Hudson Christopher decided to give me the best birthday present I could have ever asked for... joining our family after just 11 hours of labor! Haha I know many of you heard me say on more than one occasion that I DIDN'T want him to come on my birthday. But when when it came time... I was nothing but ecstatic for him to be here, shared birthday and all!
I am pretty sure I have the Doc to thank for this too. On Feb 3rd, the day before my birthday and 1 week before my due date, I had a doctors appointment. I had not made any progress from the last visit, still only dilated to a 2 and about 70-80% effaced, SO he decided to strip my membranes... sorry if that is a little tmi. :) I was happy he did it though cause I thought that it would at least get the baby-ball rolling! Ha, IT DID!! At 3:15am the next morning, Feb 4th, I woke up to go to the bathroom, yet again! And started feeling some contractions. I wasn't really concerned until I felt like they were coming pretty regularly. SO... I got out my phone, turned on the flashlight app, got out my pregnancy book to make sure I knew how to time the contractions right and started timing! After about 30min of somewhat regular contractions a minute to a minute 40 in length and about 4-5 minutes apart, Chris woke up to find me on the floor, phone flashlight in hand, staring at my pregnancy book and asked "Maegs, what are you doing?" :) I simply said... "I think I'm in labor". He perked up at that statement and said "REALLY". I told him about my contractions and how long I have been timing them and he suggested that we call the hospital. I said that they say I should time them for a full hour before we do that. Haha he got a little excited/nervous though and so we called about 45min into timing them. The nurse that I spoke to said that I was definitely in labor but since my water hadn't broken yet I should just try to stay comfortable and stay home as long as I can. I said ok, hung up the phone, and started making sure everything was ready to go for the hospital.
My contractions started getting stronger and at about 4:45 I told Chris that we should probably start heading to the hospital.
5am my water broke and we were out the door!
By 5:30 we were in the Triage unit hooked up to a monitor waiting for a labor and delivery room to open up.
7am rolls around and we are still waiting, busy night for babies being born!
My contractions were pretty hard at this point thought and so I asked for a little relief... a little bit of Fentinol and I was flying high. :) Not the funnest feeling in the world but it definitely took the pain away for a bit.
9am we finally got a nurse and a delivery room. The meds had warn off at around 8 and I was feeling them pretty good now. I tried taking a bath, sitting on a birthing ball, and walking around for a bit but by 1oam... I kindly requested my epidural.
I think this is a good time to mention how AMAZING my husband was/is! Every moment, every step of the way he was right by my side, holding my hand, being my number one cheerleader and giving me the greatest support and strength! Now, I am not surprised ONE BIT at how great he was. However, he has a slight fear of needles. Ok, slight is a HUGE understatement. I got stuck with needles all morning... he never left my side. He was a champ! Haha he still says how amazing I did with the delivery but he is the reason I was able to do so well. He of course doesn't believe that but all you ladies who have given birth know just how important the solid support of a great partner is! So thank you Christopher.
When I received my epidural at 10am the nurse checked me and I was only at a 3. SLOW progress. I was so disappointed. BUT having the relief of the epidural allowed me to relax and simply accept it. And Chris and I were even able to get a little sleep.
12 noon, the nurse came in to check on my progress and I was at a 4. YAY! Progress is progress right?! She said that things might start moving faster now and I said ok, knowing that they probably wouldn't.
At 1pm she came back in, checked me out, and BAM... I was at a 9! I couldn't believe it! She started getting the room ready for delivery and said that we will probably be able to start pushing at around 2:30 and hopefully he would be born at around 4.
Well, at around 2 I called her back in because I was feeling really heavy back labor with no breaks between contractions. IT HURT! She said ok, lets get ready to push then.
2:15pm Pushing began. It took 45 min for him to crown and STAY crowned, stubborn kid! :)
3:00pm The Doctor came in and I started pushing for real.
3:11am Hudson was out and on my belly!! Tears could not be contained! Christopher and I had a son! A beautifully perfect baby boy! Chris cut the umbilical chord and did not leave his side as he got weighed and measured, tested for various things, and cleaned up a bit.
It is so amazing the love that we feel for this little ninja! I can't stop staring at him and kissing him. All day every day... he has me hypnotized!
And Chris... I honestly didn't think it was possible for me to love that man any more than I already did but when I see him with Hudson... the love I feel is over-whelming. It doesn't stop growing! He is so amazing with him... already having their nightly story time together. And diaper changes!!! Haha Chris JUMPS at the chance to change his diapers and give him sponge baths and do everything but feed him, which he would do if he could! :) What a fantastic father!
So that's the story! Sorry for the short novel. This is mostly for my journal so I had to be somewhat thorough.
Now here are the pictures! I apologize it has taken me so long to post these, I've been enjoying our time just the 3 of us in own little world together. Here he is...
Husdon Christopher - now one week and one day old.
