A lot to cover...

I can't believe it's been a week already! So much has happened in the last week, I don't even know where to begin. Let's see, I guess the birth story would be a good place...

We went in to the hospital Wednesday evening at 7:30 to be induced. I received my first dose of the medicine to start contractions at about 8:45, and it started working pretty quickly. The contractions weren't bad at that point, just kind of uncomfortable. As the night wore on, they became more intense and I asked for something to help me sleep so they brought me some Ambien. Well, that didn't really work. At some point I asked for something for the pain and they brough me some Stadol. Now that's powerful stuff! I was in a completely different world after that. They checked me sometime later and I had only dilated to 1 1/2 centimeters, I still had a LONG way to go. I don't remember what time they gave me the Pitocin to make the contractions stronger, but it worked by golly. Sometime in the afternoon they checked me again and I had progressed to 4 centimeters. I could have an epidural now! Unfortunately, the epidural only worked for about 2 hours. The doctors were saying that something was wrong with the pump, and I should still be getting the medicine, but I obviously wasn't. I have never felt pain like that in my life. Thank God for Chris. I never would have made it through without him. He was definitely my rock throughout the entire ordeal. At about 8 o'clock the nurse checked me again & said I was at about 5-6. They were going to up the Pitocin, and if I didn't make any progress by 9:00 they would start talking about a c-section. I was so glad to hear those words at that point. I had been laboring for nearly 24 hours, most of those without any pain medication, and I was completely worn out. At 9:00 she checked again and I had progressed to about a 7. The doctor said he wanted to wait another hour and I lost it. The only word I can think of to describe how I was feeling is desperation. I was in so much pain, and was so tired. Then it hit me that I was going to have to push out a nearly 9 pound baby with no pain help. I was so scared. I asked her to check me again at around 9:30, and she thought I'd progressed a little, but she called Dr. Doris in to check on me. He thought I had made a little progress too, but also said that I had been progressing very slowly. He said we could really go either way, keep trying the way we were or move on to a c-section and he left it up to me. I immediately said "C-section". It's amazing how quickly things happened after that. The anesthesiologist was in trying to get the epidural to work, because if they didn't, they'd have to put me to sleep & Chris wouldn't be able to be in there with me. Unfortunately, that's the way it worked out. They pumped me with so much medication, but I could still feel it when they'd pinch my right side. Obviously they weren't going to cut me open when I could feel it. So, off to sleep I went. And when I woke up, I had a son! It's kind of sad, because I don't really remember seeing Jonathan the first time because I was so drugged up, and I can't get those moments back. But I know that we did what we had to do. It turns out that he probably wouldn't have come out the "conventional" way after all, he was face up & trying to come out with his head cocked to one side. We made the right decision, and I'm happy about that.

Wow. That was a long story! I was going to post some more, but I think I'll just put a few pictures up & come back later for more. Here's my little man.

Have you ever seen such an adorable face?

He's here!!!!

I just have a minute, but I wanted to post about the most important & wonderful thing that has ever happened to me.... I have a son! It's amazing. I'll come back another time & post the whole long, hard story, but here are the basics...

Jonathan David made his appearance at 10:59 pm on October 12, 2006. He weighed 8 lbs 15 oz and was 21 1/2 inches long. BIG BOY! Here's one picture of him:

Isn't he precious! I have so many more pictures to go through, so I'll come post some more soon. Gotta go check on my little man....

M.I.A.

I'll probably be missing in action for the next several days. Why? I think I'll go have a baby! We are scheduled to go in to the hospital tonight at 7:30 to induce labor. Hopefully things will progress quickly and the labor will be smooth. I'm still a little up in the air about the epidural, but I'm just going in with an open mind, and we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. I'm a little nervous, just because it's an unknown, but I'm really not scared at all. I don't really like the unknown part of this, which is pretty much all of it. I like to be able talk to people, or read, and find out exactly what's going to happen. I've heard/read so many labor/birth stories, but every person's different, and every pregnancy is different. It's taking this control freak a little out of her comfort zone. But, I know that the reward at the end of this journey is going to make it all worthwhile.

So, the next time you "see" me, I'll be a mommy (wow, that's amazing) and I'll be sure to post some pictures as soon as possible. This little one has so many people who are anxiously awaiting his/her arrival.

Quick update

Well, I seem to have a very stubborn child on my hands. We had our 40 week appointment today, and based on last weeks information I was really hoping that we'd be sent in for induction this weekend. Not so much. Dr. Doris looked at the ultrasound and said that everything is measuring right on schedule. Also, he did an internal exam, and I'm not dilated at all. Not even a little bit. So, the plan is, that if the baby hasn't made his/her appearance by then, we're scheduled for an induction on Wednesday evening at 7:30. There are definitely good points about knowing exactly when you're going in to have the baby, you don't have to stress too much about it. You just show up, and they get things going for you. I'm so excited to know that by this time next week, we'll have our little one in our arms.

Okay, I have to go watch the re-air of Grey's Anatomy from last night. For some reason our DVR didn't record it, and I had watched CSI instead. Talk about a moment of panic when I realized it hadn't recorded. From the little snippets I read on the message board, it was a really good episode. Off to get my fix!

