Birth Story (only a month late lol)

Blogging has been on the backburner my last few months of pregnancy and first month of parenthood but I wanted to share my son's birth story. It was a truly amazing experience.

James was born on July 30 at 10:53 am, weighed 7lb 7oz, 20.5 in long after about 8 hrs of active labor and less than an hour of pushing. It's been a busy, sleep deprived ride since but we are getting used to being parents although sometimes I can't believe I have a son. 

A few minutes after birth

 All week I was having some crampy feelings at the end of the day which I attributed to being tired from work/chores since it would be gone by morning. I had my 39w appt. on Thursday when she said I was about 1.5cm dilated and still thick - she said probably won't have baby soon so we'll schedule you for a NST and appt next week. 

Friday, July 29 I woke up and the crampy feeling hadn't left. I went to work like normal and felt a bit off all day and on/off cramping feeling. When I used the bathroom right before leaving for the day I had some pink tinged discharge that continued through the early evening. I called my mom who said it sounded like early labor, but I really didn't believe her lol. Did some stuff around the house, had dinner and took a nap. H got home from work at around 11pm and made eggs/bacon and I had a plate of food. My cramping was getting worse but not painful just annoying. I told H I thought maybe we would have the baby that weekend but it could be a while.

We went to bed around midnight and I dozed off for about an hour. Woke up and watched some tv and dozed until about 2 am when the cramping had turned into more consistent pain and wasn't letting me sleep. I got up and took a shower. After about 30 mins in the shower I got out and tried to watch more tv but the contractions were coming regularly and getting increasingly painful.  I figured it was time to start timing them just to see. 30 mins went by of regular painful contractions every 2-3 mins lasting a minute+ each. It was now about 3 am and I figured I better wake up H. We talked about it and decided to go to the hospital since the contractions were pretty close together and regular. 

Got to the hospital and they said I was between 2-3 cm but having such regular contractions they were going to admit me. We got settled in our room at about 4 am and H called family. Fast forward to about 6 am and the Dr came to check me. I was still 2-3 cms despite having regular strong contractions every 2-3 mins. I was feeling so discouraged since I fully intended to have a med-free birth. Dr basically said I needed to relax better and offered me pain meds which I denied and opted to take a shower. Another 30 mins in the shower and lots of painful contractions. I pretty much broke down at this point, between the pain and the sleep deprivation and the lack of progress I didn't think I'd get through labor without help. H was a rock - he kept insisting I could do it and just being super supportive of me. 

After getting out of the shower I asked the nurse what my options were besides an epidural. She explained the pain meds and I said I wanted to wait. At some point I found my groove. The tv was on the entire time but I stopped watching it or even being aware of H or the nurse checking on me. They dimmed the lights and I just stared at the floor and focused on my breathing. I didn't realize how much time had passed until the pain shifted into my thighs. The Dr came in at 9 am to check me and I was at 6 - woohoo!!! Progress! He guessed the baby would come sometime that afternoon (H asked lol). About 20 mins later I told H I thought I needed to go to the bathroom. Once on the toilet I felt the most overwhelming urge to push. I told H OMG I've got to push and he literally yelled HELP! for the nurse. 

The contractions were seemingly nonstop at this point but somehow I just didn't care because I was so focused on not pushing since I assumed I was still at 6. Nurse checked me and I was at 9! She stayed with me for the rest of my labor and was awesome helping me breath through the pain/pushing urges.

I layed on my side at this point (I had been sitting up in bed up until then) and made it through the final cm and they had me move to a modified squatting/sitting position to push.   Pushed for less than an hour and at the end Dr said - Reach down and pull up your baby. It was the most amazing feeling to pull him onto my chest. I am so glad I was successful in my goal to have an intervention/med free birth and H told me I was his hero after seeing how hard labor and delivery is for us ladies.

Overall it hurt more than I expected but it was so worth it! Here's some more pictures: