d-day

i started the day exhausted, hungry and thirsty. i was told not to eat or drink after midnight which was very difficult since i wake up multiple times a night thirsty and generally eat breakfast right after waking up. but i was really excited to be heading in at last!

madelyn was the only one awake when we left (mason was sleeping in our bed) and i had to get a little video because she was excited to know her new brother's name. she was also pretty excited to have our neighbor "miss karen" come over. karen came over at 6:30am and matt and i headed out.

i commented how funny it was that i had worried about being 20 minutes from the hospital and it ended up being a non-issue. we needed to register once we got there because i was not able to pre-register; even though I was asked to pre-register and the hospital has a pre-registration phone number/department. every time I called they told me that I couldn't because I "wasn't in the system". their suggestion was that I stop by some time or just come in on my way up to ob to deliver. there is no way I could have waited the 30 minutes it took to get a turn and register if i had been in labor!

once we got upstairs i started to feel better about the hospital. my nurse sara and a trainee, stephanie, we're waiting in our room and greeted us with a quick description of their experience (about 50 years between them) and a discussion (from memory) of my medical/delivery history that they had already reviewed. besides seeming very capable, they were very nice. so we got everything going.

the doctor okayed the pitocin and epidural to come. i think the pitocin started around 8am. i was only 1-2cm. I responded right away and within an hour the contractions were every three minutes. they kept upping the dose every hour and we got to contractions every 1 - 2 minutes. and i was pretty comfortable. they started amy epidural a little early since maddux came 25 minutes after my they broke my water at 5cm. this time i was only 3-4cm when they broke my water around 11:30am.

i was pretty surprised when 12:30 rolled around and not only had he not been born but i was still only at 4cm! totally bummed. they had not been able to up my pitocin for a while because my blood pressure kept dropping. first, i just have low blood pressure. second, i was dehydrated and told them that when i got there and they started my i.v. my contractions all but stopped after they broke my water so they opened up the saline and started upping my pitocin again.

i think around 3pm i was 7cm. i was starting to get worried that we weren't going to make it in time for matt to put the kids to bed. well matt might not make it home in time. anyway, the contractions started to be felt more in my spine and i suddenly had that 'feeling'. i didn't even say anything to matt. i just picked up the phone for the nurse because i knew it was time. and i was right. i thought it was two pushes but they told me that it was only 1 and 1/2 pushes.

i got extremely emotional while the nurse confirmed that i was ready and so i kept crying. they were happy tears. it was a mix of excitement to meet him and happiness for finally reaching the end.

manning luke was born at 3:56pm. this hospital has you hold the baby for the first hour before they check them out, clean or weight them. it was kind of neat, but it made it much more difficult to get a good look at him. he seemed so small. but i noticed right away that his hands were huge! he also had one super long thumb nail - which i thought was kind of funny.

once they got him cleaned up and weighed, he was 9lbs, 3oz and 21-1/2 inches. but he still seemed very small.

pain wise, being induced was the way to go! this was the first time i didn't have to deal with vomiting! the day went by slowly though.

so happy to be done! and to have manning! love.