I don't remember much of March before the 7th. I think the birth of Christian casts a shadow over whatever mundane memories I would have. I do know that Dan and I were having problems sleeping. I was SO uncomfortable. I'm not sure if he was sick or just empathizing with me. Anyway, on March 7th we went to see the doctor for what turned out to be the last appointment with her. She let us know that Christian was about 8 pounds already! So she proceeded to 'strip my membranes' (if you are curious, look it up on babycenter.com). It is a method of induction that only works if your body is ready to start the labor process. It turns out that my body was half ready to participate. After this visit, Dan returned me to work. But I didn't feel quite right. Because of this I started researching what the procedure was and understood that I could possibly be experiencing the beginnings of labor. I left early that day. We went to Best Buy to look at laptops, but I got so cranky that we drove home. I took a nap.
I don't remember what else we did that night before going to bed. I do know that Dan took some NyQuil and not even a half an hour later my water broke.
After my water broke, we showered, ate, packed up what remaining items we needed. We looked around and thought something like, 'when we return, we will have a baby with us!' and 'Our lives will never be the same!'
On the way to the hospital we called both of our parents and friend from our small group, and she in turn would spread the news. We valeted the car, checked in and sat awhile before being admitted to the first room. There the nurse ran some tests to determine if my water in fact had broken (I was like - look around lady!) and then we were ushered up to labor and delivery.
I didn't start contracting on my own and so received Pitocin to induce contractions. This made the labor intense really fast. I tried hard for 6 hours to endure the contractions, but there was no dilation happening. SO I asked for the epidural, which I was on from 9am to around 9:30pm or pm when I started pushing. During the day, I didn't feel much because of the drugs, but when the dilation was almost at 10 I could feel Christian descending. Then no matter how much I pushed the button for more drugs there was no relief! Thankfully he was descending and I was dilated. I just needed to push! And push I did - for an hour and a half. The OB yelled at Dan to grab my leg and participate. He pushed too!
To make the long story short (too late!) Christian was born at 11-ish pm on March 8. He was 19.5 in and 8.2 lbs. He was a big baby - didn't look that fragile. The hospital stay was a weird experience - coming off the drugs, being in pain, having a BABY! in my life, friends and family visiting, trying to take showers with rubbery legs, etc. I'll spare you:)
The ride home was sweet. Dan narrated to Christian the whole way. When we arrived at home, he gave him a tour. Proud papa!
And then came the crying. ALL NIGHT. But it's wonderful - please have children! hehe
The rest of March is a blur of nursing, healing, family and friends visiting, Easter, pictures being taken, winter breaking, and crying (Christian!).
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