Conner's birth story

I don't think I have told you about when Conner was born. I was scheduled to be induced 2 days after his due date if he didn't come on his own before then. Cody and I had a normal final day as a twosome. We went shopping that Sunday for a few necessities, had a bite to eat at Panera Bread, then went home. That night I got my hospital bag ready pretty late and started to feel what felt like contractions. I decided it was just gas and kept going on with the packing and straightening up of the kitchen.

I finally went to bed around midnight but my stomach kept hurting from the gas. Around 1 a.m. I was still awake and the pain wasn't getting better and it started to come more frequently so I decided to time it. Sure enough, it was coming every 3-5 minutes. I called my friend, Mary who was helping out with the delivery as my doula and let her know that I thought I was in labor. We decided to continue timing it and see what happens. I woke Cody up and told him that he was to keep track now. He had a note pad and his watch ready. When the contractions stayed at the same rate, we headed to the hospital and I called Mary to tell her it was time.

Boy did the contractions hurt! I had to stop walking several times to breathe through them in the parking lot, waiting room, at the check in desk and once I got to the room. By this time, it was just after 3 in the morning and it seemed like Conner was ready to come 3 hours before we were scheduled to arrive at the hospital! Mary arrived shortly after I had settled in and brought goodies to help with the pain. Thank goodness for her! We didn't plan on anything to help. My contractions kept coming. They seemed to last a long time and were getting quite painful. Cody and Mary were right by my side to help me remember to relax and to let me know when my contractions were over judging by the monitor.

All morning long, the nurse had me drinking juice to keep Conner's activity up. He seemed to have chilled out and the hope was that the juice would keep him stimulated. Cody and Mary were right there holding the juices and the straws for me so I could drink regularly.

At 8 a.m. my doctor arrived. I don't think I had seen a doctor prior to her arrival. She checked me and said that I was dilated to 8 cm. I couldn't believe it!! I had been at 1 for a month and suddenly I was an 8! He was coming and it would be soon! I decided to get the epidural to ease the pain and boy did it work. I was singing along to my collection of George Strait cd's. I was making jokes and hanging out.

Side note: Cody was documenting my labor by taking pictures and updating my status on facebook for me. He was keeping Mary and I entertained by reading the comments people were leaving. I have some funny and encouraging friends. I am glad we were able to share this day with them. Anyway, back to the story.

Noon rolled around and I hadn't made any progress so they decided to give me pitocin to try to speed things up. You see, at 8 a.m., the doctor broke my water and noticed that Conner already had at least one bowel movement. That wasn't a good thing because it meant that he could breathe it in. The pitocin was to limit the amount of time he'd potentially have poo in his lungs. After a couple more hours of pitocin, they saw that it was beginning to stress him out. They stopped the drip for a while to see if it would help him which it did. Then they started it again. At this point they decided to check my contractions to see if they were strong enough. They put some kind of device in my uterus to get a better reading of the contractions because the bands around my belly were not accurate enough. Did I mention that I already had a catheter in? The nurse did that right after the epidural was done. Luckily, the epidural was still amazing and I couldn't feel any of it!

4 p.m. came quickly and I had only gotten to 9 cm. The doc started talking about the potential for a c-section but it was still early. We waited another couple hours and still no progress. Conner wasn't able to get into position because of my "dainty features." It was time to deliver the baby. Somewhere during all of this, Cody and Mary were still there with me. Cody's parents came to visit and so did my step-mom. It was after 6 p.m., I still didn't get any sleep, I had been in labor for over 20 hours, and there were suddenly so many people in my room prepping me for surgery. Boy, was I scared.

Needless to say, it was certainly odd being awake in an operating room and hearing all the machines, the people talking, being aware of the fact that my abdomen was wide open and that soon enough, my baby would be born. I could hear Cody next to me, but I was really busy concentrating on not shaking since I get the shakes when I'm nervous. Before I knew it, the time was 7:18 p.m. and I heard Cody tell me he's perfect! They brought him over to me so I could see him (through my cloudy vision since I didn't have my glasses on) and see for myself. He sounded great with his powerful screams. Man, was I happy! Then I think I fell asleep.

I don't know how much time passed when I woke up. I was in recovery by myself and was so tired. Cody came by to see me. At least I'm sure he did. I can't really remember. The nurse wheeled me to my suite. Cody was there getting us settled. That's when I was given my glasses and my baby boy.

He was so little. So precious. Mine. He knew just what to do. He started looking for food. Conner made our first bonding experience amazing when he latched on and began to eat.

I love this little boy!