Elijah Dupree's Quick & Easy Birth! (PsIP!)

I'm still in the hospital, but my little boy has been so wonderful that I have enough free time to share his birth story with you ladies (even though I should probably be sleeping!).

Alrighty, so if you read my first post, you know I started having contractions on Monday around 11 a.m. They were 6 minutes apart for an hour and a half and woke me up from my day of sleeping in! I called my doctor aruond 12:30 and she said I should come in! I went ahead and took a shower, and my SO took a shower while I was getting all of the last-minute hospital bag stuff together and ready to go! Our hospital is 45 minutes away from our house, so we arrived around 3 p.m.

They took me to the triage and checked me, and after being stuck at 2 cm, 90% effaced for the past couple weeks, I was 3 cm and completely effaced! My contractions were getting more and more intense, but they were still 5-6 minutes apart, but they took me to the labor & delivery room. I hadn't eaten anything yet all day (shame on me, I know!) and it was too late at that point because she wouldn't wait for me to eat to hook me up to the IV and monitors. I had to survive off of popsicles until my LO came! My SO decided that he couldn't wait to eat so he went to McDonalds, but he ate it in the car so that he wouldn't be eating in front of me.

When he got back, the nurse took off the monitors and IV and let me walk around for 40 minutes. After about 20 minutes of walking, the contractions were getting so intense that I had to hold on to my SO or else I'd almost fall over in the hallway. I kept walking for the rest of the time just so I could hopefully progress a little faster! When we got back and I was hooked back up, the nurse asked me if I'd like some pain meds or if I wanted to try to walk around again in 20 minutes. I told her I wanted to see how far I'd progressed so she checked me again and I was already at 5 cm (after only 1 hour!). She said now was a great time for the epidural if that's what I wanted to do. My contractions were horrible so I decided to go ahead and get it.

I was super nervous to get the epidural because needles really freak me out! I knew it was going to be worth it, though. The anesthesiologist came in, and my SO did a great job of comforting me while she was prepping my back. It really wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be at all! The IV hurt worse to get put in. I was happy about that! It kicked in after about 20 minutes, and at that point I was feeling amazing. IMO, epidurals are one of the greatest inventions ever!!

The nurse put the catheter in and my water still hadn't broken, so once the epidural kicked in my doc came in and broke my water. My contractions were still only 5-6 minutes apart, so they started pitocin. After the pitocin was started my contractions increased to 2-3 minutes almost immediately. The nurse said she'd come back in an hour. During this wait, all of the visitors and SO and I guessed what time we thought he'd be born, and how much we thought he'd weigh (I'll tell ya the winner later!) and when she did she checked me and I was already at 8 cm. She checked me again an hour later and I was at 10 cm! (This was around 8 p.m.)

Everyone was asked to leave because I was going to deliver soon! The only people left in the room were my SO and my mom. Since I wasn't in pain, they wanted to wait a while before starting to push to try to get LO to keep moving down so I wouldn't be pushing for long. The nurse told me what I needed to do and how to push when the doctor came and we did a "practice push". She counted to 2 and said "WHOA STOP!" because apparently I'm a pro-pusher, haha.. She said the doctor would have to come right away, and make sure not to push. I felt like I was going to poop everywhere, and I apologized to the nurses in advance!

My doc came in, and at the next contraction she had me start pushing. I pushed 9 times (through 3 contractions), so for about 5 minutes, and my LO was here! In between a couple contractions she let me feel his head crowning! It was amazing. My doc said it was the fastest delivery she'd ever witnessed! My beautiful baby boy Elijah Dupree arrived at 9:23 p.m. on January 2nd, 2012. He weighed a whopping 9 lbs 2.9 oz, and was 20 inches long!

My SO was absolutely amazing helping me hold one of my legs and being so supportive. My mom was taking pictures the whole time (I made her promise to not take any crotch shots!). They put him on my chest immediately and I started bawling my eyes out. When they say the love for your child is a whole new level of being in love, they aren't kidding! I couldn't take my eyes off of him. He's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life!

Unfortunately I had 3 First degree tears and had to get stitched up while they were checking out my LO. His blood sugar was low, so even though I really wanted to breastfeed right away, he had have formula to bring his blood sugar up. So my SO got to give him his first bottle! It was so special. He's truly a natural with him and I could tell he's just as in love with him as I am! All of my family came in a couple people at a time to meet him and hold him. We got transferred to the Mother/Baby (Recovery) room after 2 hours and all the visitors had left. My LO is the best baby I've ever seen! He only cries when the nurses are checking him out (because they take all his clothes off and he gets too cold!). He's been absolutely wonderful. I couldn't be more blessed!