It all started on Thursday, December 22nd. Jayden and I decided to go on a date, since we knew it would be the last date for a while by ourselves. We went to Moochies Meatballs for dinner, where we ate philly cheesesteaks. We then went to the Hogle Zoo to see the zoo lights. We hoped that the walking around would help to jumpstart labor, but I hardly had any contractions the whole evening. The whole week I was trying everything to try to start labor contractions. I know most of them are wives tales, but we decided to try it all anyway. Later that night, we realized the only thing that we hadn't tried was castor oil. I have heard good and bad things about castor oil, and was a little skeptical, but I decided to give it a try. We headed to Walgreens at about 11 pm to buy some. I didn't want to take too much, so I only took about half of the recommended amount. I was sure that it wouldn't send me into labor. We went to bed at about 12:30. I woke up around 3 am, with some cramping, and didn't really think anything of it. I tried to go back to sleep, but realized the cramping was getting stronger and stronger. Around 3:30, I knew that they were contractions, and they started to hurt really bad! I didn't want to get too excited in case it wasn't the real thing, so I laid in bed through contractions for about two hours, trying to tough them out. When we timed my contractions, we realized that they were only getting closer together and stronger. We decided that this was it! We started gathering our stuff for the hospital and jumped into the car.
Once we got to the hospital, they took us to a room and checked me. I was only dilated to a 2 and was a little disappointed, because they can send you home if you aren't far enough. They hooked me up to the contraction monitor and saw how regular my contractions were. The nurse told me that she was 95% sure that I would be staying because of how strong and frequent my contractions were. We decided to walk around the halls through my contractions to see if it would help progress anything. After about ten minutes of walking, I felt a big pop! All of a sudden I had water running down my legs, and I knew that my water had broken. I never thought that my water would break on its own, I always imagined the doctor having to break it when I was in Labor. Jayden found a wheelchair and pushed me back to our room. Once my water broke, my contractions got stronger and stronger. I knew that I wanted an epidural once I felt how strong they were. Labor and Delivery wasn't that crowded and the anesthesiologist came really fast to give me my epidural. The epidural wasn't painful at all and it was a really quick process. Once I got my epidural I was so relaxed. I couldn't feel my contractions at all and I was able to rest a little. About two hours after I arrived at the hospital, they decided to check me again, I was dilated to a 6! I was progressing really fast. We decided to call our parents and let them know that they should probably come to the hospital soon. Our parents arrived not too long after, and it was fun just hanging out with everyone. Once I was dilated to a 7, things slowed down a bit. I was at a 7 for probably an hour or two, when they suggested giving me a little bit of pitocin to help speed things up again. After the pitocin, things definitely started speeding up again. The doctor came in to check me right after and I was at an 8. It was probably only 30 minutes later when they checked me again and I was complete, which means you are ready to push!
We had our families leave to sit in the waiting room, so it was just Jayden and I in the delivery room. The doctor wasn't at the hospital yet, but the nurse wanted me to try a few practice pushes. I pushed through a couple contractions when she told me to stop, and that she was going to see where the doctor was. The doctor was stuck in traffic and didn't come for 30-40 minutes, so I had to lay there trying not to push, which was so hard and so painful! I could feel Gavin trying to make his way out, and it was so hard not to push. Once the doctor arrived, I knew that it was go time. I pushed for about 20-30 minutes with all the strength and energy that I had and he was here! Pushing was the most tiring and painful part of labor for me. It felt like I was there and my body was doing the work, but almost like I was watching what was happening. After Gavin was born, they put him on my chest, and Jayden cut the umbilical cord. Everything after was such a blur. I was so exhausted and trying not to pass out. I don't remember a lot of the things that happened after he was born, like when they delivered the placenta and stitched me up ( I had a few tears, but nothing too bad). Once Gavin and I were all cleaned up, Jayden went to get our families. It was emotional to see the reaction of our families when they saw Gavin for the first time. After the delivery, things were a little rough for me. I lost more blood then usual, which they considered a hemorrhage. I remember my body shaking so bad, like I was freezing cold, but I couldn't control my body. I kept on having the urge to fall asleep and felt like I couldn't keep a conversation very well. Once we were settled into our recovery room and all the visitors left, I fell asleep pretty fast. When I woke up the next morning, I felt so much better. I felt like myself again and I felt coherent.
The next morning, we had our families come back to visit. Originally we were going to go home on Christmas Eve night, but they wanted us to stay until Christmas morning. At first I was a little bummed, but it actually turned out great. The hospital brings you and your spouse a celebratory dinner, which was actually pretty good for hospital food. Gavin had to spend the night in the nursery under the blue lights for jaundice, so we had the whole night to ourselves. We watched a Christmas Story while we ate our dinner. We then cuddled together in my hospital bed while we watched the nativity story. It was a great Christmas Eve. We were able to go home Christmas morning around 10:00 am, which was perfect. We were able to come home, shower, and clean up a bit before our families came over. We are so blessed to have a healthy and beautiful baby boy.
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| Getting changed into my hospital gown |
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| Getting through a contraction |
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| Right after my water broke |
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