I was going through my old posts and realized I never posted Charlie's birth story. I had it saved and have forgotten about it until now. I don't want to forget the details...which I already am beginning to :) Here's my birth story:
My due date was Monday, February 15. I was getting very swollen and uncomfortable the last 2 weeks of my pregnancy. I am on my feet all day working at the hospital and by the end of the day I was always exhausted with very puffy feet and legs. (Brent and I would have to work for 10 min. to try and put my Uggs on :) ) Even though I was still 3-4 weeks before my due date everyone at work would keep asking "You're still here??" "I thought you'd have this baby by now" "Wow! Look at that belly!!" After weeks of hearing that it kept making me very excited and anxious to have my baby and to just be done being pregnant. The weekend before I had Charlie I decided that I needed to be patient. My baby would come when the time was right and that I should enjoy my long naps, sleeping in, and having lots of "me" time. I should have decided that much earlier so I could have rested up more since I had him 2 days later!
Throughout my pregnancy I had a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions that would be pretty close together at times, but they weren't painful. So I was confused about what "real" contractions would feel like. I spent so many hours googling "signs of labor". So many people told me that I would know when I was in labor but I didn't believe them, I thought 'what if I don't know?!' Now I believe them because there is a definite diference when you are actually in labor :)
Tuesday morning, Feb. 2, I was at work and was feeling 'crampy' but actually felt really good and had a lot of energy. I had been feeling like this for a few days but more so that day. An hour before my shift was over I felt a 'twinge' in my belly and thought that I should maybe go to the bathroom just in case my water had broken. (I had asked several people a few weeks before if you would know it if your water had broken, I really thought that it might not be that clear...haha!) Well I stood up and it was like a floodgate had opened up- I was soaking!! I ran (as fast as a 9 month pregnant woman can run) to the bathroom and just sat there thinking how can I get to a phone and let my husband know I'm in labor. Anyways to spare more details than I've already shared, I got a ride home from a great co-worker (Thanks Kaycee!!) and quick picked up the house, did laundry, and took a shower. My contractions quickly picked up after my water broke. They went from being regularly every 5-8 min to 3-4 min and were becoming more intense. Side note- on the drive home with Kaycee I told her that my contractions were getting worse and I wondered out loud if this was as bad as they were going to get- little did I know!
We made it to the hospital about 1 1/2 hrs after my water broke at 3:30pm. Once we got to the hospital my contractions tapered off a little after I was hooked up to the monitors. They checked me and I was dilated to 2 cm and 80% effaced. I walked the halls, sat on the birthing ball, and tried to get them to pick back up. After a few hours of laboring on my own the Dr. really wanted to get my labor progressing a little quicker since my water had broken already. I had thought about if I wanted an epidural or not and I had kept an open mind thinking that I would see what labor was like and then I would decide, which basically meant that I would get an epidural. :) I told the nurse that I would probably want an epidural in the near future but not quite yet. So they started an IV and started the fluid flush so that I would be ready when I wanted the epidural. They started pitocin around 6pm and then my contractions definately picked up and became strong very quickly. After an hour I was dilated to 3-4 cm and 90% effaced. I had enough of the pain and ordered my epidural and within 30 min the anesthesiologist had come and expertly placed the epidural. It wasn't bad getting the epidural it was just really hard bending over and sitting really still during the painful contractions. The next 2 hours were blissful! I couldn't feel any contractions and enjoyed talking to my husband, nurses, and texting friends. It was amazing! Then over the next couple hours the medication started wearing off and I could feel the contractions getting stronger and stronger. At 10:30 pm I asked for a bolus of pain meds and that gave me relief for about an hour. I think it was during my transition period that I had a freaky episode of an anxiety attack. It was an out of body experience, I think I was hyperventilating and could get my breathing under control...not fun! I definately scared my nurse and Brent.
I can't remember the details about when I was checked and how dilated and effaced I was. I just remember that I was first 2cm, then 3-4cm, then 7cm, and then it jumped to 9cm 45 min later. At 1am I was in a ton of pain and felt a lot of pressure so they checked me and said I was completely dilated and I was ready to start pushing. I was excited at that point thinking that I was almost done with labor and was going to meet my little boy soon...little did I know that I still had 2 1/2 hrs of pushing to go. My epidural had completely worn off by this point. Labor was by far the hardest thing I've ever done but it is so rewarding to look down at the sweet little baby that is a result of it. My sister said 12 hrs after she had Bethany that she could go through labor again...it took me a good couple weeks before I thought that :)
It was so incredible when they put Charlie in my arms, he was covered in goop and I cried thinking he was the most beautiful baby! I got to hold him for 30-45 min- it was such an amazing time of bonding. He just stared up at my face and was so calm. Brent started talking to him and he turned his head towards Brent's voice, it was such a cool thing knowing that Charlie already knew Brents voice from in the womb. Babies are such miracles!
*****
It's crazy reading this post again and remembering how tiny Charlie was and how much he has grown and blossomed over the past 5 months. He is such a happy baby and brings so much joy to our family. We are SO blessed to have this cute little addition to our family :)
Here are pictures from the nursery finally!
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