would start pushing soon!
UH...WHAT?! pushing soon is fantastic but my husband is not here...so i said "like in an hour-soon? or...?" and she said "no, soon." hm.
my mom called josh and he was about 10min away and just about to drop presents off at his parents (only 2min from his parents house)
at the same time the nurse was asking me if it felt like i needed to push my answer was truely from a woman in pain
"no, owww, maybe...no. okay YES yes i do"
i had never felt that sensation before, even with braden and no epidural.
she asked if i wanted to do a practice push. i said "yes but no because i would like my husband here, but whatever you think is best!"
i asked/told my mom to call josh and ask specifcially where he was at..i wanted street names! ha. he was just parking at the hospital, i told her to tell him RUN!
at that point i realized it felt so much better to just push a little anytime i was having a contraction-not bare down and push with all my might but just give it some pressure. so that's when i realized i think it's time to really push.
The nurse got the memo and was saying "okay but you gotta wait and let me break down the bed" boy was she fast!
She got the bed red, and had just called the dr into the room, got my feet up in the stirrups and i was taking my first push when josh came running in. my mom later told me "i was never happier to see to tennis shoes under that curtain!"
(side note:i let my mom stay in for the delivery part-i wasn't sure along if i would, leaning toward the "no" side, i don't mind her seeing but feel like it's such a special time for just josh and i . i told her all this before going into labor and so she was prepared either way and SO good about it. she made it clear i could kick her out guilt free at any point in time. well since she was there it just felt right to have her stay. she even stayed way off to the side, i couldnt even see her and when max was born she took a few pictures for us of him getting measured and then stepped out to give josh and i alone time for awhile.)
So back to the story-josh came in to me giving my first push. OUCHHHH. i was then totally wanting something for pain (but looking back SO glad i made do with nothing). i even told josh while pushing "NEVER let me do this with no pain meds AGAIN! this was the dumbest thing i've ever done!" haha my way of joking (but i was serious!) to get through the pain.
Well josh estimated that i pushed for about 7min and out came... A BOY! a healthy baby boy.
(take note-if josh would of made the 2min trip to drop off the presents, he would of most likely missed his son being born!**when my mom called him and said to hurry, he turned and went straight to the hospital and didn't drop off the gifts)
I was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo relieved to see that my baby was healthy. HEALTHY. healthy. i was so relieved. and a boy?! crazy!
8lbs 120z -HUGE for me
20.25in
5:31am -yayy the dr i loved was still on call
CHRISTMAS MORNING
on my actual due date!
We are so loving our baby boy Max.
He is such a GOOD baby. only makes little squeals when he is hungry and sometimes cries if i don't feed him fast enough
He LOVES to cuddle
He does the normal eating thing, about every 3hours (first few days he ate about every 5-6hrs..didn't last!)
Photos and more details about our happy family to follow when i can!
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