We woke up at 5 am to give the hospital a call and see if there was any available rooms. The nurse told us they had a busy night and that they would call us a little later to tell us when we could come in. We tried to keep sleeping but it ended up just being more of just laying there. Shortly after 5am Emma woke up and came and joined us so we got our last morning snuggles of just the three of us. We got the call a few hours later telling us to come in at 8:15am. So we had time to eat together and say goodbye to Emma before we officially left for the hospital.
This entire pregnancy I have been trying to help Emma understand the reality of it all, with no luck. I told her there was a baby inside mommy's belly, to which she pointed to her belly and said " my baby"
I then told her the baby was going to come out and she could play with him and asked if she wanted the baby to come out, to which she grabbed at my belly pretending to have the baby in her hand, then throw it up in the air, caught it and finally put it in her mouth and swallowed (we taught her to do with with her nose😂) after that I kind of gave up.BUUUUUT, as she was finishing her breakfast and we were about to head out the door for the hospital, I told her that we were going to go get the baby out. She smiled and said "okay mommy"
As we were walking out the door a few minutes later she yelled to me "mommy, baby out, okay?" ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ So maybe she actually does understand but either way was such a sweet little moment.
We arrived at the hospital and headed to our room, I got changed into my gown and into my hospital bed. Our nurse (amy) got me all hooked up to my IV by 8:30am. Our doctor then came in. He checked me and I was still dilated to a 3, then he broke me water at about 9:10am.
We then just hung out and waited around for things to start happening. Landon got some CPA studying and homework done while I was busy posting things to Instagram.
Whitney (SIL) stayed the night and was with Emma all day, we video chatted with her to see Emma a few times while we were waiting because honestly it was kind of hard being away from her. Emma was so cute in the videos and was so excited to come see us when the baby came.
It took me a long while before I could feel anything happening. The nurse would come in and ask if I felt any contractions and I had to tell her no every time and she would boost up my pitocin each time. The crazy part was that she could see on the monitor that I was having contractions and would ask me during them if I felt anything and I never did.
Finally around 12:20am I could feel some small contractions down by my lower stomach. They were still very mild but I was at least starting to feel them. It didn't take too long before I could really feel them and had to actually relax through each one.
My Mom and Brother Cody drove up that morning to come help out and take over watching Emma. We decided it would be fun it they all just met at the hospital so I could see them and they could make the switch and take Emma back to our apartment.
They arrived just about this time when I was starting to really feel the contractions. I was still able to talk and joke around in-between and would just close my eyes and breath through them, throwing up a few "1 minute" finger during my contractions when they tried talking to me.
During all this I had Cody snap some pictures for me ( as seen below..) as well as some video footage.
Around 2:20pm my contractions were getting pretty intense and a lot closer together which made it hard to have actual conversations with my family in the room. They told me to plan for my epidural to take about 20-30 minutes to get there so to let them know ahead of time. It was hard to really judge just how painful they were and to know how fast they would increase. They ended up sticking some kind of cord up me that could measure the strength of each contraction. I was measuring around 150 (whatever that means) I made it a goal to make it 200 because, why not?
Im not sure if I made it to 200 ( I think I did though) but I ended up asking for an epidural at 2:45pm.
The epidural ended up taking WAY longer then what we all expected. I also had to get this bag of liquid through me before I could get it, and it was kind of taking forever.
I didn't get my epidural till 3:50pm and by this point I was in quite a bit of pain. Im not one to show pain on my face or through sounds but my breathing did turn into a bunch of puff puffs and my feet got fidgety during each contraction. Cody and my mom stayed in the room for it. The nurse then had them stand behind the curtain so that she could put in my catheter. after she put it in she checked my dilating and informed us that I was already at an 8-9 was would be pushing very soon.
Whitney and Emma had arrived at the hospital before this but I didn't want them to come in till after my epidural so that I could give Emma the attention I wanted to give her. Emma finally came in after everything was all done, and we got to chat with her and spend a little time with her.
Not too long after this the doctor arrived and everyone left but Whitney ( I had asked her to stay and take some pictures and videos for us, as seen below. Thanks WHIT!)
We then started pushing around 5pm.
I only had to push through 4 contractions and boom little baby boy was out and on my lap at 5:18pm
After coming out it took him a few seconds and suctions to finally start crying, then he cried hard.
Landon was able to cut the cord then
they took him straight over to be weighed and measured. After that we were able to do some skin to skin until the rest of my family came back in.
It literally felt way too easy. Which I am very very thankful for and makes me love my body even more!
Okay now talking epidural. MINE WAS AMAZING!! I have never been scared of getting one, so that was a breeze. But this epidural was different from the one I had with Emma. With Emma I was numb from the waist down and couldnt feel ANYTHING or control anything. I was dead weight. I remember my leg starting to fall off the bed and it pulling me down with it.
But this epidural I could move my legs perfectly, I could feel myself or others touching my legs but still had zero pain. The best part was that when I was pushing I could feel EVERYTHING. I could feel baby boy making his way out, I could feel exactly where his head was crowing. I could feel the doctors hands stretching my .... BUT ZERO PAIN! it was amazing and 100% want to do whatever kind of epidural that was AGAIN and every time!
I think my favorite part of the whole experience was that Emma was just outside the hall during the whole thing. It only took about 20 minutes to stitch me up and get everything all cleaned up, so Emma literally got to come meet her new baby brother RIGHT after he was born. And it was the sweetest thing. She fell in love with him and was so sweet. When we took him away from her, she let out the saddest and sweetest cry that just about broke all the hearts in the room. It was evident that she already loved this baby boy so much. He is so lucky to have an older sister like Emma.
Born June 7, 2019 at 5:18pm
weighting 8 lbs 3 oz and 20 inches long