Birth Story

On September 16 I went for my 39 week appt. I hadn't made much progress so my midwife said she would see me the following week. Well that night I went to bed around 10:00. Not long after going to bed I felt a pop and then a strong contraction. I didn't know it was a contraction at the time but it didn't take long to figure it out. The contractions continued for about 30 minutes before I got up to share the news with Chris. When I told him I thought I was in labor he was a bit in shock. He hadn't packed anything and neither of us really thought I would have the baby before my due date.

I continued to time my contractions for the next 3 hours. Around 1 a.m. I called my midwife. She said to time them for another hour and if they were 5 minutes apart to call back and head to the hospital. Well they continued but I decided to let Chris sleep alittle and labor at home as long as I could.

About 5 a.m. the contractions were 2-3 minutes apart and hurt like crazy. I got Chris up and we headed to the hospital but not before stopping for bagels. I am so glad we did because that is all I had to eat for 24 hours.

We checked into the hospital around 6 a.m. It was a long day from that point on. I saw my midewife around 7:00. Still no major progress. I decided I wanted the epidural so they gave me an IV. Well that slowed down the contractions. So then I decided I could wait on the epidural. My midwife broke my water around 10:00. The contractions were getting unbearable at that point. I was REALLY ready for the epidural then. Got the epi around 11:00. I was able to sleep on and off for the rest of the afternoon.

Unfortunately the epi slowed down all progress. From 11:00-5:00 I made very little progress. I was given Pitocin to help speed things up. From 5:00-10:00 I made all the progress necessary. It was a good thing too because I was giving up fast. At 10:00 my midwife came in and I began pushing. I pushed for about an hour and 15 minutes. Graham Edward made he grand appearance into the world on September 17, 2009 at 11:17. It was the best feeling in the world when she put him on my chest! I was head over heels in love.

The rest is kind of a blur. It took all day to get to that point and when he arrived it just got crazy. I had a fever while pushing so the NICU team came ot check him out. His Apgar score was 8 and then 9 which was good. They weighed and measured him. Finally they gave him a bath and daddy got to hold him. Chris was so good with him. It was so sweet. We are both in love!