Sorry For Leaving Everybody Hanging

So, I can tell by some of the comments on my very last post that I've been leaving everybody hanging about this baby! :)

But, right now is actually the first time the kiddo is not attached to my boob, so I'm getting a free moment!

I had a "feeling" on the morning of the Tuesday, the 16th, that something might be happening either that day or the next day. The contractions I was having were stronger than the previous few days, but they were still sporadic throughout the morning. By the afternoon, I was having some bleeding (TMI, I know...but it usually indicates something's going on...hehe). I called my mother-in-law to let her know to be "on alert" just in case. My mom was also on her way here from Texas because my step-dad had an interview on Wednesday, the 17th. They are thinking of moving back to Phoenix, and it just happened to work out that they would be here and the baby still hadn't been born. So, I was excited that my mom might make it here for the baby's birth.

After dinner on Tuesday night, my contractions were definitely coming in a more regular pattern, but still about 20 minutes or so apart. By 8pm they were getting closer to 10-15 minutes apart, so I called my mother-in-law again to let her know she might not want to go to sleep because we might be going to the hospital that night. She decided to come over just in case we had to leave in the middle of the night. The girls had already been put to bed, and we sat around and watched the Olympics and timed my contractions. By 10pm they were still about 8-12 minutes apart, so I decided I should go lay down to get some rest. As soon as I laid down to rest, the contractions started coming about every 4 minutes. I thought "Darn! Just as I get settled down to rest, here they come!" So, I waited until about 10:45 when I was sure they were consistently coming, and told Aaron that we should probably go to the hospital.

We packed up my stuff, and drove to the hospital and got checked in. I think by the time they were able to check my progress it was about 11:15pm or so, and I was dilated to 7 cm. They asked me if I wanted an epidural, and I declined. I had my last two girls completely natural, and I wanted to have this baby natural as well - but I have to admit that the contractions were pretty uncomfortable so I asked if I could have something via IV to "take the edge off"...and you know what they said? "No". I was like "What?" And they said "You are so close to delivering, that if we give you something in an IV, it will make the baby sleepy." OK...so much for that idea. So, I declined the IV altogether, because those things HURT, especially if the nurse isn't skilled enough to get the vein the first time.

At about 11:45pm they checked me again and I was 8 cm, so they called my doctor. She arrived at around midnight and they broke my water. My water NEVER breaks on its own for some reason. Weird. Anywho, I continued my labor standing up - it just felt better than lying in the bed, and I figured using gravity to help the baby make his or her way out would be good. They told me to tell them when I began to feel "pressure". That happened at about 12:10am, they checked me and said I was 9cm. My doctor said to try laying on my left side to see if that would help bring the baby down so I could push - but baby did not like that, and the heartrate went down. So, I had to roll over on to my back. The next contraction I had came with such force that I told the doctor I needed to push...like NOW. She told me to wait...umm...yeah, to wait. She hadn't got on her little paper gown thingie yet, and they hadn't dropped the end off of the bed to prepare for all the messy stuff that comes with babies. So, I "shhhhhhhed" through that one, but the next one came right away, and I pushed.

I didn't care if they were ready or not, I was pushing because this baby wanted out. And you know what happened? That baby's head came right out on my first push, and the doctor said "Well, I guess we are delivering this baby IN the bed". Ya think? On my next push, the baby was out!

And guess what, we had a BOY!! At 12:39am on Wednesday, February 17th, our first son was born. He weighed 9lbs, 1oz, and measured 21 inches long. I couldn't believe we had a boy. My husband cried...I just kept asking him "We made a boy?". hehe

It took us a whole day to name him because we hadn't really discussed names a whole lot since we didn't know if we were having a boy or a girl. We named him Aaron James Edward - and we're calling him "AJ". Aaron is after his daddy, James is my dad's middle name, and it's my husband's dad's first name, and Edward is my grandpa's name.

So, there you have it. Our son finally arrived on his 10th day of being overdue. He's officially one week old today, and we're just trying to adjust to family life with a newborn again. It's been wonderful and challenging all at the same time. Just about every one of my daughters is sick - so NOT what I needed right now, but we're chugging through.

Here's a picture of AJ from the hospital - I'm sure I'll be posting more later. :)