Butterfly Kisses: The Birth Story

Well, we are finally back home today from the hospital. I wanted to tell you all about how the labor and delivery went. I had guessed that his labor would be a quick one, and boy was I right. I checked into the hospital at around 12:00 A.M. At 1:00 A.M., my contractions started moving closer together and I had started to get a tad uncomfy. I was definitely not feeling pleasant anymore. I decided to ask then for the epidural because I know how long it can take to get someone up there and to administer it. So I figured by the time they came to do it, I'd be in PAIN. My hubby went out to tell the nurse that I wanted something for pain and he said he could sense that they were all a little surprised that I was asking so soon. You have to be at 4 to get the epidural, so they checked me when the lady came to administer it, and I was at 4. She got there at 1:25 to start my epidural. While she was administering it, my contractions got soooo very intense and I was having back labor. So with each contraction, it started at my back with very intense pain and then moved onto the front. It didn't feel the greatest, but I was able to deal with it, but was looking forward to having some relief. As she was working on giving me my epidural, I began to get the shakes. I am sure it looked funny. My arms and legs wouldn't stop shaking. I knew this meant that I was in transition. She was still giving me the epidural when my contractions got really bad. As soon as the epidural was done, or at about 1:50ish, I was checked again and was at 7. The next five minutes were intense. It was now close to 2:00 A.M. The epidural wasn't working and my contractions were right on top of each other. They were so painful and then I started to feel very intense pressure. I didn't know how to describe the pressure. My nurse could tell that I was acting like I was in a lot of pain and kept asking me to describe all I was feeling, but I didn't know how to and couldn't because it was too hard to talk during the contractions. She checked me again and I was at 10. I had gone from 7 to 10 in five minutes.
I then got scared and started to cry. The pain was so intense and I was so afraid of feeling the burning when the baby came out. I was also afraid of feeling myself tear. I started asking when the medicine would work. Why wasn't it working? I was moaning and groaning and I even think at one point I just yelled, "no, no, no!" over and over. Thankfully, the epidural worked a little bit. I was pretty numb from the hips down. So although I felt all of the contractions and pressure of him coming out, I didn't feel any burning pain. Thank Goodness! I did get to feel him sliding out though, and that was a great sensation. With the miss, I was completely numb. So, anyway, I got to the hospital at 12:00 A.M. and I had him almost 3 hours later at 2:56 A.M. So, although it was VERY VERY intense, it was also VERY VERY quick.
He is so handsome and so perfect. We had to stay in the hospital for 48 hours so that they could monitor him since I had tested positive for the strep. He is fine. He has a slight case of jaundice. So, he is a little yellow. But it should go away in a week or so.
The miss came to visit us in the hospital every day and she was so excited to meet her little brother. I thought I'd post some pictures really quickly and then I will relax a bit. I think I have had a total of 4 hours of sleep over the last 3 days. It is so nice to be back home and to get to sleep in my own bed. It's funny, one of the nurses told me to sleep when the baby did while at the hospital. Well, that is almost impossible, because someone comes in your room almost every 30 minutes to check the mom or the baby or to bring food or to clean. So, sleep didn't really come all weekend long. I did get to watch the sunrise this morning with the mister. We had just finished a feeding and I could see the sun peeking in through the window. So, I opened the blinds and we watched it rise over the mountain. I don't remember the last time that I got to watch the sunrise. So, there are some advantages to not sleeping.

Well, here are the pictures. Click on the thumbnail to view them in a larger size.

7 lbs. 9 oz. 19 1/2 inches