Birth Story

Let's start at the beginning, shall we?  It is, after all, a very good place to start.  (Oh yes my son will know all about The Sound of Music!) 
I found out I was pregnant on December 23, 2010.  We then found out that I was due on August 30, 2011, the day before B's birthday.  We got excited at the possibility that baby and daddy could have the same birthday.  I was very blessed with an easy pregnancy.  I didn't have morning sickness, much swelling (until the very end), heartburn or many of the other typical pregnancy woes.  I managed to not gain an obscene amount of weight (less than 30 lbs) and almost completely avoided stretch marks (2 on my right boob, just the right boob).  Everything went so simply that I assumed that everything else would go simply.  I had even come around to the idea of wanting to do a natural childbirth.  The only real struggle that I dealt with throughout this pregnancy was the HORRIBLE heat.  Summer 2011 was the hottest summer in Oklahoma history.  Let's just put it this way, when the high was less than 105 it was considered a cool day.  So, I stayed inside throughout June, July and August.
Oh, August.  Yes, my "birth month" rolled around and I started to get excited.  Then 37 weeks rolled around and I was informed that he was considered full term and he could come at any time.  Every little twinge made me think that something was happening, but it never did.  The middle of August rolled around and it was clear that I was not really making progress.  I was 1 cm for weeks and not effacing much at all.  My 39 week appointment came around and I was desperate to hear that I was making progress.  Instead, I left the doctor's office on the verge of tears, but hopeful.  Tuesday, August 30, 2011, my due date, rolled around and I was getting very excited because I had contractions all day and night.  However, they never got regular, nor would they really increase in strength.  I told B that we would just go to sleep and see if they awakened me in the night or if my water broke or something.  Well the morning of August 31, 2011 rolled around and I was no longer having contractions.  B took off work that morning just to be sure, but he went in around noon and I really had no contractions all day.  I was really disappointed.
I woke up on September 1, 2011 and was convinced that what I saw was my mucus plug (and it still very well may have been part of it), my spirits were lifted again.  The day was my 40 week doctor's appointment.  I wanted to cry while I was driving to the hospital because I so did not want to be there, but I was somewhat hopeful that my water had broken that morning after my walk.  So B meets me at the doc's office and we go in, get weighed, check my blood pressure, I go to the bathroom and then the doctor walks in not too long after I get back from the bathroom.  She checks me to see if my water had broken, it hadn't.  Then we have the wonderful cervical exam.  Well she tells me that I made good progress since last week.  I asked what that means.  She said that I was now at about 2 cm and 50% effaced; however, my cervix was still pretty posterior.  And then we started talking about the dreaded "I-word" - Induction.  We talked about dates and what she would want to do to induce me.  She told me that she would want to do cervical ripening so I would have to come in overnight and then we would start me on pitocin in the morning and break my water.  Hearing these things broke my heart because I had really decided that I wanted a natural childbirth and was not sure I could do an unmediated birth when I start with pitocin.
Over the next couple of days I came to terms with what was going to happen.  I accepted the fact that I would likely be having an induction and became okay with that - not happy, but okay with it.  I also started to get really temperamental about anyone asking me whether the baby was here yet - especially when people I don't really like or have anything to do with would ask me about it.  Leave me alone, neither  my baby nor I particularly like you.  I did finally see a light at the end of the tunnel though.  I knew that by Wednesday, September 7, 2011, at the latest, I would have my baby boy, and that was fine. 
On the morning of Saturday, September 3, 2011, I realized that I had lost the rest of my mucus plug and, once again, got hopeful.  That hope, however, was short lived as I had become incredibly jaded by the whole situation of waiting and had given into the idea that I would not be having this baby until he was forced out of me.  I eventually got out of bed and went about my day.  I went for a walk, got some lunch and started watching football with B.  In that time I'd had some contractions, but still wasn't holding my breath for anything.  Oh and it was about this time that the AC unit for one side of our house stopped working.  FAIL!
Well, Sunday, September 4, 2011, rolled around and still no baby on the outside.  I did however have a very active baby in my belly and started having contractions.  Still, I was resigned to the idea that I was not going to have this baby until the doctor pushed the eject button.  The only thing that made all of this ok is that I have the most wonderful husband in the world who took such good care of me and and talk to our baby and make me feel incredibly loved.
Monday, September 5, 2011, was Labor Day, as in the American holiday.  I chuckled to myself at the prospect of having a child with a sense of irony who would cause me to go into labor on Labor Day.  I had contractions throughout the day, but nothing really got me too excited.  I went about my day preparing to head to the hospital on Tuesday for my induction and preparing for my mom to come stay with me.  B and I had another nice day (one of the best weekends we've had in a while) of doing not a whole lot, but soaking up these last few days of being a family of 2.  (I truly love that man more than I could possibly explain to anyone.  He is so amazing.)  Around 4:00 I headed over to the good ole Tri Delta house to help out with Standards.  At that point, I'd had maybe one or two contractions that felt different, but nothing to get excited about.  However, about the time I was leaving the sorority house, I started having the occasional contraction that really felt different.  I ran a couple more errands and then headed home (but not before stopping at Jack in the Box - I should never have learned that a new one opened not far from my house - FAIL!).  Around 8:00pm the stronger contractions started coming more regularly and I decided to tell B that I thought I was having real contractions.  (Oh ya, when I went to the bathroom at the sorority house, I am pretty sure I recognized that I experienced my "bloody show."  Look it up if you don't know what it is because I'm not going to explain it.) So, ya I was having contractions, that would last anywhere from 30 seconds to 3 minutes and were coming between 10 and 20 minutes apart.  On the off chance that this was "IT" (and I was convinced that it wasn't due to my previous mental false alarms) I started getting the rest of the things together to go to the hospital and then I decided I needed to go to bed because I was going to get some sleep if/when I had the chance.  So, at about 10:30pm I headed to bed.
