Birth day.

We arrived at the hospital at 7:30 a.m. to start the Pitocin. I was still only dilated to 1cm and about 80% effaced. The nurses came in every half hour to raise the level of Pitocin in my IV.



I was having some pretty big contractions by 11 a.m. but nothing painful.



My mom brought Branden over to say hi and wish me luck.



Jeff kept me company throughout the day. We made up our own card game, watched a movie, and started a book together.



... he fell asleep... no fair!



I could only drink water and eat crackers. The nurses finally let me eat a popsicle and some jello because my mom brought Jeff a sandwich from Subway and it smelled sooooo good I couldn't stand it.



Around 1 p.m. I had only dilated to a 3! :( My Pitocin was at a 12 and I was starting to shake really bad. My hands and feet went ice cold and sweaty and I started feeling really sick. My mom was positive I was dilated to a 7 and in transition. So around 4 p.m. my doctor came in to check me and I was still at a 3. I was so discouraged!!! Since I wasn't making any progress he decided to break my water to see if that would speed things up.

Oh boy, did it ever!!!

Not even 5 minutes later I started having really painful contractions and could feel a lot of pressure on my pelvis. I only made it through an hour of this before I started really considering getting the epidural. My epidural with Branden was NOT a good experience so I was literally terrified of getting one this time around. I wanted to wait until I was absolutely desperate to get one so I wouldn't mind the possibility of it being a bad experience. I'm glad, because it was even worse than the last time! Around 6 p.m. the Medicine Man came to my room to give me the epidural. I was extremely nervous but in so much pain I really didn't care anymore... until he started, of course. My contractions were so strong and so close together I didn't have time to catch my breath. I was shaking so uncontrollably that it was almost impossible to sit still like you're supposed to which made everything even more painful. I was so overwhelmed with everything that I started bawling. I seriously could not get a grip. I was a total mess!! I'm glad no one was in the room this time to take pictures!!! ha.

After the medicine kicked in I was able to relax a little bit. I was still feeling like I couldn't breathe and was shaking, but without the accompanying pain I felt better.

By 9 p.m. it was time to push. 45 minutes later my epidural wore off on one side. By the time the Medicine Man came in to up my dose it was too late. I was in so much pain and the pressure was so great all I could think about was getting the baby OUT! So, I huffed and I puffed and I pushed out a HUGE head along with a 7 lb 14.9 oz body!!! I tore on the side my epidural wore off (of course!) but thanks to all the adrenaline in my body I hardly felt it. Thankfully, the epidural kicked back in just in time for stitches :) yeah!

(The nurses all thought I was crazy because I was seriously laughing while the Dr stitched me up. I was so elated to be done with pregnancy that I didn't even care about anything else going on (I'll spare you the details). I was giddy and grateful and wanted to shout "Hooray" as loud as I possibly could.)

I lost a lot of blood (Jeff described it as a "fountain".. gross!) and had to be put on some medicine to stop the bleeding, but no transfusions necessary. I did have to stay on the Pitocin for a while to help birth the placenta (gag, sorry! TMI) and help stop the bleeding, but by morning it was over and all the tubes and needles and beeping machines were removed from me and I was able to sleep!

Branden came to meet his little brother around 9 a.m. I have never seen a happier little boy in all my life. If nothing else made the experience worth it, his smile definitely did.

I will let the pictures tell the rest of the story...