SHE'S HERE!

Well as many of you have heard by now our bundle of joy has arrived! It is the best Christmas gift I could EVER receive! So for those of you that have not heard the story and seen pictures here we go!

As many of you know I was very anxious to get the next step and get this labor thing started! Being 6 days overdue seemed like FOREVER! By about Thursday I had become very frustrated and convinced that I was going to be pregnant FOREVER! I know six days is nothing compared to most first pregnancies however I am a very impatient person to start off, so waiting for something I had NO control over was killing me! So when I woke up Thur night/Friday morning with pretty bad cramps I was pretty excited (as excited as cramps can make you! :) It was about 2:30 and I thought it was just going to be another sleepless night as I have not really been able to sleep the last 2-3 nights. However I did start to notice that the cramps were coming and going at a pretty regular pace! At that time they were about 11-12 mins apart. Now as many of you know I had been struggling with "morning" sickness the entire pregnancy and taking Unisom to help calm the nausea. Well I must have thought that I had a medical degree the night before and decided that it MUST be the Unisom that is keeping me from going into labor, so I didn't take it! Now everytime I have not taken my Unisom I have regretted it, this time was no different. So on top of the cramps I was throwing up ANYTHING that was in my stomach, including water! So by 6:00 am The cramps, which I now determined were contractions, were about 7-9 mins apart. I woke Ryan up and for the next couple of hours he helped me keep track of the contractions.
To hurry the story along, Ryan had convinced me at about 10:00 that we should go to the hospital, but I was a little hesitant because I was totally afraid of being "rejected" and sent home! After that many hours of contractions and throwing up and being over due I am pretty sure that would have sent me over the edge! :) Anyway as we headed over the contractions were as close as 3 mins! As most cases by the time that I got to the hospital they did slow down a little bit, as I am sure that I was a little more relaxed. Anyway the nurse hooked me up to the monitor to check the babies heart rate and watch the contractions. I was there for about an hour or so and they were back to five mins apart and I was still only dilated to 1cm! So I sent Ryan out to get a book and some food as the nurse hooked me up to an IV to make sure this wasn't all due to dehydration!
Ryan was gone for about 45 mins and by the time he got back I had dilated to 4cm and the pain was getting pretty intense. Thus far I had kind of been confined to the bed and felt a huge urge to have to pee all the time, so I thought I might be able to relieve some for the pressure by getting up and walking. I think I made it one lap down the hall and back before I felt I had to pee again! No one is completely sure but I think this is when my water broke as I started to get some blood. ( For those who have not had any kids or are little squeamish the rest may be a little descriptive!:) )
At that point I thought if this is what 4cm feels like I am defiantly going to need that epidural sooner then I expected, so the nurse went off to find the anasthteiologist (sp?) At this point it was around 2:00 and was feeling a huge urge to push. So as the anastheologist (sp?) and the nurse and the Dr came back they decided to check me before the epidural was given, and to EVERYONE'S surprise I was at 10cm! Who dilates that fast?! That is when the dreaded words were spoken, "It probably is not even worth giving you the epidural at this point." WHAT??!!!!!! I did not anticipate doing this without an epidural at all! However at that point all I wanted to do was push! So from what I am told, about ten minutes of pushing and Stella Reye Paske arrived! Once I saw her I knew everything was worth it, but still three days later I can't believe that I pushed out a child without an epidural! Well anyway I am sure I will talk to many of you in the next couple of days, but here are few pictures to tide you over!