Worth it

Our birth story started the few weeks before the birth ..or at least if felt that way! :)

Braxton Hicks ..no, that is not what they felt like. I swear they were actual contractions and they got progressively worse with each "practice session" of a few hours, every few days. The Sunday before our scheduled induction on May 5th, I knew I was in labor as I sat in church.

I had had alot of contractions that were timeable and at times pretty regular. The ones that Sunday morning were regular, hard, wrapped around to my back, and were very close together all the way through church and the few hours afterwards. Babysitter Tiff was called to be on standby but alas, by midafternoon all was halted yet again.

It was okay though, because Grammy didnt get here until Monday, May the 3rd and we wanted her to be able to make it if at all possible. And, she did.

Despite many efforts to starting labor naturally, we still arrived labor free at Summerville Medical Center at 6am on Wednesday, May 5th to get this kid out of me! :)

While our friends followed on Facebook, daddy gave everyone a play-by-play of the whole thing. As a fellow friend and sister who has waited by the phone many times whilest my fellow mommies pushed their little ones out, I am sure it was wonderful to know what was going on every step of the way :)

With Grammy as the photographer, daddy as the labor news reporter and I as the actual laborer ..we were a good team. We had a baby out in about 4 hours from the time they broke my water to actual time of birth.

In a nutshell, it went something like this ...

* Started pitocin at about 0715 ..started slow, no pain, 1cm dialateed, 50% effaced

* Broke water at about 0930 ...midwife did it, said my cervix was posterior explaining why all those darned contractions didnt help a whole lot!

* Pain starts picking up at about 1030 ...the pitocin is up to about 18ml/hour, max is 20. I am feeling them pretty good and ready for some attention from Grammy and Daddy

* My awesome nurse tells me she is going to lunch because she feels like things will start picking up soon at about 1115 ...I am starting to really hurt and thinking "what the heck was I thinking not getting an epidural?!"

* I am either feeling the urge to push or the intense urge to get this kid OUT OF ME! ..either way, I am just at 6cm at 1245 but my nurse is saying it is all downhill from here!

* Its about 1pm, I am hurting like nobody's business now! My nurse tells me to get up and empty by bladder to get those last few centimeters out of the way ...OUCH! I am about to DIE but it does the trick. By the time I make it back to bed (3 contractions later ..some of which I did on all fours on the floor) we are at 9cm!

* I have a lip still, keeping me from that last big 1-0. She has me lay on my side with my top knee in a stir up (I know, nice mental picture). It worked, and after about 3 contractions I was set to push this kid out of me.

* I am about as near death as I ever felt that I was, when Dr Reeves casually asks me, "you ready to get this kid out?" ..HELL YES! I tell him. My mom was shocked by that, but assured me that if ever there was an appropriate time to cuss it was now (she should know, she had 6)

* Really, the rest was pretty much "push!" "push!" and "push!" ..there was the moment that his (giant ..or so it felt) head was born when the dr said he needed to suction so for me to hold on a sec (ha!). I told him to forget the suctioning, and get this kid out of me! Thankfully, he apparently was experienced enough that he did the suction thing fast and then let me push again.

*Whew! 1:26pm ...less than 4 hours after we broke my water wehadababyitsaboy!


It was absolutely the most painful one to date, but I contribute that to having pitocin for the entire labor (Canon was just until my labor got started) and it just moving so fast. All in all, I figure I would do it again for the same result :)

Joshua is a perfect replica of his brother Canon, after two weeks I think we still believe he is just clone. Their temperment is similar and he is just as soft :)

The boys are adjusting very well, being good helpers and giving lots of kisses. He is precious and we cant wait to see what he will become!