Well, at about 11:30 I got up because I was not able to fall asleep due to contractions coming on right as I was falling asleep.  I went into the living room and hung out while I had contractions. I watched some quality television (like Keeping Up With The Kardashians) and tried not to get my hopes up as my contractions started getting stronger.  I was convinced that they would eventually stop.  Well, around 2:00 am I went back to the bedroom and awakened B and told him that I was pretty sure that I was in labor and that he could sleep for an hour or so more, but that I would need some support soon thereafter.  So, he came out and started rubbing my back while I had contractions.  *SIDENOTE: B Jr was face up and so I had pretty bad back labor.  The only way I was comfortable was flopped over my exercise ball rocking and breathing while B rubbed my back.  Also good to note that my contractions were shorter, but closer together when I would be up and walking around between them.  However, my contractions were longer, but farther apart when I would be down between them.  I would take the shorter and closer together any fucking day of the week over the longer and farther apart ones.*  So B came out to the living room and we watched TV and breathed through contractions until about 5:20 am when I decided it was time to head to the hospital.  Before we left, B had me work through a few more contractions and I was ready to go.
So we get to the hospital around 5:45 am and instead of checking me out in triage, they put me straight through to a L&D room (probably because I was scheduled for an induction that evening anyway.  When I got to the hospital, I was dilated between 3-4 cm and was 90% effaced.  Well my contractions were getting stronger, but my trusty exercise ball was very helpful.  My first nurse, Melanie, was the perfect nurse for a first time mom to have for the first few hours at the hospital.  She was wonderful and I could kiss her. She really helped with a lot of things.  Every so often I would have a really strong contraction, but then the next one would be kind of lame.  Then I would have a few medium ones and then one that was horribly painful.  This was about 8:30 am and I checked in with Melanie to get an exam and see if I'd dilated anymore.  Well I was at 5-6 cm and was exhausted.  See, I awakened at about 7:30 am on Labor Day and this was now 8:30 am the next day - aka S had been up for 25 hours with no end in sight.  I was seriously considering an epidural at this point.  *SIDENOTE: Truth be told, I really wanted to do this naturally, but made the best decision for me.*   I was absolutely exhausted and had a difficult time breathing much less moving.  Unfortunately, it was about this time that I also had a contraction that was AWFUL and I was left panting and having difficulty coming down.  I was also getting to the point where I was super tired and had no energy and desperately needed to relax.  I got hooked up to an IV, we called the anesthesiologist and B went to get some food while I got some relief.  *SIDENOTE: Getting the epidural didn't hurt.  What hurt was getting the numbing shot before the catheter was implanted.*
God Bless that sweet sweet anesthesiologist.  Also, God Bless Melanie.  She let me hold her hand and squeeze the crap out of them while getting the epidural and dealing with a really bad contraction while getting the epidural.  So after I got the epidural, Melanie stayed and talked to me for a while and B came back from grabbing some food.  After I got the epidural (around 9:00 am), I was able to get a little nap before the doctor came int o break my water.  My normal doctor had been on call all weekend and was now off.  However, I fell in love with Dr. Ribaudo.  She was so wonderful.  She broke my waters around 10:30 am and within hours I was desperate to push.  I had horrible pressure on my butt and knew that meant things were happening.  So I called in my new nurse, Christy, around 11:30 and had her check me.  In the hour between breaking my water and me checking with Christy, I was like 9.75cm and fully effaced.  However, we realized that B Jr. was sunny side up and we had to try to turn him.  So I laid on my side for a while and then demanded that I get to push.  So Christy came in and she and B held my legs and we started pushing.  This was about 1:00 pm.  At about 1:30 pm, we were ready to call the doctor.  Then, at 1:50 pm on Tuesday, September 6, 2011, the most perfect little man came into this world and my heart grew more than I thought it ever could.
After I got the epidural I did have to get some Pitocin because my labor slowed, but it all worked out in the end and he came out after less than an hour of pushing.  He is 6 pounds 15 ounces and 19.5 inches of pure perfection with a full head of brown hair (B and I were both born with full heads of dark hair that later grew in super blonde when we were little).
I have no tricks to going into labor.  The only thing I can think of is that I set an induction date and then went into labor the evening before I was supposed to go in for my induction.
I love you B Jr.  Momma and Daddy think you are the most perfect thing int he world and we are so happy that you are our sweet little baby boy.