We are so thrilled that Connor is finally here! I wanted to make sure I wrote down his birth story soon so that I would not forget all the details! Sorry in advance for the length of this post! Here is what happened on Connor's birthday!
I had my weekly appointment scheduled for Monday, March 21st at 1:00. Since I was already dilated 3 1/2 cm the week before and had been having contractions all weekend I was hopeful that I would be dilated enough at my appointment that I would be sent to the hospital! My mom came over that morning and we planned to go to lunch and then for her to watch Mason while I went to my appointment. At about 11 that morning I went upstairs to finish packing my hospital bag and throw a few things in for Jared just in case my wish came true and we were sent to the hospital. Literally the minute I got upstairs I started having a really sharp pain in my left side followed by what seemed to be a strong contraction. Since I had been having Braxton Hicks for so long and so frequently I wasn't sure whether or not to take the pains seriously though. I continued to pack but after 30 minutes was still feeling the same way. I called Jared to tell him that this time I really thought maybe this was the beginning of something. The poor guy had heard this so many times over the past week I am sure he did not believe me though! I went downstairs to tell my mom too and decided I would just call my OB and see if I could come a little early to my appointment just to make sure everything was okay. I called and they told me to go straight to labor and delivery instead! Hoping this truly was the real thing we finished packing everything up and my mom, Mason and I headed to the hospital.
Jared met us there and once we checked in a nurse came a got us to take us to a delivery room. By this point I really felt like I was in labor. I was having contractions that were really frequent and totally different than any I had felt before. She told me that they would check to see how dilated I was then would wait an hour and a half to check again and I needed to have changed one centimeter at least. They also told me that since I was 37 weeks, they were not going to be able to help speed anything along and my body would have to do this on its own. When the nurse checked me, I was 4 centimeters and she confirmed I was having contractions every 2-3 minutes. After this we waited the hour and a half to be checked again. Long story short, after checking me two additional times I still had not made progress. I was starting to get discouraged because I knew I was in labor and these contractions were real but I didn't think they were going to let me stay at the hospital. After waiting five hours, I had finally reached 6 centimeters and we were officially told that this was it!
At this point I thought things would all be downhill and that Connor would be born that night! I went ahead and got the epidural and waited for things to happen hopefully fast. Things didn't exactly go as planned and I stayed at 6 cm for the next 10 hours! Thank goodness for the epidural because while the process was slow I at least wasn't in pain! At 4 am when I hadn't made progress they started me on pitocin. I remember my nurse telling me at this point things would really pick up and that most likely I would be having Connor before her shift was over! Things happened so fast at that point that the next thing I knew I was 10 cm and they were calling my dr so that I could start pushing! My doctor came and broke my water and confirmed that Connor was in the correct position for delivery! This was great news because Mason was "sunny side up" or face first and it made the pushing a lot more difficult. For whatever reason though by this time, I could really feel my contractions, and it seemed like the epidural had really worn off.
I started pushing at 7:00 and remember thinking it would probably only be a few minutes or so until he was out. Almost an hour later I was still pushing! The pushing was a lot worse than I remember with Mason. I could feel everything and it just seemed so exhausting. I'm sure the fact that I hadn't had food in the last 24 hours wasn't helping either! I remember at one point looking over at Jared and informing him that we definitely would not be having a third child! Haha...the jury is still out on that one now but seeing Connor definitely helped me forget about the pain. Finally after almost an hour of pushing, Connor was born at 7:56 am! I remember immediately everyone commenting about how much hair he had! Right away, they put him on my chest and I was crying and just so happy that he was healthy! He weighed 8 lbs 4 ounces and was 19 1/2 inches long! Thank goodness he was early!! My doctor said that if I had gone full term he would have been around 9 1/2 pounds. She too was so thankful he came when he did!
We spent the next few minutes loving on our new little boy then our families came in to meet him! Seeing Mason meet Connor was the sweetest moment! I had worried that the entire experience would just be overwhelming for him and that he would be scared but he handled it great! He immediately said "Hi Connor!" and gave him a hug and a kiss! I can't wait to watch these two grow up together and become best little buddies! We spent Tuesday night in the hospital and since everyone was doing well we were allowed to go home Wednesday! Here are some pictures from Connor's Birthday!
