He's here!

Ah, so yesterday I finally had my baby. Thanks to my husband my Twitter stayed pretty up to date. :)

Here's a basic rundown of what happened yesterday:

7:00am - I kept waking up to contractions about every fifteen minutes. After the fourth one (8:00am) I finally got out of bed, had a little more show, and sat on my balance ball to see if they were going to calm down any (since Braxton-Hicks contractions usually quit when you change positions). They didn't stop, and then started comming closer together (about 8 minutes apart). I became a little concerned, and hopped in the shower, and told my husband he should shower as well. My contractions got closer together (real close, like 4 minutes apart) and then further apart again (back to 8) so by this time I was pretty sure it was false labor or very early labor.

12:30pm - We left the house to go to my regular check-up appointment - how convienant right? When we saw the doctor at about 1:30, he did an internal exam and told us that I was 90% effaced and 2 cm dialated. He said that I could go ahead to the hospital, but I elected to go eat and walk around the mall. Funny story: When the nurse called my name, I was having a contraction. She seemed a little concerned, and when I told her they'd been happening all day, she was surprised I hadn't rushed over earlier.

2:30pm - We ate at Bob Evans (I had a bowl of Chicken and Noodles and some applesauce, while the husband ate a Pot Roast Sandwhich) and then walked around the mall for about 30 minutes or so. By this time, my contractions were consistantly 5 minutes apart and we decided to head to the hospital. Funny story: I went to the Motherhood store to pick up some sleeping nursing bras, and the woman who was working was expecting on October 20something. She asked when I was due, and my response was "Oh, right now. My contractions are 5 minutes apart." Her and the other clerks were joking and laughing that I was surprisingly calm and collected.

4:00pm - We arrived at the hospital. I got strapped to a fetal monitor and a blood pressure cuff and then after sitting on the awkward table for about 30 minutes, I elected to walk around. However, after about two very painful, stop in my tracks contractions, I was taken to the delivery room. At this point, I was still only dialated to 2cm.

5:30pm - In the delivery room, strapped down ready to go. My contractions were a lot harder, but nothing I couldn't think through. On a pain scale of 1 to 10, they were around a 4.5.

6:30pm - My doctor arrived to do an internal exam. Simultaneously, (without telling me) he broke my water and I freaked out a little - it was excruitatingly painful (probably because I didn't expect it). At this point, I was dialated at 4cm.

7:00pm - EPIDURAL = DOING FANTASTIC. I couldn't feel a thing, which was almost odd.

8:30pm - I was still at about 4-5cm dialted, but the baby's head dropped further into my pelvis and his blood pressure started to drop everytime I had a contraction, thus, I was put on some oxygen.

9:30pm - My inital double dose epidural wore off. I began feeling very strong contractions again. I was dialated at 8cm at this point.

10:00pm - Anestheisologist gives me a booster dose into my epidural - it doesn't make the pain go down, but rather, stabalizes it.

10:30pm - 10cm already! Time to push!

11:21pm - Baby Xavier arrives at 6lbs 9oz and 20in long via regular vaginal birth, with no episiotomy, and only a minor internal tear that required a few stitches. The doctor only arrived to catch the baby (literally, my husband almost caught him since he was changing into scrubbs when his head popped out) and do all the icky after stuff.

So my hospitalization time was really only about 7 hours and 20 minutes, and only 50 minutes of pushing. Compare that to the average first birth that runs around 16-24 hours (or LONGER) and pushing itself runs around 2 hours. I had a very short labor and delivery. When he finally came out, one of the first things I said was "Well, I could do this again."

I don't think I could have had any easier of a pregnancy or delivery - my only real complaints were my PUPPP affliction, and the prednisone took care of that.

Pictures soon.