He's Here!

As I previously posted, I went into the hospital at 6am on Wednesday, May 6 to be induced. As soon as we arrived, we were put into our labor and delivery room and the nurse checked me. I was still at 2cm and they started the pitocin by IV right away. Other than what felt like menstrual cramps, I didn't feel much for the first few hours. Dr. D came in at 8:15 to check me and I had progressed to 3cm, so she went ahead and broke my water. There was no turning back! Between 8:15am and 1pm, not much happened. My contractions were irregular, so when Dr. D came back to check on me and I was not dilated any further, she noticed that she had not completely broken my water, apparently it was only punctured and was slowly leaking. So, she broke my water again and this time it was a huge gush. (sorry, I know this is gross and not for the faint of heart!).

Dr. D said I was able to get the epidural whenever I felt like I needed it, but I was worried about it slowing down labor. I endured the increasing contractions until about 4:30 and I decided to ask for the epidural. The nurse had told me that I needed to have IV fluids for a half hour before they would give me the epidural and the contractions were becoming more and more painful, so I went ahead. I probably could have waited a bit longer, but I was scared about getting into too much pain and having to wait up to an hour for the IV fluids and then for the anesthesiologist.

The anesthesiologist made Ryan leave the room when he gave me the epidural. It was pretty painful on it's own! He had to numb my back first and then insert the catheter into my spine. The whole process took about a half hour, but I started feeling relief almost instantly when he was finished. I later found out that I had the perfect epidural. I had good control of my legs, but the pain from the contractions was gone!

Not much happened between 4:30 and about 9pm. I had progressed from my previous 3cm to about 8cm by 8 or 9pm. My contractions were irregular, so they kept adjusting my pitocin to get me into a regular contraction pattern. Baby was doing great the entire time! They also kept losing my contractions on the monitor, so at one point, I had an electrode placed in my uterus to monitor the contractions. American Idol came on at 9pm and we watched the entire episode, but I was noticing increased pressure. At the end of AI, my doctor checked me again. I was complete and it was time to start pushing! I was relieved, but terrified at the same time.

The nurse and Ryan helped me through the pushes. At one point, the baby was twisted and not coming out straight, so I was doing these tug of war pulls with Ryan using a towel through my contractions. I was exhausted and honestly did not think I would make it through the entire thing. I got to rest for 40 seconds or so between each contraction and I think I fell asleep each time. Ryan and Nurse Denise were so great with me. After nearly 3 hours of pushing and at 12:49 am, Tyson Philip was born. He weighed 8 pounds, 6 ounces and was nearly 21 inches long.

For those that are wondering, we really didn't have a firm idea on his name until we were in the hospital that day. We were still making our decision from 4 middle names up until the time he arrived and we didn't have a middle name until after he was born and Ryan went out to tell our families that he had arrived.

Our families came in the room at around 2am to meet their new grandson, but they soon went home after everyone was exhausted from a long day. They finally moved us up to our postpartum room at around 4am and I finally got to sleep! With the exception of the nurse that I had for a few hours after I moved up to postpartum, the Clarian North staff was wonderful. Our L&D nurse and the nurse that took most care of us in postpartum gave me hugs when I left them. Overall, it was a wonderful experience.