Weston....At Last!

Our baby boy is finally here!! He came early Friday 5-22 at 1:38am, a giant 9 pounder. This time I was only pushing for a half hour--thank goodness. Another beautiful little blondie boy.

As some of you know, I was scheduled to be induced on Saturday (we obviously didn't make it). I had been having contractions off and on for probably about 6 weeks, so when the became more regular on Thrusday at around 3 in the afternoon, I was very much in denial. Derek and I kept track of them for about 2 hours before Derek called (they were jumping between 3 and 10 min apart, so I wasn't quite sure if that was good enough to head to the hospital). I had been dilated 5 cm since Monday and the person Derek spoke with on the phone told us to come to the hospital. They checked me and said that I was now a bit above 6 cm dilated and that we would be staying--that was my fear that they would just tell us to go home and wait longer. Whew, what a relief.

Our good friends the Lloyds came and got Van from us (THANK YOU--WE OWE YOU TONS!), we called Grandma (who hauled it up here), and sat back and waited. The doc came in and said that I would get my epidural then she would come and break my water. Van was born not too long after my water was broken, so I figured he would be here in no time.

Epidural horrors:
The guy came in to do the epidural and I have to say I was quite nervous. I remained calm we all talked a bit and we found out that he is a Member (what a small world). Well, he was doing his thing and I did what he asked and when he was pushing that very long needle in my back I felt this ZAP and my left leg shot out. He said "OK, backing out". He pulled the needle back out and went a slightly different direction and all was well. Later he tells us that he might have hit (I'm still not quite sure) either my spinal cord or a nerve (well he did hit something!) He said I might end up with a spinal headache. Then he went on to describe it..."you would know because it would be the worst, most excrusiating headache you've ever had." OH GREAT! He said that when you lie down the pain is gone, but otherwise it's extreme pain. He said there's a way to fix it but they would have to go back in and do another epidural and then get some of my blood and push that in which will fill the hole they just make with a blood clot.
Of course I started feeling a headache. I told my nurse but then I changed positions and hoped that it was just my stress and tense muscles that I was feeling. I was laboring almost flat and the nurse kept coming in to flip me every hour, so I didn't really notice any head pain (I thought Oh good, I don't have it). Needless to say, I did get it. I didn't really notice until long after the baby was born and was in my recovery room. I was lying flat most of my stay, so it really didn't seem too bad and I was doubting that I had anything. I thought it must have just been pushing the baby out that made my neck hurt. I did however have another anestesiologist come in and explain it more. When she said that it would eventually just heal itself, I thought GREAT, I can get through this. Well, we went home and it's taken a full week for the intense headaches to stop. YIKES. I don't think I will get an epidural next time.

Back to the birth story....Grandma and dad were in the delivery room. The doc said that she would come back at about 2-2:30 to check on me and see if the baby had lowered enough to push. At 1:00 (through the epidural) I felt horrible pressure that I had to push. Derek called the nurse and she said that I could push if I felt the need. The doc was finally called and barely made it. The head was crowning and I was screaming for her to hurry up and put on her stinking coat and gloves. They kept saying your ok, hold on (WHAT! I am sitting with a baby head part way through my birth canal and they are telling me to hold on. I was so mad! My mom was funny--she held her hand down to catch the baby, I guess she was imagining that he would just pop out as they had their backs turned to put on gloves. Well, the doc turned around and two pushes later out was my baby boy. All slimy and purply-white. Derek and I started crying. Giving birth really is being witness to a miracle. It's unbelievable and I am so grateful and feel so blessed to have the opportunity to be a mother.

Here's the great view from our "birthing suite," very nice. My mom and Derek were kinda hoping to see a helicopter land (but then realized that would mean something terrible happened-whoops).

Proud dad got to cut the cord. (I know...too much leg--Sorry)

Boy I was glad he was out.

Welcome to our family Baby Weston.