I have always heard child birth is something you will never fully understand until you experience it for yourself and I can now officially say, I 100% agree! I'll take you back to November 19 when I had my second to last prenatal visit, 1 day before my due date, in hopes that they would say I was dilated more than 2 cm and that I would be induced on my due date. Unfortunately, Baby Boy was not ready to come, however we were able to schedule our induction for November 27th, if he had not made his appearance on his own before then. The days passed and we got through Thanksgiving, then we got through the Carolina-Clemson game{which the Gamecocks won!} and I was convinced after the nail-biter of a game we experienced, if I had not gone into labor from that, we weren't going to meet our little man until I was induced Tuesday morning. We had an appointment scheduled for Monday November 26th, for my last prenatal appointment, to see if I had progressed at all and again, in hopes that they would just send me to the hospital. Monday morning, I woke up with signs of labor at 5:45 am and freaking out, I frantically woke Alex up and told him but I ended up lying on the couch and waiting until our appointment at 10:45, which seemed like FOREVER! We headed to my appointment and was put on a monitor to track my contractions and they were 5-7 minutes apart. The doctor checked me and I was 3 cm dilated, however, Dr Ridenhour(the doctor on call) told me she wouldn't be surprised if she saw me later that day at the hospital. Frustrated at the news that we were so close yet so far, we left the doctor's office and came home. My poor husband came down with a cold/sinus issue THE DAY BEFORE we were about to welcome our son, so he took some meds and went to bed while Mom and I ran some errands to get things off my mind and hopefully put me into labor. The doctor told me to track my contractions and call if they got to every 5 minutes, so as were in the car, I experienced my first contraction and then another and another all within 5 minutes, some 4.5 minutes and some 3 minutes. We called my sister who has become the expert at having babies and she said to call the doctor and let them know. After a quick call back to the doctor, within maybe 2 hours of leaving the doctors office, we were headed back in! Having to wake Alex up, he met me and Mom at the doctor's office and the doctor checked me. Dr. Ridenhour said, "You're 5 cm, I think it's time to head to the hospital" and I wish I had a camera to capture Alex's eyes when he heard her say those words. HILARIOUS! I was wheeled over to the hospital at 5:19 pm and was admitted to the hospital to HAVE OUR BABY!!! After getting hooked up to the IV and talking with the nurse, she said that I was way too calm to already be 5 cm and not in much pain. I was debating on not getting the epidural because my contractions weren't that bad and I could tolerate the pain. I was more worried about feeling the epidural being injected into my back{not cool!} but after a while, I decided to get the epidural before it was too late, which later proved to be in my best interest! Every 2.5 hours, the nurse would come check me and unfortunately, I was only progressing 1 cm each time. My entire family got things together and headed to the hospital as soon as they heard I was going in and we had a room full of waiting and waiting! Some stayed in the room, and others went in the waiting room and slept as we got well into the night. After 12.5 hours of being in the hospital, it was finally time to start pushing! HOORAY! I was going in expecting to push for 30 minutes, maybe an hour. Our sweet little boy just couldn't make his way out and after THREE{3} LONG HOURS of pushing and help from a vacuum suction, at 9:24 am Mak made his entrance into this world! I can't even remember the last 2 hours of me pushing, and I had to receive some oxygen and Baby Boy's heart rate was dropping after every contraction I had. They immediately took him to get oxygen and drain some fluid he got after being stuck for so long and sent him to the NICU. All I remember was praying to God he would take care of our precious Baby Boy, as I watched my husband stare at all the nurses giving our son oxygen. We didn't hear him cry when he was born and it took a while before we heard the smallest of cries from him before Alex went with the nurses to the NICU. We were told he could be in the NICU for 6-8 hours or for the entire stay but they just didn't know. God was watching over us and our son, because at 12:00 Alex and I were allowed to go see Mak for the first time and hold him. The moment I held that sweet boy, it's like he knew exactly who I was and all was okay. We are thanking the Good Lord Above for watching over our little miracle, and at 1:30 just 4 hours after he was born, he was in our room with us and never left! Child birth is seriously an oxymoran, its the most painful thing I have ever gone through yet the most rewarding thing I have ever gone though. Right after Mak was born and I had pushed for 3 grueling hours, I looked at Alex and told him this might be our only child, but quickly changed my mind as soon as I held our sweet baby boy! All the pain in the world couldn't overtake the love I have for my son. My poor family waited and waited, slept and slept{in the hospital room and waiting room} all night and morning long, and we can't thank them enough! We were so fortunate to have them there with us even if they stayed there for 16 hours! We had a great hospital stay and left the hospital on Thursday November 29! Below are some pictures taken from his birth and throughout our hospital stay! {WARNING: PICTURE OVERLOAD!}
 |
| 4 hours old! |
 |
| Going Home! |
