The whole story...

I went in to start the induction process on Monday, July 12 at 6:00am. By the time I finally got checked in with admissions, and was in the elevator to Labor & Delivery, it was 6:15. We got all settled into our room and the nurses came in to hook me up to the IV and fetal monitor that would be by my side for the next 4 days. My OB showed up around 7:00am, and did a pelvic exam that ended in me peeing the bed... no, wait. He broke my water. Oh dear lord, this is really happening.

Pitocin was started at 7:30am, but I didn't start to actually feel any contractions until around 9:00am. I was still only 1cm dilated (since my OB appointment the previous Wednesday), and barely effaced.

The next time I was checked was 2:30pm. I had only moved to 2cm dilated, but I was 80% effaced. At this point, being quite the pain pansy, I was anxiously awaiting the epidural.

At 5:00pm, I was 3cm dilated, which was the high sign for the epidural to be placed. By the way, that kind of sucked. Trying to hold still through pretty painful contractions, while being poked in the spinal column by a giant needle is not my idea of a good time. It took about 15 minutes for the epidural to finally be in place, and another 15 minutes or so after that to be nearly pain-free.

They checked me again at 5:45, and I was only 4cm, 90% effaced, and the baby was at a 0 station. Hopefully, this meant that baby's head would help the dilation process.

Of course, that was wishful thinking. At 8:15pm, the nurse who had been with me most of the day came in to talk about a c-section. In the 2 and a half hours since the last check, I had made no progress, and since the baby was at a 0 station, his head was getting squeezed with every contraction. Apparently, my doctor thought it would end in a c-section the entire time, but was JUST NOW pushing for it. Awesome. You could have said something 10 hours ago, but whatever.

At 9:00pm, I was checked again, and I was still only around 4cm. So, no progress in a little over 3 hours. That was all she wrote... c-section was scheduled for 9:45pm.

Of course, I started freaking out. A c-sect was the one thing I didn't want to have to do. Surgery scares me, and this is a pretty invasive one. Dan and I had a mild freak-out, cry fest, and were able to talk ourselves down just in time to be wheeled in.

So they had me strapped to the table, and started the surgery. Apparently, it only took about 15 minutes to get the baby out, but it felt like I was there for hours. When they started pulling him out, his head was stuck in my pelvis so there was a doctor violently shaking and pushing on my upper abdomen. Holy crap. I can't quite explain the level of uncomfortableness this was.

They finally got him out, and everyone in the room started freaking out about how big he was. I had been measuring about 2 weeks ahead for quite some time, so the doctors suspected he would be a little bigger than normal.

Jackson Gabriel was born at 10:14pm, 21 inches long, 11 lb, 2.6 oz. Yeah, I grow them big apparently.

He had to spend a few days under the bili lights for mild jaundice, but we were able to come home yesterday afternoon. We're both doing really well (aside from no sleep for me last night), and so far, it's been amazing adjusting to having him home and trying to take care of him by ourselves.

He's amazing, and I can't wait to show him the world.

O.M.G.

I'm going to the hospital in 8 hours to start the induction process.

I was fine until like, 20 minutes ago. Now I'm mildly freaking out.

Keep your fingers crossed for me that I can get SOME sleep... tomorrow might be a busy day.

Oh man.

It's 1am on Friday, July 9. I'm officially 39 weeks pregnant, and having my baby on Monday.

Oh my god!

This is our last weekend together, alone. That makes me kind of sad. Which makes me feel like a bad mom. Haha. This November, we will have been together for 4 years, which I guess is long enough without babies, but dang. Those 4 years have gone ridiculously fast. I think I still haven't wrapped my brain around the fact that I'm married to this amazing person, let alone having his child. It all seems so surreal. Or maybe it feels like it was always supposed to happen, so it's never been all that life-altering. I don't know.

In other Dan news: He's been amazing this entire time. There were a lot of times where I'm not sure he took my whining seriously, since I'm PRETTY whiny, but for the most part, he's been awesome. The last couple of days, he's kind of been hovering over me with "you okay? do we need to go to the hospital?" It's super cute. I love him.

I can't wait for Monday to be over. I almost said "I can't wait for Monday", but I think I might eat those words when the pain of labor kicks in.

To be gross for a minute, I think I've been losing my mucous plug all day. Which doesn't really mean anything because it can reform, but it gives me hope that I'm dilating further. Hopefully I'm further along than 1cm on Monday and things progress relatively quickly.

In other news, my parents will be here Sunday afternoon. That means we only have 2 days left of just us. Woah... typing that sentence made me teary. Our whole world is about to change... I hope we're ready.

I'm 39 weeks pregnant, and trying not to lose my breath.