baby graham is here! @lola4411 birth story :)

lola4411 · June 2014

hey ladies! i don't know how so many of you have had the time and energy to post your birth story so quickly! the past few days have been a whirlwind - and that is putting it mildly lol. well, here is my story and it does have a very happy ending: baby boy graham was born on wed 6/11 at 11:08 am, healthy 7lbs, 14oz and 20" long

i was 40+3 days pregnant and ready for this baby to make his debut! i scheduled my induction and wanted him to come on his own, so i was willing to try everything to get him here. on tues 6/10, i went to prenatal yoga and then to my regular nst check up. all was going well at the appointment and i was feeling great so i decided to take a walk. it was the recommendation from my doc as the best way to encourage him to arrive. so my mom and i took a 3 mile walk by the beach. we went home and i was feeling tired so i lay down while my mom and DH prepared dinner. at 8pm we all sat down for dinner and as soon as i sat on the chair my water broke! it was kind of a gush, so there was no mistaking this for pee lol. i changed clothes and decided to eat dinner before making our way to the hospital. the water just kept coming out in large waves so we ate quickly, finished packing and headed to the hospital.

we checked in and my contractions officially started around 9pm when we were settled into triage. at this point i was only 1cm dilated so we didn't expect much to happen any time soon. we were checked into L&D pretty quickly because i had a positive strep test and they needed to start antibiotics. i labored for 5 hours before i decided to get my epidural. i was proud to have held out for that long and i am so impressed with anyone that finished naturally! i felt much better after the epidural and my DH, mom and i settled in for the night. it was around 1am at this point and i was only 4 cm, so we tried to sleep. they slept, i was up all night so excited

i was checked again around 7am and i was at 9.5 cm, so we all got ready for pushing. i didn't end up pushing until 9:30am because although i made it to 10cm, they wanted me to wait until he was at a 2 station. i pushed for 1.5 hours and baby boy made his entrance! my DH was my coach and time counter during contractions and my mom was my cheerleader. it was such an amazing experience! nothing can describe the feeling of when they placed baby graham on my chest for the first time

AW moment: i was so proud that i was active throughout this pregnancy and realize how fortunate i was to be able to exercise throughout. running, weightlifting and yoga really helped me in labor and delivery. i was able to push 4 x 10 second pushes during each contraction and didn't lose my breath. don't get me wrong, it was a very tough 1.5 hour marathon, but i am happy that i was able to power through and felt so good during the experience.