I know, I know

I've been a very bad blogger this week... the bad news is, it may only get worse for the next little bit, but I promise I'll have a good reason.

First things first... still pregnant! Hopefully I won't be saying that for too much longer as I'm definitely ready to meet this little one. We had our 39 week appointment last Friday, and what an appointment it was. I had my first internal exam (what fun that was) and unfortunately I hadn't dilated at all. I was really hoping that I'd made at least a little progress, but no. I was measuring 2 weeks ahead, which is a little unusual, but nothing to worry about according to the doctor. He said as long as it's within two weeks of where you are, it shouldn't be a problem. He then proceeded to mash around on my belly to get an estimate of how much the baby weighs, here's where things get fun. His first comment was, "Well, it's not a runt." Oh great. His estimate was 8 3/4 pounds.... which comes out to 8 lbs 12 oz. Holy big baby Batman!!! Needless to say I had a bit of a freak out moment, but calmed down eventually. We're going in on Wednesday for an ultrasound to get some more measurements and then we'll go from there. He did mention that we may wind up doing something sooner than later depending on the results. I take that to mean that it's quite likely that we'll be inducing labor sometime this week. Fine by me. Sign that eviction notice already!!! I'm so ready to get on with the next chapter in our lives, and it may just start this week.

Today is Chris' birthday. I am so thankful for my husband. He is definitely the most wonderful man I know. He's been absolutely amazing during this pregnancy, taking care of me when I was sick, making sure that I'm taking care of myself. He's always checking on me to make sure I'm okay & don't need anything. I thank God daily for blessing me with such a wonderful partner. On a little less mushy note...We were really hoping that the baby would make his/her appearance today, but unless something pretty drastic happens in the next hour and a half, it won't be happening. I know he's disappointed, and I've actually been feeling a little guilty about it. I know there's nothing I could've done, but it would've been so neat for him to share a birthday with our child. Especially since I share a birthday with my dad.

I'll definitely come update after my appointment on Wednesday, and who knows, by the weekend I may be posting pictures of our new addition. Wish us luck & pray for a easy/smooth labor and most importantly a healthy baby.

Awake

again. I know this is my body's way of getting ready for the sleepless nights to come, but I HATE it! I'm sleepy, and I want to sleep, but I can't seem to relax. I guess I should've gone to bed right after dinner at 7:30 when I could barely keep my eyes open. But I just knew that if I even took a little snooze, I wouldn't be able to sleep tonight. A lot of good that did me, here I sit, at nearly 1 a.m., blogging. I had intended to post earlier today, but never got around to it.

Since going out with the girls is probably going to be a little more difficult in the few months ahead, I wanted to have one more girls night out before the baby came. So, Lisa, Rebecca and I scheduled my "last hoorah" for Friday night. Well, actually we had scheduled it for a few Friday nights ago, but for some reason that didn't work out. I don't remember why. Anywho. I didn't really want to do anything too strenuous (not that we probably would have anyway), so we decided dinner & coffee would be great! We went to Zaxby's for dinner and it was so good! I could just about eat myself sick there. It was so nice to just sit & chat with no real time limit. Rebecca got a new car this week, and it needed a name, and I think we came up with the prefect one. I'm sure she'll blog about it, so check it out! It's a really fun story. We closed the place down and headed over to Starbucks for coffee. Well, Lisa & Rebecca had coffee. I'm not a coffee person so I had my favorite. A Double Chocolate Chip Frappucino! YUMMY!

We sat in a spot off to ourselves and just had a great time hanging out. Lisa & Rebecca are definitely two of my best friends. I am so blessed to have them in my life. I can always count on them for lots of laughter and even more good advice.

Starbucks closed at midnight, so we headed out just before then. It was such a wonderful evening, and a great way to celebrate my "last hoorah"! Thanks girls for a great time!

Well, I'm going to try and get comfy in the recliner and see if I can't catch some Z's as they float by.

Saturday

Today was a really nice day. Our little friend Emily came to stay the night, she's going to Regan's birthday party with us tomorrow. The main event of the day though was Haley coming over to be our photographer. I've always regretted that there aren't any pictures of Chris and I together from our honeymoon. I really wanted to make sure that we had some nice photos of us together during the pregnancy, so we went to the park & had a little photo shoot. Here are some of my favorites:

I think Haley did a great job, don't you? Also, here's one of the pictures of Emily... I can't believe she's six already!!!

Well, we have less than two weeks to go until the due date, and that's really hard to believe! We had our 38 week appointment, and as is common now, everything is still going well. My blood pressure went down some, to 112/72, he didn't mention my weight, so I assume all is well there. From what I've read, my weight shouldn't fluctuate too much at this point. He reiterated that basically we're just playing the waiting game at this point. So,now I'm on the lookout for any signs that I might be going into labor. I have been having a lot of contractions the last few days, but there hasn't been any pattern, I guess my body's just practicing. Whenever the baby decides he/she's ready, then I guess we will be too!

I'll probably blog again tomorrow because last night was my "last hoorah" with the girls, and we had a great time... so tune in again!