The Story of Oliver's Birth

OK, I know that I am a little late in writing this, but I have literally had my hands full for two and a half weeks (in fact I am feeding Oliver with one hand and typing with the other).

So I was scheduled for a c-section Monday, Sept 26 but something inside of me was telling me that he was going to come sooner (mother's intuition?). I had been having irregular contractions for a while and didn't think much of them because they can go on for weeks with no labor. Friday night Eric and I decided last minute to go out to dinner at a new Italian restaurant (it ended up not being very good). All through out dinner my contractions were getting stronger but still not regular. By the time I got into bed they started to come frequently so I decided to record everytime they came. You're not supposed to go to the hospital until they are 3-5 minutes apart and mine were only about 10 min apart so I decided to try and relax and get some sleep (yeah right!!!). At 12:07 I had a particularly strong contraction and right after felt a gurgle, then a pop, then a massive flood coming out of me. My water had broke. I immediately called the doctor and he told me to come on in. The only problem was that so much water was coming out of me I wasn't sure how I was going to get from my apartment to the hospital without leaving a trail of water. My solution was to put on 4 pairs of underwear (hee hee). Eric said that I looked like I was wearing a diaper. Fortunately the hospital is only 5 min away so my make shift "diaper" did the trick.

Once we got to the hospital we were sent up to triage where we waited until a labor and delivery room was ready. My contractions at this point were coming very strong and every couple of minutes. I was dying for an epidural but since I had had dinner at 8:30 they wanted to hold off on my surgery for a little bit (you aren't supposed to eat or drink for several hours before surgery). They finally brought me up to labor and delivery and I was in excrutiating pain by then. Once you break your water labor comes on a lot quicker. They did an ultrasound to confirm his breech presentation and then checked my cervix. I was dilated 4 centimeters so they decided they better go ahead with the c-section. The anesthesiologist gave me he said was an "antacid" to drink but I puked 1 minute after drinking it so I think it was really to get me to vomit (no fun when you are in labor). After I threw up they wheeled me into the operating room and gave me my spinal (epidural). I took about five minutes to work. Although I was out of pain and numb from my chest down I started to shiver uncontrollably. That was pretty uncomfortable but WAY better than contractions. They then strapped me down, put up a drape, and let Eric come in. With in minutes the anesthesiologist told Eric to take a peak over the drape and Oliver was born. It was the most amazing feeling. My eyes get teared up right now just thinking of it. I can't even put into words the moment I first saw my son.

So one week before his due date, Oliver chose to be born. (Fortunately he just made it as a Libra!!) We were both very surprised when the nurse told us that he had red hair!!! We both have red hair recessive genes and it is funny that they showed up in our son. He isn't a carrot top (thank God) but more of a strawberry blonde like my mom. At this point he looks a lot like Eric but I think he might have my nose. It will be interesting to see how he morphs with time.

Staying in the hospital wasn't very much fun and we are so happy to be home and getting to know our little boy. Although the first week was pretty hard for me, everyday gets easier and easier as I fall more and more in love. I think I am starting to get the hang of this motherhood thing!