On Monday, February 23rd I had my regular weekly doctor appointment and all was good. I was measuring on target (finally) since baby had finally "dropped"...I had been measuring about 2 weeks ahead most of the time. We left the appointment with my doctor (Dr. Winga) saying that she would let me go to 41 weeks since this was my first full term baby. And then her saying that she was on call that weekend and that I could come in and have the baby then! I was really hoping she would be around to deliver this baby...she was there for Thomas, and was really hoping to have her since I'm so comfortable with her.
Then, early on Tuesday, February 24th about 12:15am I woke up having to go to the bathroom (not unusual) and then Macy needed to go out so I let her out. While I was doing that, I'm pretty sure I felt my first contraction. Once Macy came back in, I crawled back in bed and a few minutes later I felt the same thing. This went on for a while and all the while Jim was sleeping....Macy must have sensed something cause she followed me everywhere. I would walk around the house and she'd follow and then I'd lay back in bed and she'd curl up next to me. Then about 3:30am Jim woke up - he usually gets up around 4am for work, and finally said to him, "I think I'm having contractions." He said ok, and hung out with me for a while and I had already been timing them but they weren't consistent but they were certainly getting stronger. I called the hospital and told them that I thought I was having contractions. And since they weren't consistently timed apart they told me to take a hot shower and some tylenol and try to rest to see if they space back out or stop. So, that's what I did. Then Jim took a shower, and I said..."are you really planning on going to work?" I guess he didn't think it was real. He still showered and we just tried to rest in bed while I was continuing to have contractions. About 7:30am or so, my water broke. Then I called the hospital again and they told me to come in and they would test it to make sure. Well, by the time we got to the hospital it was still breaking and I was a mess and everyone knew we weren't going anywhere.
Finally, about 8:30 our nurse finally made it in. Apparently, they were short staffed and needed to call in extra staff to help out for the day. I was getting impatient cause my contractions were getting stronger and I was getting quite uncomfortable.
Everything progressed nicely throughout the day and everyone thought I'd be having the baby by early afternoon. And then, I stalled. I was having some incredible back labor and they discovered the head was turned slightly sideways - probably causing the back labor and baby was essentially stuck. They allowed me to "labor down" as they called it and gave me a break for a little while. The drug doctor couldn't get there fast enough. Dr. Winga also had to leave for about an hour in the afternoon for a presentation and was hoping that I would have had the baby before she left, or not until she returned. Thankfully, my little break was just what I needed....a little reprieve from the back labor and pain to give me enough strength to push later on.
Dr. Winga was back and I was ready to push....I was in many different positions to find something more comfortable than on my back, I was squatting at one point, on my hands and knees, on my side...nothing really seemed to work. Jim massaged my back, which helped some...but ultimately, I needed that baby to be out of me! :)
Finally, with a little help from suction....at 7:29pm, our little Blake David arrived weighing in at 9lbs 2oz and 22in long. My mom later told me they had to measure him twice cause they didn't think they were right the first time! :) He was a big, healthy, crying baby....a moment we had waited for since I found out I was pregnant the first time.
We are over the moon in love with our little man and so happy to have him home with us! We miss his big brother Thomas, everyday....but having this hunk here eases that heartache ever so slightly. I think it's time we all believe in miracles...cause Blake is certainly ours!
