I can't believe that it has been a year!

A year ago I was sitting in the hospital wanting to go home and start our new life with our newest addition. When I think about it now it just feels like he has always been here. On November 13, 2007 I felt as it might be the day but I wasn't going to say anything to anyone or say it out loud after I had been to the hospital a week prior on a false alarm. So that morning I went to the school where I was doing my practicum to talk to my teacher about my lesson plan that I would be presenting the next day. That afternoon I went about running errands as I usually did. Steve was flying that day but was coming home early to go with me to my final OB appointment. At 3:15 the contractions started. I had been having contractions for the last couple of days but these were finally coming at a regular rate. They were all ten minutes apartment. Steve went into cleaning mode and straighting because we had a feeling that we might not be coming home after the appointment. The contractions did NOT feel good. Steve keep track of the contractions has a stood cringing against the wall. We got in the car for my appointment at 4:15 after packing the car just in case! We decided to call the parents on our way and told them that we would call them after the appointment to let them know what was going on.

We went into our appointment and I told the doctor that the contractions we ten minutes apart and she told me the disappointing news that they were not going to send me to the hospital unless they were five minutes apart and that I should go home and "try" to get some rest. She then checked to see if I was dilated and told me that I was only 1 cm. I was ready to cry and looked at Steve with disappointment. I was so uncomfortable and ready to have this baby. But as soon as the doctor delivered the news to us she noticed that my water might have broke. She did a quick check and sure enough it had! She told us we had to go to the hospital and that she would call ahead and they would have a room ready when we arrived.

We left the doctors office to drive the 15 minutes to Sacred Heart and called everyone on the way. Steve's parents got in the car and started driving down. My parents on the other hand I had a problem get a hold of. I finally got a hold of my Dad who then got a hold of my Mom. She was going to teach a quilting class and could not get a flight out. Side note: I was suppose to be induced on the 19th and this was the 13th. Everyone was going to be coming in the weekend of the 17th and 18th so that they would all be here. So we made it to the hospital and my room was ready to go. Here we go!

I checked into the hospital at about 5:30 and I was feeling good, nervous, and excited about what was about to happen. They gave me an IV and patocin to help the labor along. Now that my water had broke I was at rest for infection and so was the baby. I labored through the pain but I was ready for my epidural when I was about 5 cm it was about 9:00. I was really ready about an hour earlier but my blood work had not come back so they were unable to give it to me yet. They offered me a little something to take the "edge off" through my IV and I took it. And just a note to myself for the future...I hated it. It made me feel like I had 26 margaritas. The room was spinning and since I was still experiencing the contractions it was too much to handle. But I was so surprised that the epidural didn't hurt as much as I thought that it would but I am sure that in comparison to what the contractions were like this was nothing. Now I was really ready and feeling great. Jackson keep trying to give us all a scare by letting his heart rate drop. They put me on oxygen and had me lay on my left side. After seeing Jackson and holding him and see that he already had a grip I think that he was gripping onto his umbilical and clenching onto it.

Steve had a small bench on the side of my room and we both tried to catch a nap and were successful most of the time unless the nurse came into to check the progress. By 1:00 am it was time to push after pushing for 2 hours Jackson finally made his debut at 3:06am, weighting in at 8 lbs 5 oz and 21 inches long. We made our phone calls to the parents and my mom asked does he have any hair...no...and he still doesn't. :) The nurses also told us that he was a big baby for someone that was 5 days early. They later told me after checking him out and seeing how scaly he was (dry skin on hands and feet) that he was really probably 2 weeks past due. No wonder I was so miserable!

I am sure that most people don't really care about this but I wanted to remember it and I was afraid that I would start to forget it.