Welcoming Brody into the world

Brody Daniel arrived January 20th at 4:34pm! Here is his birth story if you're interested. I'll keep the gory details to a minimum.

Tuesday the 19th of January I woke up about 3am with painful cramping. It was enough to wake me up from a dead sleep. I sat there for about a minute thinking that this has got to be a contraction. Sure enough, after about a minute it was gone. Then about 30 minutes later, same thing, which continued about every hour until I was up for the day. They were so far apart I knew that nothing was happening anytime soon.

I continued on with my second day off of work by having breakfast with my dad, lunch & shopping with my sister and dinner for my Nana's birthday. Starting with breakfast my contractions became about 10 minutes apart. They never got closer together and I was always able to talk through the pain. By the time we got home from dinner (around 9pm) they were becoming a little more painful. By bedtime I had a feeling that labor was progressing as I started timing the contractions. They were now getting more like 8 minutes apart. Jason couldn't sleep (like a little kid on Christmas eve), so we just stayed in bed timing the contractions and I tried to rest while I could.

About 12:30am Wednesday my contractions were 5 minutes apart, lasting 1 minute each and had been for an hour. This was the magic sign to call the doctor. I called my OB and he told me to head into labor & delivery. As we started getting ready to go to the hospital, my contractions were getting closer to 3-4 minutes apart. I wasn't worried, but Jason started to get a little more nervous. I believe all husbands have a fear that you'll go into labor at home no matter how many times you tell them that this process takes time.

We arrived at the hospital about 1:30am. I had now been having contractions for about 22 hours but at my appointment Monday night, I was only 0 cm dilated. So I was curious what these contractions had done to my progress. The nurse got us settled in and then did an exam. She then informs me that I wasn't dilated, at all!! Are you kidding me?!? I had a few moments of feeling like I was making it up. I was then hooked up to the machines which showed that yes, I was having regular contractions now only 3 minutes apart. At least I knew I wasn't making that up!

The nurse and my OB believed that I may just be dehydrated and that the contractions would go away. They decided to keep me until about 5am and see if I progress on my own. I was also to drink tons of water & juice to try to get hydrated. I knew that I had been drinking tons of water all day, so I didn't really believe that hydration was the issue, but to make sure, I went through over 64oz of water and 32oz of apple juice.

The nurse came back around 5:30 and did another exam to find out that I was 1cm dilated. I had progressed (however slight) on my own!! So they decided to keep me and augment my progress with pitocin. Basically, they didn't have to induce my labor but the pitocin would speed up the dilation.

At this point, I was having a really hard time with the pain. The contractions were still 3 minutes apart which didn't allow for much rest in between. I tried walking around the room and breathing through them but nothing was helping the pain. I never intended to go through labor naturally, but I also didn't want to start an epidural too early in the day. The nurse offered some pain medication instead. I decided to take it. It didn't take away the feeling of the contractions, it just took away the edge.

They also suggested I eat a light breakfast since I would likely be in for a long stretch. I had a bowl of Special K and a piece of toast. Shortly afterwards, I saw my entire breakfast in reverse. Not sure if it was the food or the pain meds, but I recommend not eating while in labor. I continued to get sick several times for the next few hours until they finally gave me anti-nausea medicine. This was the worst part of my labor.

12:30pm I had them do the epidural. This was the best decision I could have made. The pain meds had worn off a few hours earlier and I didn't take more for fear of getting sick again. The anesthesiologist was fantastic. He kept the atmosphere in the room light and talked me through what he was doing. He also let me keep my tank-top on underneath my gown, which made me more comfortable. As soon as the nurse found out Jason was scared of needles, she sent him to the other side of the room to look out the window. But she did a great job keeping me distracted.

I felt very little pain when he did the local anesthetic and no pain as he used the bigger needle (which thankfully I never saw!)

From 12:30 until 4pm I was blissfully relaxed. I just layed in bed, Jason napped, we watched TV, went on facebook and just relaxed. In the meantime, I was having contractions every minute. If I hadn't had the epidural, it would have been a much more stressful, painful afternoon.

The OB came in around 4:00 to see my progress. At this point, we were all still expecting me to be in labor until probably after dinnertime. However, as soon as he started the exam he stated, "wow! you're ready to push!" I was at +2 station which meant that Brody was right there and ready to come out.

From 4:00-4:30 with the help of a nurse, my OB and my wonderful husband, I worked on pushing Brody out. Many first time moms will push for several hours, so it was very lucky that it only took me 30 minutes. When Brody was born there were several comments about how big he was. But he was adorable and I was immediately in love.

They put him directly on my chest as soon as he was out. Jason cut the umbilical cord and they wiped him clean while laying on top of me. He came out screaming and didn't stop until he was clean and warm. He has quite the lungs!

He was 8lbs 14oz and 21.5 inches long with an adorable head full of hair. We're officially a family of three!