Jacob's arrival

I know it's taken me a while to get around to blogging again, but I've had a lot going on!  I am slowly learning to survive on sleep that only comes in 2 hour intervals and still spend a decent amount of time awake each day.  That has been a challenge, but my mom has been here all week and she has helped SO MUCH!  I don't know if I could have made it without her.  She has cooked, cleaned, taken care of laundry, grocery shopped, and taken care of Jacob when he just wouldn't sleep at 3 AM.  I am a little nervous about trying to take care of all this by myself next week, but I'm sure I'll make it somehow (I hope!). 

Now for anyone who cares to know the details of Jacob's arrival...

I went to sleep last Tuesday night feeling tired and sore like every other night.  A and I actually had a short - we never know when this is going to happen - conversation before going to sleep.  I woke up early Wednesday morning (27th), about 3:15 with contractions, but they weren't too bad and about 10 minutes apart.  I watched the clock through a few of them and then tried to go back to sleep.  I had contractions like these the week before for about 2 hours and they had just gone away, so I wasn't very concerned.  I slept on and off until about 5:30 when they started to come about every 7 minutes and were a little more intense.  At this point, I woke A a little bit and told him what was going on.  He asked if we needed to go anywhere and I said no, so he went back to sleep. By then, I really wasn't sleeping but just kinda dozing in between.  By 9 AM, they were more painful than uncomfortable and closer to 5 minutes apart.  I knew my doctor's office was up and running, so I called and asked the nurse if I should do anything.  She said that if the contractions were gaining intensity, I should go in just to get checked out.  This got A moving!  I got dressed and packed a few last minute items while A moved faster than I've ever seen him move in the morning.  I did laugh at him a little in between contractions! 

By the time we made it to the hospital, the contractions were about 3 minutes apart and pretty painful.  I couldn't walk during, so the trek into labor and delivery took a few minutes.  I got checked in and on the first check, I was only 2 cm dilated.  I was a little disappointed because I thought they would send us back home and I was terribly uncomfortable by this point.  The nurse sent us to walk the halls for an hour and said if I had any change, the doctor would tell me to stay.  We walked the halls and at the next check, I was 3 cm so we were staying.  It was about 12:00 and we called to let everyone know what was going on. 

The next five hours were tough.  I was trying to last as long as I could without an epidural, partly because I wanted to be able to move as much as I wanted and I knew an epidural would confine me to the bed and partly because I am simply terrified of needles, especially big ones in my back!  I walked, or stood mostly and leaned on A during contractions for a few hours.  This was painful, but better than just laying down.  I finally got in the tub around 3:30.  This helped so much! I could only stay for an hour and then I had to get back on the monitors for at least thirty minutes.  After I finally got out of the tub (tougher than you would think while in labor!) I knew I couldn't make it back in and out again, so I gave in.  By this point, I had been in labor for about 13 hours and was only at 5 cm.  I called for the epidural and tried not to have an anxiety attack between contractions while waiting.  I have to say, it was not as bad as I thought.  I did have one contraction during the procedure, which was tough, but other than that, it was okay.  After the epidural kicked in, I was a much happier person. 

My parents arrived about an hour later.  The doctor has asked for pitocin to be started, as I was progressing so slowly.  I had originally not wanted this at all, but with the epidural, I did not feel the effects at all.  I also knew things needed to speed up.  By 9:00 I was 7 cm and at 9:30, 9 1/2 cm.  The pitocin was definitely working for me.  By 10:00 PM, I was 10 cm and my nurse (Janice, who was amazing!) said it was time to push.  We thought Jacob would be arriving any minute.  Boy, were we wrong!  For the next 2 1/2 hours, I pushed.  Yes, 2 1/2 hours!  Jacob finally made his arrival at 12:29 AM on the 28th.  For anyone keeping count, that's about 21 hours of labor.  It was definitely a long night and we were all exhausted, but so glad Jacob had arrived healthy. 

A few pictures of his first few hours...

And of course, Daddy's first diaper change! 

I have MANY more pictures to come soon!