Stephen's Arrival Story

I wanted to experience my water breaking so bad!! And throughout my pregnancy I held faith that my body would naturally go into labor and I even had our hospital bags and car seat installed to prepare for it! Well, D Day was March 21st and 8 days later...nothing! So when I went to the doctor on Monday, March 29th, Dr. Wilson said its probably time to induce. My cervix wasn't cooperating and opening on its own, so he felt I would benefit form cervical ripening which was administered the night before my actual induction at the hospital.

So I left the doctor's office at 11:30 am and was to return to the hospital b/t 5:30 and 6pm with bags packed. I called Steve and told him the news (he was at work) and he left at lunch to head home. We repacked our hospital bags, made many phone calls to assure Maddie would be taken care of, and said our goodbyes to a child free home.

We arrived at the hospital at 6 pm and Dr Warren gave me the ripening at 8 pm and then all we could do is wait. We played on the internet and watched about 4 movies! Finally at 3:30am I fell asleep and then the nurse woke me at 5:30 and told me to enjoy a shower before they began the pitocin. Around 7 am they began the pitocin and Dr Wilson came to check my progress; at this point I was dilated to about a 2.5-3. So the nurse was instructed to up my pitocin every half hour. My contractions remained light until about noon, at which time they began to strengthen. I played on facebook, chatted with my Mom and friends on Yahoo, and played Uno and Majong (sp?) to pass the time and keep my mind busy.

Around 2 pm I called for the epidural as the pain was getting pretty unbearable. I was dialed to a 4 and at 2:45 the epidural was in effect. Then the nurse came in at 3:30 and noticed I was trembling a little bit and said that can be a sign that its time to push, so she checked me and sure enough I was dilated to a 10! I thought the end was near, but Stephen had other ideas. He was still sitting pretty high and after two hours of pushing the doctor said more than likely I would need a c section to get him out...he had a pretty big head!

So at 6:49pm March 30th, 2010, I heard Stephen cry for the first time. I was crying and it was amazing! The doctor and nurses all exclaimed "Wow, he's huge!" "He has a head full of long hair!" "He is beautiful!!" They brought him to me and let me see him and kiss him before they started the post op procedures. The nurse announced that Stephen was 9 lbs 4 oz and 21.5 inches long! I had a feeling he would be a big boy, but that was still a wonderful surprise! About 45 mins later I was lying in post op and Steve brought Stephen to me. I held him for the first time and was overjoyed!

Once I had a chance to breastfeed a little, we were rolled into my post pardum room where my mom, mother in law, sister, and sister in law were there waiting for us. They all exclaimed at his size and beauty :)