I think most everyone knows the story but I wanted to finally put it on paper so I wouldn't forget the details.
We went to the doctor on Friday, July 19. We had been hoping every day that I would go into labor. Each day we waited with anticipation and nothing happened. We were slightly disapointed that we were going back to the doctor for another checkup. How much longer would we have to wait? At our appointment I hadn't made any progress. My doctor decided to strip my membranes to see if that would get things going. Hopefully, we would be going in to see her that weekend, as she was on call. We also did a stress test, just to make sure that he was doing fine. Of course, he was happy and active. We also decided to set our induction day as Monday, July 22. We then went home and tried to have a somewhat normal weekend, as we knew that Monday our lives would change forever.
Early Monday morning around 3:30, I woke up with back pain. It wasn't unbearable but just bad enough that I couldn't sleep. I tried to lie there for awhile but it just wasn't working. I decided to start timing them, even though I wasn't sure they were contractions. They were pretty sporadic but strong enough that I couldn't sleep. I got up and decided to watch tv. I sat on our exercise ball for an hour or so. It was still too early to get ready so I ellipticaled for about 20 min. Dean finally got up and we got ready to go. Dean had to go into work for a little bit so I went to my office and finished some last minute things.
We got to the hospital at 9 am, checked in and went to an exam room. I was almost 4 centimeters dilated. She hooked me up to my IV, started my antibiotics, and moved me to a delivery room. We got settled in there and waited. The contractions I was having were not very strong so we just hung out and tried to rest up. At 1:45 pm, the doctor came back and broke my water. After that my contractions started to get more intense. For the next few hours, it was pretty rough. Bo was sunny side up so every time I had a contraction he was pressing against my spine. All my contractions were in my back, which was very painful. I spent a lot of time walking, doing squats, doing step ups, sitting in the tub, and sitting on the ball. Nothing really helped. Through everything I was making Dean rub my back. I am pretty sure his arm was exhausted by the end. Then I decided it was time for an epidural. Dean tried to talk me out of it, because I had previously wanted to do it without any pain medications. The anesteiologist was in surgery so the nurse told us it might be quite awhile before he would be able to come in. They gave me some other pain mediction in the mean time and it really didn't help.
The anesteologist came in about 8 pm. I was nervous about getting the epidural as I had heard many negative things about it. However, it was AWESOME! It didn't really hurt going in and I felt great after. No more pain. However, my contractions seemed to stall out and I wasn't making much progress. I was between a 7 and 8 when I got the epidural. We had really been hoping that Monday would be Bo's birthday. Until we saw that Prince William's son was born on Monday. We were really just ready for him to come and labor to be over.
At midnight my doctor came in and decided it was time to push. We were pretty excited because we thought it would be an hour or two and then he would be out. Were we ever wrong. Pushing was pretty easy. I didn't really get tired besides the fact that it was the middle of the night. The doctor kept coming in every half hour or so and he wasn't getting much closer to coming out. He was stuck on my pubic bone.
We kept pushing. All the while believing that he was going to turn his head and come right out. Finally about 3:30 my doctor asked me how much longer I could push. Our choices were keep pushing or start thinking about a C Section. I was pretty determined that I didn't want a c section so I would push for one more hour. We were making progress little by little and his head was getting closer to coming out. After that hour my doctor decided that she could probably get him out with the vacuum. I could keep pushing but there was no guarantee he would come out without assistance. There was also no guarantee that he would come out with assistance either. At that point the possiblity of a c section was very real.
The doctor told us that the vacuum could pop off his head. She could only try three times before we would have to do an emergency c section. The first time she tried it popped off. The second time she tried, she was able to get his head under my pubic bone. I gave one more push, he turned his head the right way, and out he came. He started crying as soon as he came out. The doctor laid him on me and Dean cut the cord. He was crying so loud and probably cried for the next 20 minutes at least. It was quite a surreal experience. Even thinking about it now, it almost seems like it was a dream.
The rest of our stay was pretty uneventful. We had quite a few visitors and were able to enjoy some quiet time just the 3 of us.Bo did so well in the hospital. He had a little jaundice but it cleared up by Friday morning. Bo spent his first afternoon home sunbathing. We were so glad to be home and are enjoying life with Bo. He is a very good baby and so cute!!
