The Birth Story

As I posted earlier, our baby boy was born at 3:10 am on Saturday, November 2nd. Here's how everything went leading up to his birth.

On the Monday before, I had a doctors appointment and they informed me that I was 3 cm dilated. I was pretty surprised to hear this because I wasn't feeling any kind of contractions or anything. Peter and I were excited though because the chances of me going into labor a little early were higher. I didn't really feel anything during the week other than some light cramping and pressure. 

Last picture of the belly.

39 weeks.

On Friday morning, I woke up feeling like I was possibly having contractions but they were really mild and inconsistent. We decided Peter should still go to school but we were really hoping that we would be having a baby that night. While Peter was at school, what I thought were maybe contractions had completely stopped and I felt like it was a false alarm. I texted Peter to let him know I was almost positive we were not going to be having a baby that night as we had hoped and we went on with our day as normal. When Peter got home from school, he was pretty bummed to hear that I wasn't feeling any type of contractions or anything so he suggested we go on a walk together. We walked around the neighborhood for awhile but I still wasn't feeling anything so we went home. Later that night Peter was studying and I was making dinner. While I was cooking I started to feel the contraction type pains again. They were still really mild but they were becoming a little more consistent this time, I would say probably every 30 to 45 minutes. We ate dinner and by the time we were finishing up the contractions were starting to get more intense but still far apart. I decided to lay down and rest for a little and Peter decided to start recording when my contractions were and for how long. They slowly got more intense and closer together. Once they were happening about every 20 minutes, we started to get prepared. Peter was running around cleaning and doing last minute packing for our hospital bag. I laid in bed and relaxed, haha. I have a pretty great husband. At my last doctor's appointment, my doctor informed us that we should not go to the hospital until the contractions were really intense and only 5 minutes apart. So we waited until that was the case. Peter called into the hospital and they said we needed to come in right away. It was a good thing we left when we did too because on our way to the hospital, the contractions started to get really painful. We arrived at the hospital at around 10:15 PM. They admitted us pretty shortly once we got there and informed me that I was only dilated 4 cm. Almost immediately after I changed, they had the epidural ready for me.
Hallelujah! 

Right after I got the epidural. Man I was feeling good!

Once I got the epidural I was feeling great. It was time to wait until I was dilated a little more. They told Peter and I that we should try and get some sleep as it was probably going to be a long night. Peter slept, but I was so excited that I could not sleep. I mean we were about to have our baby! I was skyping with my family and enjoying the moment. At around 2:15 AM my doctor came in to check my cervix and informed me that I was now dilated to 6 cm. She broke my water and told me it would still probably be awhile until I dilated to a 10 and it was time to push. Boy was she wrong. After she broke my water, the pressure came on hard and fast. 10 to 15 minutes later I was ready to push. My doctor came in and said I was now 10 cm and it was time. With Peter holding my hand, I began pushing as hard as I could. Pushing was not as easy as I thought it would be. Even though I had an epidural, I was still feeling a lot of pain. After 30 minutes of pushing, I was holding our baby boy for the first time. I will never forget my first few minutes of being Landon's mom. Having him in my arms is the most amazing feeling. After all the time we had waited he was finally here and ours forever.

Holding our baby for the first time.

Our family.

Yes, I am extremely swollen in all of these pictures. I know that they are not glamorous but I guess that's just how having a baby is.

Baby Landon

Me and my yummy fruit bowl.

Checking on Landon in the nursery.

On Sunday afternoon we were ready to take our little man home and begin our new life.

Going home for the first time!

Since we have been home, things have been going well. Of course we are adjusting and I am still taking it slow trying to recover, but we absolutely love spending time as a family together and enjoying every moment. After quite the eventful weekend, Peter went back to school on Monday. We were grateful Landon decided to come when he did so Peter didn't end up having to miss any school. Such a blessing! We are so grateful everything went so well and that we now have a beautiful healthy baby boy here with us.

 Me and Landon at his first doctors appointment!