henry's birth

wednesday was pretty much like any other day. we went to work in the morning. i felt some contractions every once in a while throughout the morning, but nothing major. i left work early to go get a prenatal massage. i've been wanting one for a long time, so i finally got one scheduled and went and enjoyed it. i asked for relief and for labor inducing pressure points to be the focus. afterwards i went home and took a nap. when josh got done from work he went and worked out at the gym, and then came home and woke me up. i was still lounging in bed and he called his dad to wish him a happy birthday. his parents answered the phone and were so excited: "is there a baby on the way!?!?!" josh was like "umm, no, theres been little contractions but nothings really happening. sorry. i was just calling to say happy birthday to dad." haha.

not even 3 minutes later, i went to use the restroom and my water broke. i was like "ahhhhhhhhh, josh!!!!! i think my water just broke!!" and then we were both freaking out and laughing and yelling "what the heck!?" josh promptly called his parents right back, which was pretty comical, and i called my mom. it was 6:10pm. i called the doctor and asked if they wanted me to come right in, or wait until contractions picked up. they told me to come on in. first i had to straighten my hair (yes, i am vain and ridiculous, i know), finish packing my bag, and then we headed to the hospital.

we arrived at the hospital at 7:45, and got all set up in a nice room. josh's mother, mary, and sister, sarah, came to the hospital and stayed w/us the whole time. the nurses asked if i wanted the epidural right away, and i thought i would hold off a bit and see how i did. that didn't last long...by 9pm i had asked for the epidural, and got it all hooked up. by 9:30 i had gotten sick. my blood pressure tanked, i barfed, and i almost passed out. they had to give me an epinephrine shot. this happened twice...it was lovely. finally everything got regulated, but contractions weren't picking up, so they started me on pitocin at 10:25. over the next two hours progress was super slow and the pitocin levels kept getting pushed up and up (they started me at 4mL, and by 12:25 it was at 20mL!).

at 1:30am on thursday, december 15, they checked and i was dilated (ew, sorry) to 9, almost 9.5cm. they informed me i would start pushing soon. that felt like a reality slap in the face. everyone laughed at my expression, because i was shocked and slightly terrified. [[also, side note, the epidural never fully set in--probably because everything was happening so fast. so i could feel every contraction.]] the doctor was called and came on over. i pushed for 36 minutes, and Henry was born at 2:17am. it was tough, painful, and took a lot of concentration, but Henry made it safe and sound!

while i was kind of crying almost the whole time, the second i saw Henry i just lost it. i couldn't believe the baby we thought we'd never have was finally here. it was amazing.

8lbs 3oz, 20" long. came out looking unbruised and only had a tiny conehead haha

cry babies

we made it!!

skin to skin. and me eating crackers so i wouldn't puke more (there was a lot more puke involved in labor than i thought there would be haha)

it was great to have sarah and mary there in addition to josh; they were a fabulous support system. josh did really well and only had to sit down from feeling light-headed once ;) it was mostly just from standing for so long, but it's still funny to bring it up. and even though i had no idea this happened, he was able to cut the cord. i wish my mom could have made it to the delivery, but she wasn't able to catch a flight until thursday morning. i'm glad she is able to be here now though :)

after it was all over josh goes "you did it! you did something you thought you would never be able to do!" it made me pretty proud to do something that i've always been afraid of. and i don't think i acted too crazy or anything either haha. there was no screaming or swearing (that i can recall). there was laughing, crying, and a few "owwwww!"s though. we are so grateful that henry is here, and that he is healthy and happy and adorable. ♥

stay tuned for more henry posts coming up!