It's a baby! Awesome! (Birth Story& Pics included!)
Couldn't help but post him first. 
I still can't believe I'm the mommy of an outside baby!
Birth Story. Of course it's long but there's lots of detail!
It apparently started a few weeks ago with being diagnosed with Pre-E. For about 2-3 weeks, I've been on bed rest and my BP's been really crappy. For days, I was in horrendous pain. My hips, back, and lower stomach hurt.
After Wedneday's trip to L & D, I went to my doctor's appointment and my OB checked for progress...I was at a 2, still. I started crying and he offered to stretch my cervix. At the point I was at, I could no longer stand the pain. We discussed inducing, which would have been today. He wanted me to do another 24 hr urine and he then said "Hopefully you won't even need to start".
Turns out, he was right! I went home, ate some lunch and laid down. I rolled over to continue to sleep and I felt a pop (like a champaign cork) and a gush of fluid. I managed to not drip any water on anything...at least at home. We went to the hospital. My contractions were one on top fo the other. At points it was so bad I couldn't breathe and they kept having to put oxygen on me. With my little guy's positioning, it turns out I was going to have back labour. When I got to L & D, I was 4 cm. The contractions were so bad at times I couldn't stop shaking and trembling.
I was so grateful to be offered the epidural. I juuuuust made the cut off for it and I was never so happy to see anyone with a needle. I have to say, the epidural was not bad at all; it was uncomfortable, but not so painful that I couldn't stand it..and I was also really lucky because for the 10 minutes they were putting it in, my contractions stalled out. I couldn't imagine trying to stay still during contractions for that!
The epidural did slow down my progress for a bit...I stayed at 4 cm from the time I got admitted until about 2 am. There was talk of starting pitocin, but within an hour, I dilated to a ten! The urge to start pushing hit me around 4 AM. Pushing was uncomfortable. My mom was right though. It does feel like pushing out the world's biggest turd. (TMI, sorry!) We started to push around 410 AM... and by 443, Friday October 28, little Daniel Bruce III was born, 8 pounds even and 20.5 inches long! I could not get over the full head of hair this child had!
I ended up with a 2nd degree tear and a lot of blood loss. I was so terrified to hold him because I was shaking so badly. They placed my little guy on my chest and the above is the picture that was snapped. I felt so shell shocked after giving birth that I don't really remember when they took Danny from me and gave him to my husband.
Recovery from birth hasn't been too bad. The blood loss left me pretty dizzy and hazy. I ended up passing out on the toilet at the hospital and spent a good portion of Friday in bed. I feel a little bruised from pushing (in my chest, arms, back and hips), I'm still pretty swollen, my "down below stitches" are now pretty sore and I'm still feeling a bit weak. I ended up being super duper constipated (like I hadn't gone since last week sort of constipated, I didn't even poop during birth!) and having to go to the bathroom was almost as bad as labour.
As for breast feeding, we're having a lot of problems with it right now. Danny ended up being pretty jaundice and needed to spend some time under the lights. He also lost a large amount of weight and we had to start supplementing with formula. I'm having a really hard time getting him to latch and we're hoping to see the Lactation consultant tomorrow, after the pediatrician. Hopefully his billirubin will stay down and we can get the hang of breast feeding. I'm feeling frustrated though. 
Bonding has been good. We were really lucky; we were part of the area hit with the freak snow storm and we ended up getting only a few visitors on Saturday and only my MIL and her boyfriend on Sunday. We were able to spend as much time as we could with our little guy, with no interruptions (other than medically necessary ones). I really have fallen head over heals for my little Squeaker. It's weird to no longer be pregnant but it's exciting that now motherhood has truly begun!
Re: It's a baby! Awesome! (Birth Story& Pics included!)
Many, many congrats! He is adorable!
Good luck with breastfeeding, hopefully it will get easier and less painful soon enough.
Baby Turtle - November 2014