Brayden Alan's Birth Story

**WARNING: NOT SUITABLE FOR EVERYONE. GRAPHIC DESCRIPTIONS OF BIRTH ARE INCLUDED**

Since I have a few minutes (he's sleeping!!), I'll give you guys the goods...Tuesday morning (1.17) bright and early, DH & I got up, got ready and headed off to the hospital. We were a little on the anxious side, so we were running a little ahead of schedule... I told DH that we could stop at McDonald's and get a little something to eat - the nurse at the hospital told me I could have a light breakfast since I wasn't planning on getting an epidural... So we stopped and had something to eat and sat there just amazed that we'd be having a baby that day. It was a good time.We got to the hospital at 6:15 am and got all checked in... The nurse took us to our BEAUTIFUL hotel like room and layed out my gown for me and told us that our nurse for the day wouldn't be in until 6:30... Go ahead, get dressed and get all comfortable. SOOOOOO... Yeah... We TRIED to get the gown on me. It was one of those that has snaps ALL over it and you have to figure out what goes where and stuff. I was having a hard time (I'm kind of retarded early in the morning), so DH was going to help me. Let me just say, we KNEW we didn't do it right, but it was the best we could figure out. The nurse came in, I said, 90% sure we did this wrong, and she said, "I'm 90% sure that you're right!" So she fixed my gown and started all my monitors and IVs and stuff. B was moving all over the place, so we had a fun time all morning trying to keep him on the monitor. I had pitocin and ampicilin (sp?) for my GBS in my IV. I was already having a few contractions, but they weren't very effective ones - I was still only 1-2 cm. My family got there about 8:45; DH's got there about 9:00ish. Everyone was excited to see us and I was still able to talk a little at this point, so we kind of chatted a little. My OB got there at 10 and broke my water and we upped my pitocin drip to all out... She also put an internal monitor on Brayden while she was breaking my water. The actual breakage wasn't that bad, but then I had to pee, and when I stood up - HOLY LEAKAGE BATMAN! I flooded the place. It was kinda funny. I was glad that I was alone at this point (DH was getting coffee with his mom)! So I got to waddle around with a towel between my legs for the rest of the time. I had no idea that you KEPT leaking the entire time after your water breaks. It was very odd. At this point, I was thinning out, but still only about a 2 - but Brayden's head was coming down. My contractions started getting a lot harder, but the monitor wasn't really picking them up, so we put in an internal monitor for that, too. I was about a 3 at this point, totally thinned and B's head was still decending. Everything was looking good - I was breathing through my contractions and had my MP3 player going to keep me distracted, but they were starting to get tougher and a LOT closer together. DH did a great job of rubbing my back, but all of the sudden, my hips and legs were KILLING me and I could NOT relax through the contractions anymore. The nurse checked me and I was only a 4. At this point, I was close to tears from the pain, so I asked for the epi. DH & my mom both double checked and made sure that I was serious, but I just couldn't take any more. I was shaking from the pain and could not relax myself to breathe through contractions - they were too intense and too close together. But everyone said I was doing great - I wasn't screaming or anything, just in a TON of pain. So the anesthesiologist came in and made me sit up (which was a chore in itself, but I actually felt a little better after sitting up and rocking myself through a few contractions). The epi hurt like a... well... I don't know, but it really hurt. Especially having to sit there all still through a contraction that was off the charts (literally). Once that was in, though, I was actually able to talk through my next few contractions and was in pain, but not enough to really bother me (he set me at a low dose). About 20 minutes later, I could tell that my contractions were different, and was starting to have to breathe through them again, but nothing where I actually had to stop talking and stuff, just a little more intense. Then, 30 minutes after that, I could really feel them - when the nurse checked me I was at 8 cms!! She told me that I'd probably start to feel presure and the urge to push soon... 10 minutes later - UM YEAH! I felt like I was having to literally hold him in. She checked me again and I was at 9.5 - she let me have some practice pushes with the next contraction and then called my OB! Then she left the room and was gone for what felt like forever!!!!!! I was really feeling the contractions and was ready to push. I couldn't hold him in much longer... It was really hard!! She finally came back in, I got to push through two contractions and then my OB was there and I pushed through one more. His head was about half way out, but all of the sudden, I didn't really have the urge to push anymore (I felt like the contractions had stopped). My OB told me that I had to push without the contractions because he needed to come out. Let me tell you, that was one of the hardest parts of it all!!! I can't even tell you how hard it is to push without any contractions! I had to push 3 times and his head came out and then another three - the nurse had to actually push my fundus to help him because his shoulders got stuck. DH told me later that she made me push without the contractions because Brayden's heartbeat had actually dropped to 80. I'm sure glad they didn't tell me that at the time!!! All I remember as he came out was how clean he was - I expected him to be a lot more messy. And I remember looking for his "parts" to make sure it was a boy. DH cut the cord and they laid him on me - he was there for a good minute before he gave his first cries. Then they took him away to do all the "stuff" they have to do - he got a 9/9 on his APGAR. I remember DH being over there with him at the warmer and just talking to Brayden and being a good daddy already. They weighed and measured him - 7 lbs 7 oz, 19". He was born at 3:38 pm. I got to feed him about 30 minutes later - after everyone came in and passed him around. He took to the breast IMMEDIATELY! He is a very good feeder. We ended up leaving the hospital 24 hours after he was born, so our first night at home was last night - and I found out he's a comfort sucker. He wanted to be on my breast ALL NIGHT LONG. So much so that by morning, I was crying because my nipples hurt so bad. I swore I wasn't going to give him a paci, but my nipples just couldn't take any more, so this morning we gave him one. It's helped me out a ton. BUT - (and I attribute this to him sucking on me all night long) my milk is already in, and it's helped the sucking a lot. He is actually able to feed now instead of just sucking on me, and it makes him actually stop sucking a lot sooner. And I LOVE Lanisoh. Good stuff. He's amazingly beautiful. He never looked like a "newborn" - he came out looking a week old (except for his cone head). I am still surprised at how big he was especially because according to my ovulation date at conception, my due date should have been 2 weeks from when he was born. He's perfect in every way! Except he had a little heart murmur when he was born. It was still there a little when we left the hospital yesterday, so we have to get it checked out tomorrow when we go back for our first check up. The pedi didn't seem to think it was anything to worry about - said a lot of babies have a murmur at first and it goes away on its own within a few days, but I'm still just a little worried. It all still doesn't seem real. I can't believe he's ours and we get to keep him! He is the most amazing and beautiful thing I've ever seen. I could just stare at him for hours on end - and he's very, very well behaved so far. He only cries when we take his clothes off to bathe or change him (I guess he doesn't like being naked) or when he has gas, which he's had really bad today (he's a stinky little thing!) but mylicon drops take care of that.