XP with PGAL: Gabriel Jacob is here!

Short version: Gabriel Jacob was born at 6:12 p.m. on August 8, 2012 after 7 hours of labor. He weighed in at 7 lbs, 11oz, and was 20 inches long.

Long version: I knew I'd been having prodromal labor for about a week before he was born. I'd been really uncomfortable, contracting in spurts throuought the day. At my 38 week appointment, I was 4 cm dilated, and his head was low. I was still trying to work, but it just got to be too much, and I told my boss that Friday the 3rd needed to be my last day. I didn't end up actually making it in to the office that day, but worked from home, feeling rather miserable. On Monday the 6th, I was set to have my 39 week appointment. On my way to the appointment that morning, I had three pretty big contractions, which wasn't fun because I was driving myself (having told DH not to bother coming with me!)

As luck would have it, by the time my dotor checcked me, I was nearly 5 cm. My BP was also way up all of a sudden, which is really unusual for me. Because of the BP, she sent me over to the hospital for monitoring of the BP for a couple hours. Once I got there, the other parter in the practice (who took care of me when I m/c) came to examine me. I was having pretty good contractions, which I wasn't even feeling, and dilated to 5. He said there was no point in sending me home, because although my BP had gone down, I'd just be back in a couple days with it up again, and they'd need to induce me. So, he said he'd be right back, break my water, and we'd have a baby! I was STUNNED. DH wasn't even with me yet, he was on the way!

He broke my water at 10:45 a.m. (which felt WEIRD), and I asked that I be allowed to progress on my own without pitocin, to see how things went on their own. He agreed to let me do that, and within 15 minutes of breaking my water, I was having regular, painful contractions. I labored for several hours this way before requsting an epidural, which only took on the left side, and didn't take at all in my groin! I got the epidural at around 8 cm, and less than 2 hours later, I started feeling quite uncomfortable with tons of pressure. The nurse checked me, and I was 10 cm. She told me it was time to start pushing and I burst into tears!

Pushing for me was the hardest work of the whole labor. My contractions were one on top of the other, and only lasting about a minute, so it was hard to get three good pushes out of each one. Within a half hour, I was really tired. Also, with my symphysis pubis dysfunction, I was uncomfortable on my back, so my awesome labor nurse suggested I trying laying on my side. That was much better, and I pushed for another hour or so there until my doctor came back to see how things were going. He wanted me on my back again, which I initially refused, until he told me that he thought the baby would be born within 10 minutes if I tried. I agreed, and about 20 minutes later, Gabriel was born.

Actually delivering him was sort of an out of body experience. I felt him crowning, and couldn't believe my eyes when his little head appeared. The rest was a cake walk, my body just delivered the rest of him on its own, and they put him on my stomach. DH has a great pic of this moment; the look on my face is totally priceless...complete wonder and relief.

He's been a great baby so far, for the most part totally content. He's breast feeding pretty well, although I'm a bit sore from how often he eats. I did have a 2nd degree tear, so I needed some stitches, and I can't believe how sore my undercarriage has been! It's getting better though. He sleeps fairly well for us, about 3 hours at a time if he's had a good feeding, so I'm getting a decent amount of sleep, just in short bursts!

Most of all, he's such a fun little guy. DH and I are totally smitten with him. DH is a diaper changing pro and an expert burper. We're totally in love!