The Birth Story

Ryan and I were up early on the morning of May 4th and out the door to the hospital for our induction before the sun even came up.  We walked in the door to the hospital with another couple who was being induced that day as well.  As we met at the check-in counter Ryan told them "we'll race ya!"

We were up in our room in no time and they went ahead and started some fluids.  I answered countless heath questions and got poked and prodded and hooked up to monitors while Ryan enjoyed a little ESPN and ran to the vending area for a some caffeine!  After about 30 minutes they went ahead and started the pitocin to try and get some contractions going.  They started out light and very tolerable, but I winced every time the nurse came back in our room to turn up the amount.  Sitting there awaiting the pain was the worst thing about being induced.

After a couple hours and a few cervix checks, my doctor came in to break my water.  It was time to get the show on the road!!  Within another hour the contractions started coming on much stronger and in regular intervals.  Soon enough I was having really strong contractions every 2 minutes that would never fully go away.  That's when it was time for the epidural!!!

The epidural went great and I was able to relax almost immediately and even close my eyes and rest for awhile.  Ryan and I passed the time playing Family Feud on his laptop.  I am the queen of fast money!!

After some hours of waiting and dilating and waiting some more, I was finally at 10cm and I almost cried I was so excited.  Laying flat on your back in a hospital bed unable to move your legs can get really uncomfortable after several hours!  I was ready to start pushing right away but baby was still really high and they wanted to wait a little while for him to drop to make pushing a little less challenging.  That last 30 minutes was absolute torture!!!

Finally I told the nurse I couldn't wait any longer and we decided to do some light pushes to bring his head down a bit.  After the first contraction they could already see him!  I was so excited but baby wasn't quite as ready as I was because his heart rate started dropping every time I pushed.  It was nothing to be alarmed about, but I was unable to push as often as I wanted because we had to wait on the little guys heart rate to come back up before the next push.

After about 30 more minutes and pushing through about 4 contractions the nurse told me to stop pushing because she had to run get the doctor...baby was almost here!!!  My doctor was there quickly and a couple pushes later baby Owen was born!

Ryan cut the cord and they wiped down my wiggly screaming baby and then placed him on my chest.  I fell instantly in love and gave his wrinkled head a big kiss before they took him to the warmer.  The sound of his cries were music to my ears and I waited impatiently as he was weighed, measured and cleaned.  I finally got him back and he opened his eyes and looked directly at me.  He was beautiful and perfect and so alert.  I just laid there and stared at him in my arms for what seemed like forever.

The day honestly could not have gone any better.  Labor was...dare I say it...easy, and my baby was in my arms only about 9 hours after our arrival at the hospital.

After things settled down and Ryan went to pick up Austin and bring him to see me and meet his new baby brother, my day was complete and wonderful and I felt so blessed and happy to be the mother of two very special little boys!