The Birth Story

After going to both my aunt’s and my brother’s Halloween parties, Eric and I returned home. Shortly after getting ready for bed, I noticed a small gush of water. Since it was after midnight and I was tired, I figured it was nothing and went to bed. At 4am, I woke up for a middle of the night bathroom trip and noticed another small gush. I told Eric I thought it was time we go to the hospital. I called the doctor, and sure enough, she told us to come on in. We got dressed relatively calmly and drove to the hospital. Here I am at 4am all ready to go...

When we arrived, we had to check in at the emergency room since it was after hours. They proceeded to wheel me up to Labor and Delivery, the same rooms we saw during our childbirth classes. They hooked me up and did some tests to make sure my water really broke. It did; they also determined that my contractions were coming pretty regularly, and I was over 3 cm. dilated. Today was going to be the day…we were about to become parents! Eric and I both called our own parents to share the exciting news. They, of course, started getting ready so they could head over. Here I am still feeling good and Eric looking relatively calm...

The contractions were not nearly as painful as I thought they would be. In fact, the nurse kept telling me when I was having a major contraction, and I told her it felt like a little cramping. On a scale of 1-10, I told her the pain was about a 1 and a half. Once the contractions got more regular and reached about a 4 on the pain scale, I asked for the epidural (which they told me I could have at any time since I was already so far along). I was scared to death of this shot, and it was pretty much just as bad as I imagined. Everyone had to leave the room while a huge needle was injected into my spine. The needle wasn’t as bad as all the jumping numbness and weird sensations that went along with it. It also made my blood pressure plummet and made me feel like I was going to barf. After some extra care and meds, I was back to my old self. Showing my fear before the epidural and my reaction afterwards...
The rest of the process was looong. Eric, his parents, my mom, and I sat in the room for what seemed like days. We watched the Illini football game (they actually won!), chatted, and did a lot of calling, texting, and Facebooking. After upping the pitocin a few times, I was finally fully dilated and ready to go.

The doctor arrived and the pushing began. This part was not pleasant, but Eric was the very best coach and supporter I could ever ask for. I could not have done it without him! Parts were scary. I needed the oxygen mask right away, between each contraction the heartbeat was dropping, and I kept fearing they were going to tell me I needed an emergency c-section. After an hour and a half of pushing, screaming, and crying, Baby Logan finally arrived at 7:48pm! He was covered in blood and goo, and his umbilical cord was wrapped around him twice which was very scary! Our baby boy is absolutely perfect and made everything, EVERYTHING worthwhile!

Stay tuned: I will post more soon about the remainder of our hospital stay...