The day before Beau was born I had a routine appointment with my doctor, I was 3 days away from my due date and had been experiencing some contractions on and off, but nothing consistant. After my doctor examined me, I was disappointed to learn that I was not dialated even the slightest bit. It was not looking like I could "go anytime." My doctor sort of convinced me that maybe c-section was the best option- baby would only get bigger the longer I wait and he would not, because of safety reasons induce me. At this point, I was so ready just to have him. He offered to take me for surgery the next day if I was still having contractions, but not in labor. I now beleive he just wanted me to have the C-section and was just trying to make it convenient for his schedule, he was upfront with me about it and told me to call him in the morning and we could decide.
Well, later that evening Andy and I went out to dinner and talked about how we would probably be having a baby tomorrow. My mom was in town and stayed with Isaac. After going to bed that night I was getting more and more contractions, by four am I was up timing them and they were allover the place, they would go from nine minutes apart to six minutes apart. By 7:30 am they had been 5 minutes apart for over an hour and we decided to call the Dr. My doctor however was not impressed and told me to wait until 9:30am and come into the office and he would examine me. The contractions continued and when he examined me at 9:30 I was only at 1cm.! I could not believe that was all I had progressed after all those contractions! At this point my dr. gave me the choice, if I wanted to have this baby naturally he told me to go walk around for 3-4 hours if I could and come back to his office and see how I was doing or I could go right then and have the c-section. I decided to walk and Andy and I started walking literally around the Dr.'s parking lot in the freezing cold, but it felt good to me. After a while we decided to go back home for a while and I took and bath and paced around upstairs trying to labor on my own. By around 11am contractions were getting much stronger and were about 2-3 minutes apart. I felt like I could not make it, I was starting to cry and get emotional and shaky. I thought we better get to the hospital so I told Andy to call the Dr. and tell him we were just going to go straight to the hospital and not go to his office. Well, my dr. did not like this, "What did I tell you" he said! He still wanted me to come in, to which I was furious, but we agreed. The whole way over I was moaning and groaning in pain. Once we got there, Andy got out of the car to open the door for me, but I was in the middle of a contraction so I couldn't. I was sitting there laying back moaning in pain, while some nice couple walks by to go to there appointment. Poor Andy had to stand there like, "oh nothing to see here folks!" He told me later he was a little embaressed. So I finally get in the office and he checks me and I'm only at 2cm! I was ready for the epidural then! He told me I could go to the hospital and he would put in a call for the anthesiologist. After what felt like an eternity to get to the hospital we finally got there and I walked myself up to admitting. The hall was quite, people were working nicely at there desks and I was the crazy lady gripping on to the walls and making all sorts of crazy noises! This did not seem to phase them one bit, they would be right with me they said. What!? Shouldn't they be wheeling me in? Why are they not helping me I thought! I was in serious pain! I stood there through contractions while they made me sign a ton of papers and put the bracelets on our wrists. Finally I got to get into a room! I was so glad to be out of peoples sight and felt like I had to go to the bathroom! I sat on the toilet crying and telling Andy, this is not natural, I thought how could I be only 2cm and be in this much pain? Well, the nurses even looked at me crazy, I'm sure they thought I was a drama queen and the one nurse said well, we better check you. I got in the bed and she said I was 5-6 cm!! It had only been like 30 min. since we left the dr.'s office. The nurse understood now, I really was in labor! She told me to get in control and helped me with my breathing. She was so nice and was really encouraging that I wanted to have a V-bac. They were trying to get all my info in the computer and put my IV in and I was asking where is my epidural? She said as soon as we have this information in he is coming down to give it to you. As they were trying to get my IV in my vein blew and they had to try 4-5 times before it got in which left me black and blue on both arms for weeks. I'm not sure how much time passed, they were still setting things up and my doctor was not there yet, but just before the anthesiologist came in she checked me and I was 9-10 cm. My nurse told me after delivery that I was 10cm. she just didn't want to "scare" me. The nurse and the anthesiologist had no problem with me still getting the epidural and he began to prep my back for it. Just then another nurse came in and said, her dr. just called he doesn't want her to have the epidural and he was on his way!! He was afraid I wouldn't know how to push if I had it. At this point, the nurse and anthesiologist looked at each other and then the nurse asked me, "Do you want this?" I said Yes, of course and the anthesiologist said, "Done." He went ahead and gave it to me anyway, which I am so greatful for! It helped SO much and I was able to feel in control. I could still feel every contraction it just took the edge off. We were just waiting for my Dr. to come in and he shows up and says, ok with the next contraction I want to see how you push. So with the next one I started pushing and he told me to just keep going and he was out in 5-6 pushes! They pulled him out and placed him right on my chest. It was so amazing! My doctor was so impressed and we were all laughing and having a good time while I got sewn up and they cleaned off baby. We had not decided his name yet. He was born at 1:20pm, 7 lbs. 3 oz.....one ounce less then Isaac. I went from 1cm. to pushing him out in a matter of 4 hours. I think that was why I was in so much pain, because it was such a fast and intense labor. After they were done, they left the room and it was just the 3 of us for over an hour. It was the most peaceful special time to get him all to ourselves. With Isaac they took him away right away and I didn't get to hold him for hours. It was such a different experience. As we sat there and enjoyed our baby boy we tried to decide on a name and called our parents to tell them the news. After a while the nurse came in and got me ready to head to my recovery room where we stayed for the next 2 nights. Beau stayed in our room with us and Andy stayed the night with me. That night Andy went and got my mom and Isaac and brought them up to meet baby Beau. It was so hard to be away from Isaac and was the most time I've ever spent away from him. I know it was hard on him too as his little world changed overnight. My mom said he cried each night and wanted mommy and daddy. I couldn't wait to get home and less then 48 hours later we were realeased. It was so great to be home and enjoy our new addition to our family.
