The Full Story

Throughout the last few months of my pregnancy everyone I ran into would comment on how I would definitely not make it to my due date of November 23rd. I was carrying low, all belly, HUGE, are there two in there? I'm talking doctor's, women with 3+ children, our family, everyone! So, me being a 1st time mom was kind of get ramped up for baby Tyler to show up a little early. I know they also say your 1st always come on time or late and I kept that in the back of my mind as well. Scott had no doubt that I would go up until my due date...as I started getting anxious and so uncomfortable he told me I wasn't allowed to complain until after Nov. 23rd. I talked my mom into coming before Tyler came so we could have a few days to do any last minute to-do's. My brother came for the Thanksgiving holiday expecting to see his new nephew. Well, Thanksgiving came and went, the 23rd came and went...that day consisted of eating spicy wings for lunch and Jenny's spicy enchilada's for dinner...hey we were trying. The next morning I noticed some cramps but nothing significant...more like I had to go to the bathroom. Finally I was able to "go" and noticed some of my mucus plug. I was so excited...something is happening. At the same time I was so nervous about timing contractions and knowing when is the right time to go to the hospital. I prayed that my water would break so I knew I HAD to go to the hospital and they couldn't send me home. I even told my mom that day and I think even my sister in law Amy that I was hoping my water would just break. Scott and the boys went golfing and I made sure he would have an extra car "just in case." Jenny and I were left at the house alone so we went to get some lunch...Blimpee...and shopped around Big Lot's for a awhile. Then I decided I needed to go home to take a nap. Scott called and said everyone was coming over to eat left overs...since I was still napping I went into the bedroom to finish my nap. I heard everyone in the living room and decided to get up...I stretched my back and went to the bathroom. When I stood up from the toilet, I kept going and going and going. Then I realized that my water broke...I called out to Scott in sort of a panic. We got our bags together and went out to the living room and said..."Guess we're headed to the hospital, my water broke!" Everyone was really excited and I was...a little emotional and nervous!

This was us heading to the hospital! This all happened around 4:15 pm on Saturday November 24th. Once we got to the hospital it seemed to take forever for us to be admitted. They had to verify that my waters did break...the Dr. had no question because some flowed right out while she was checking. However, I was not having any regular contractions and I could barely feel them and my cervix was still 1CM and thick and high (she could barely find it!). Since my waters broke the Dr. said they would have to induce the labor process. She suggested not to let anyone "check" me until she came back in the morning due to the risk of infection. Here we are getting ramped up in the delivery room. At this point my contractions were just starting and before she even gave me the first round of inducing agents my contractions were about 5 minutes apart.

Then the night began. At first I felt this really bad back pain and told Scott to massage it, then when I realized they were five minutes apart I knew that I was in for complete back labor. I never felt a contraction in my stomach...only in my back. I made it until 1:30am before I needed something to help me with the pain. I'm not really sure what it was but it worked! I was out like a light for 2 hours with no pain. The epidural came in about 4am-5am...it had a strange tingling sensation to it (like hitting your funny bone). However, the nurse was supposed to flip me from side to side every 20-30 minutes, well, I was left on my left side for an hour and the medicine built up on the left and the medicine didn't work on my right side. So much for the epidural! I felt the right side labor the rest of the morning. Around 8am the nurse came in to "check" me. I was hesitant because of the infection warning plus I was also scared because the last thing I wanted them to say was that I hadn't changed at all. But finally I let the nurse check me and sure enough I was 90% effaced (thinned) and 6cm! They kicked up the pitocin and I was 10cm by 11am and ready to push. While pushing I just couldn't tell if anything was happening and I felt like I was pushing so hard, so I kindly asked if there was a mirror? I think Scott about passed out, he wouldn't even look down there. It really helped me, once I saw his head I knew I could do it, little did I know just how big his head actually was. I pushed for 51 minutes and without any help with forceps or vacuum a 9lb 9oz Tyler came screaming out. During the pushing I had an excellent coach (Scott) that counted to 10 for each push, fed me ice, and shot pictures of everything once Tyler came out (I'm talking 200 pictures!). Some I made him delete! The first words out of the Dr's mouth was..."I've delivered a football team this weekend...nothing under 9lbs!" I was really checking out my baby and just amazed at what just happened. The Dr. had to stitch me up a bit and I almost couldn't stand it because I felt that my right leg was going to fall off...I was in a lot of pain. She helped me out with some pain medicine and a muscle relaxer. It wasn't a pretty site in my room either...it seemed like there was blood everywhere. I couldn't believe it when they wanted me to go to the bathroom and clean up a bit...I was so swollen! Anyways, I guess women have been doing the childbirth thing forever and I am just another new mom that experienced the miracle of life.