The day you were born..

*Warning! This is a birth story. Read at your own risk*

The days that my children were born were the best days of my life. The most painful, exhausting and wonderful days. I fear that I will forget those days or some small details, so here I type.

This is Caden's story.

I was due on July 10, 2007. My due date came and passed. I cried. At one day overdue, I went to my appointment. I was not dilated at all and 25% effaced. Caden was entirely too comfortable in utero. I was healthy and he was healthy so we set up an induction date for July 23. Yes, 13 days overdue! I cried.. again. Having an end in sight was nice though.

On July 12, the morning after my appointment, I woke up around 5:30 with a back ache. I didn't think anything of it so I went to pee for the 346th time since going to bed. As I sat on the toilet, I realized that the back ache was coming and going. Am I having contractions? Rob was getting ready to go to work so I called him into the bathroom and told him. We went downstairs and started timing contractions. I bounced on my work out ball and that helped. I thought that what I was feeling then was painful, but those contractions were like a nice walk in the park compared to what I would feel later..

After 4 hours, the contractions didn't go away so we went to the hospital to get checked out. We got there and I was dilated to a big ole 0 & 50% effaced, but I was having REAL contractions. The nurse came in and told me that I was entirely too happy to be admitted. Go home and walk.

I went home and tried to rest. Walking wasn't going to happen. The contractions were starting to become quite uncomfortable, plus Rob went back to work so his leave wouldn't start yet. My sister was in town, but she napped beside me while I contracted. The contractions were still coming and by the time Rob got home from work I was miserable. I wanted to go back to the hospital. Off we went..

It was about 7:30 p.m. at this point when we got back to the hospital. I believe, I was 1cm and 75% effaced so I was progressing although not enough to be admitted for labor. I wasn't laughing anymore like the first visit that day. The doctor that checked me explained that if I would stay in a bed right now, I would most likely end up with a c-section. He gave me some Ambien and told me that he would see me around midnight.

We went home where I took the Ambien and labored until about 1 a.m. At this point, I was delirious. Seriously, I felt like I was going insane. The pain was horrible. I had never planned to do this without drugs so I didn't know any breathing techniques or anything useful. I just fought it. I hated it! I told Rob to take me back to the hospital. I planned to walk in and demand help!

Back we went. They were expecting me to come back because they'd seen me two times that day already and I was in active labor. I have a tough cervix. It doesn't dilate easily at first, but once it does, it goes quickly. I think when they checked me again, I was 2 cm & 75% effaced. I wasn't far enough along to be admitted, but I demanded medicine. I was given an IV and morphine. Yes, morphine. At the time, I was delirious and didn't care. I wanted the pain to go away. I was so out of it that I thought we would be going home the next morning.

About 3:30 a.m., I woke up because I needed to use the bathroom. Remember, I'm on morphine, okay? In the bathroom, I thought I was having some "extra discharge" as I described it. No big deal. Go back to sleep. Fast forward a couple hours and I wake again to realize that my contractions are back even with the drugs and there is more of that "extra discharge". I looked down and called the nurse because I was pretty sure that my water broke. The midwife that told the nurse to send me home because I was too happy, checked me and said "Well, I guess you really are in labor."

It was 5:30 a.m. and we were officially having a baby. I wasn't going home. I was in real labor. The contractions were insane. My water broke and my body decided it was time to get this big boy out! I labored on the work out ball for hours, I'm assuming, but I don't really know. I do know that I wanted my epidural. Minus the short nap with the morphine, I had been up for 24 hours having contractions. I was just so very tired and worried that when the pushing point came, I wouldn't be able to physically push.

9:00 a.m., the most amazing man came in with the epi. I could have kissed his magical face! The epidural worked wonderfully. I received my cath and was checked. I was now 4 cm & fully effaced. Woohoo! Moving right along now. The nurse told me to get some rest and she would come check me at noon.

Noon rolled around and without fail, I was about to be checked. Our friends, Danielle & James were in the room so we asked them to leave. With a shocked look, the midwife asked me how far along I thought. I would be thrilled to be 7 since it was only 3 hours again. She said, "You're a 10! It's time to push." Freak-out mode. I jokingly (kinda) told her that I wasn't ready yet. She didn't find it very humorous. Rob or my sister told James and Danielle that we were going to have a baby! They were like, well, yeah, obviously that's why we here. Then Rob or Lindsay said "No, now!" All of the memories are foggy. It's been over 4 years.

Shortly after being checked, I started pushing. Inside of the room, was a doctor, a resident, 2 corpsman, a nurse, Rob, Lindsay, Danielle & of course myself & Caden. At that point, I didn't care. We were having a baby! I pushed & pushed for a little over 1 1/2 hours. During this time, I played tug-o-war with Julian, one of the corpsman. He promised me a big cheeseburger once I pushed the baby out. I didn't have the heart to tell him that I didn't eat meat. The doctors and nurses guessed that he would weigh about 6 1/2-7 lbs. Soon we would find out the size of this stubborn little man. I was very against Rob watching Caden crown or looking down during the labor, but like having people in the room, this would soon fade away. Birthing your baby is such a beautiful experience. I felt his head when he crowned and started crying instantly. Rob looked and had a huge smile. Our baby was really about to be here in our arms after this emotional marathon!

At 1:42 p.m., the most adorable boy alien was born. He was born pink, alert, screaming and sucking his fingers. The resident doctor held Caden up and I just cried, "my baby, my baby.." and only the second time I've ever seen Rob cry, he cried and repeatedly said, "Oh my God. Oh my God." It was amazing. Caden was placed on my chest and I just stared at him while he looked right into my eyes. I was completely engrossed in my newborn so I didn't notice the rushing around right away. I did realize that I was in pain again as they were pressing on my stomach trying to help me deliver my placenta. Caden was taken from me to be cleaned up and checked out. The doctor on duty started massaging my uterus because I was having some issues with bleeding. He applied some medicine internally. It didn't help. I don't really remember what was going on with Caden at this point, but Rob was with him so I knew he would be taken care of. I just didn't feel good and then I realized that the nurse was ordering more A+ blood. I started to panic. I just had a baby and my bleeding wouldn't stop. I could die. That was my first ever fear of death. I was just given this precious gift and my job was to nurture and protect him. I couldn't do that if I wasn't well. An injection was given in my thigh and the bleeding slowed down. I also nursed Caden as soon as he was brought back to me, which helped with the whole process. Although, I could have done without the bleeding issues, the first mama bear feeling was nice for the new bonding experience. Oh and to add one more person into our intimate experience was the janitor mopping up all of my blood. Later that day, I found out that I was anemic. My 6 1/2 lb to 7 lb baby was closer to almost 8 lbs. When he was born, the staff were shocked at his size even though he wasn't much bigger than average, I was hiding him well.

We stayed the mandatory 2 days then went home. Other than some bleeding issues that resulted in me going to the ER at 4 days postpartum, some weight loss on Caden's part and acid reflux, we survived. :)