My Valentine's Day Baby

     Well, my new little boy who wasn't due until the 22nd decided to come a week early. I spent most of Valentine's Day in labor, though I wasn't sure if it was real or not. Luckily we had "celebrated" Valentine's Day on Monday, to beat the crowds. And it's a good thing too! 

     So...I started cramping yesterday (Feb 14th) morning. I noticed these were definitely more frequent than the ones I had been having, but still not sure if they were real. They seemed to be getting more intense throughout the day, but I was still having trouble catching them consistently spaced apart, and I spent the day looking up info on contractions and kept reading about how Braxton Hicks could be as painful as real ones. Not sure I believe that 100%, especially now, but who knows?

     My husband ran a few errands and I laid on my side trying to count the minutes while my daughter took a nap. I tried to accomplish things like making fruit salad out of the fruit bouquet my husband got me (it felt terrible to do, but I couldn't let the fruit go to waste!) making sure last minute stuff was packed and taking a shower. 

     When my husband got home, I continued to count, still not sure they were consistently five minutes apart. But finally they got to the point where they had to be something. I was just so afraid of being sent home with these terrible "fake" contractions. But around 7:15 pm I told my husband he'd better get the infant car seat and diaper bags in the van and I focused on getting dressed and my hair brushed. 

     Well, we had to stop at Best Buy to get a camera because we couldn't find ours. Then we had to drive-through McDonalds because we hadn't eaten dinner yet. Then we had to stop and get Kay-kay's playpen from the church building (yes we decided to take her with us). 

     So we finally got to the hospital and checked in, changed into a gown. Then the nurse asked me a lot of questions, then she finally checked my cervix and I was at 8 cm! Now, I had been expecting an epidural and I was worried I wouldn't get it now! Well, they had to get me an IV and draw blood first. So then I've got one nurse drawing blood from my right arm and another nurse sticking an IV in my left arm, and fighting intensifying contractions all the while. 

     Next, the nurse said she was going to get the anesthesiologist for the epidural. Meanwhile, my husband and I are left alone in the room. Not long after, I felt a trickle, along with some pressure. Then I felt a gush and even more downward pressure. My husband tried to adjust my covers and I said "No! Take them off!" So he did and saw the baby's head ready to come out. I was actually trying to hold it in, not wanting to push too soon, but my body wasn't having it. 

     So my husband delivered our son, yelling all the while for someone to get in here! The cord was wrapped around his neck 3 times and his leg and he was purple. I guess this is normal, but still freaky for us! Fortunately the baby was fine and people started rushing in (including the lady who would have administered the no longer needed epidural). It turns out there were four other births happening right around the same time. But baby boy was fine, 8 1/2 lbs and 21 1/2 inches, born at 9:41 pm on Valentine's Day. We're all doing fine, just waiting out our time till we can go home with the best Valentine's Day gift we could have ever gotten.