30 Day Challenge- Day 4 Little L's birth story

Ok so it seems like we are going in a certain direction for now, so I will keep going with that and today I am remembering the day my precious Little L was born. :)

Little L's due date was June 26, 2009. I was looking forward to the end of the school year and having almost a month to get the nursery ready, relax and just spend time with my hunny before our world changed. We also planned on getting married before he was born, found out when my dad could be down here and made all of the arrangements with the court house. (Fancy huh?) I am assuming the Little L heard of our plans and decided he wanted to join in the fun.
May 25th (I was 35 weeks and 4 days along) was Memorial day so I didn't have to work. M and I spent the day at my mom's house, swimming and having a cook out. I remember talking to her and telling her I was afraid that when I went into labor I wouldn't actually know I was in labor. My mom reassured me and said I would know. (haha if she only knew.) I also told her that day that I was tired of being pregnant. That was the FIRST and only time I ever said those words during my pregnancy. Other than being nauseous in the beginning and having heart burn it was a relatively easy pregnancy. That night we went to M's parents house to visit as well. I had started feeling kind of crampy but they were more like period cramps so I thought nothing of them, just that I was uncomfortable. We finally made it home and went to bed. I had work the next day and M had to drive to Tampa for a PT test, REALLY early in the morning.
I ended up getting up to go to the bathroom around 2:30 or 3am and felt a weird sensation when I peed. All I kept thinking was "no, it can't be my water breaking, it's too soon." So I went back to bed. However, I kept having to get up to go to the bathroom and kept wetting my pants. (sorry for the TMI) I wasn't feeling any real "contractions" (or what I thought contractions should feel like) so I kept going back to bed and decided I would go into work and get a substitute for the afternoon and call my OB once the office opened in the morning.
Well, that plan didn't work out as well as I had hoped. M finally got up and was getting ready, I went to the bathroom, yet again. He asked me if everything was ok (he claims he said this because I didn't say anything to him when I walked into the bathroom and I always do, so he thought something was wrong), that's when I burst into tears and said "I think my water broke, but I'm not sure." I think I got a blank stare for awhile before he jumped into action. He called the person he was supposed to meet in Tampa and rescheduled his PT test. Then he sat down and googled "how do you know when your water broke?" We finally decided that it probably did and we should go to the hospital just in case. We figured they would probably send us back  home, but M packed our bags just in case. (The funny side note to this is that night was supposed to be our last Lamaze class and we were supposed to bring a packed bag for the hospital to share, I figured I would pack something when I got home from work....I guess not)
M drove us to the hospital, and I swear he was driving REALLY fast, he told me not to worry that if he got pulled over the cop would understand. Ha! Ok. We get to the hospital and neither one of us can remember how to get to Triage from our tour last week. We finally find the front desk and they direct us where we needed to go. We get up there and the not so nice lady looks at me funny when I told her I think my water broke. She looks up my name and couldn't find my records because I was not far enough along for my OB's office to have sent my chart over. Wonderful huh? The lady also didn't believe me because I wasn't due for at least another month. So she did the little test to check if my water broke.....that's when her eyes got all big and said "yup, your water broke. Let me call your doc". Oh lovely! I'm a planner and this kid wasn't following the plan.
They finally admitted me and by the time I was all hooked up to everything, my labor stopped. Ugh! That's when they gave me the lovely pitocin. I swear if I ever meet the person who invented it, I might strangle them. That just makes every contraction that much worse. After awhile the nurse said the OB doc who specializes in high risk pregnancies was going to come and see me. Now mind you, I'm already freaking out because this isn't how it's supposed to happen, plus I was so scared for how bad delivery would hurt. So, in walks this man, looks at my due date and says to me "well, we will only keep you for a day or two, but your baby will have to stay in the hospital until his due date. Any questions?" I break down right there! Are you kidding me?? You want me to leave my baby hear and go home? I don't think so buddy! M had to ask him to leave and he finally did. After that the nurses gave me some pain meds, which thankfully calmed me down so I was able to fall asleep. I went between sleeping and awake until I was 4 cm and they could give me the epidural. I got my epidural and It. Was. Amazing! I couldn't feel anything. I was stuck at 4cm FOREVER. M's mother brought him dinner (those in labor can't eat, very unfair if you ask me) and I wanted my mom there if his was going to be there. So, both of our mothers came. The nurse checked me at 8:30pm and I was STILL at 4cm. M left to go eat his dinner, that was when I started to feel this intense pressure down there. I told the nurse and they sent the anesthesiologist in, she said I shouldn't be feeling anything and that it would probably go away once I changed positions. She also said because I had been born with spina bifida that the epidural might not work the best. So we tried changing positions and it is not easy when you can't feel your legs and you're hugely pregnant. Well, the pressure didn't go away. M came back from eating and I was having a hard time with the contractions. He had to ask one of the nurses to check me again, this was around 9:00 and I had fully dialated!!! Holy cow, from 4 to 10cm in a half hour!!!! At this point I start feeling like I had to push, I told one of the nurses this and she told me to wait, hold it the doc wasn't there yet. Really?!?! You want me to stop what my body is doing naturally to wait for the doc? I was really afraid he wasn't going to make it in time. Thank goodness he did. After about 5-7 pushes Little L made his debute into this world. He was born at 9:18pm on May 26, 2009. He weighed 5lbs 15oz and was 19 3/4in long. They checked him all out and he was perfect. He had no issues with breathing or anything else. He was able to come up to the Mother and baby unit with us. I was so happy that he was perfectly healthy.
We made it up to the mother and baby unit by around 11 and M pulled out the chair/cot thing and promptly fell asleep. I however had a really hard time going to sleep that night. I was too darn happy about our little family.
I have to say that M was AMAZING that day. (Of course I think he's pretty amazing most days) He was by my side every moment. He calmed me down every time I started to freak out and he was the one to make sure I got everything I needed. He even made sure the nurses cleaned Little L off before handing him to me. (I know some people think I'm silly for doing that, but it's what I wanted and it made that first skin to skin contact amazing for me) He was the best person in the world to have there with me and I am so thankful he was able to share in that special day. He was and is my rock and he is an amazing husband and father.

First family pic, I'm really tired...can ya tell?

Little L and me two days old

Daddy kissing Little L

I hope you enjoyed Little L's birth story. Sorry if it was a little long, it sure was a long day that day :) If you would like to join in the 30 day challenge, just pick a theme and link up with Eat, Pray, Love...LIVE!