It's A Boy!

At 11AM on Friday, I started having contractions. They weren't bad. I was able to ignore the majority of them. I went about my business. At about 1PM, they started getting a little harder to ignore. They were 10 minutes apart. The whole time. I decided that if they hadn't stopped by 2PM, I'd call the OB nurse and let them know what was happening. In that time frame, David left for work. Well, 2PM rolled around and the contractions were still there, so I called. They suggested I try a warm bath and a glass of water and call back in an hour. Not a problem. I did it, and at 3:15PM, they still hadn't gone away. I called back, and they told me to come in. In I went. We stopped by my SIL's house and dropped off Ethan. He wanted to spend some time with Aunt Kim. I didn't have a problem with that. My MIL, Claire and I continued to the hospital. We got there at about 5:15PM. I went in, checked in and headed to OB. They checked me and I was 4-4 1/2. SCORE! LABOR! I called David at work, told him I was in labor and he headed towards the hospital. My doctor came in, confirmed I was in labor and they went ahead and broke my water. I looked at my belly and said, "Just stay in there 7 hours..7 more hours!"

At 8:30PM, my doctor came back, rechecked me and said I was 6. I opted to receive an epidural then. David and I chatted throughout the evening, checking the clock periodically. I was hoping for after 12AM, he was hoping for before. At 12AM, I was rechecked, and told I was a good 9. I opted to have my epidural turned off, so I would know when I needed to push. My legs were numb, but I still had pretty good control over what they were doing. At 12:30AM, my doctor came in, checked me and I was told I could start to push.

Pushing went so well. I was able to feel when I was having a contraction. It was painful, but it was not as painful as it was with Claire. And, the environment was so much more relaxed. My doctor and my nurses were laughing and joking the whole time, which really made me feel much more calm and relaxed. I was able to enjoy my birthing experience, which I feel made it that much easier. At 1:32AM, his head crowned. At 1:35AM, the rest of him was delivered and handed to me. So, he is a Halloween baby. Born at 1:35AM on 10-31-09. We named him Grayson Liam. He's 7lbs 8oz, and 20 1/4 inches long. And beautiful. So beautiful.

Grayson

My Ghostbuster meets his little brother.
Claire meets her new brother.