It's a BOY!

Here is Robbie's birth story:

The last couple weeks of pregnancy were aweful! I kept thinking I was in labour, yet they were only false starts. On September 21, my Doctor stripped my membranes and I thought it would for sure put me into labor. That evening, Doug and I went to the movie mill and watched Harry Potter. Through out the whole movie I was contracting. The contactions became painful and I was stoked - baby was coming...right? Well, after 8 hours of contractions, I took a bath and they went away. I was pretty discouraged. That following Sunday, I couldn't even sit at church - there was so much pressure and pain. The contractions came back and we decided to go to the hospital to see what was going on. I was 2 cm, but shortly after arriving at the hospital, my contractions died down. Again, I was feeling alot of disappointment. The following couple days were especially trying - I was just done! On Septemeber 28, the Doctor stripped my membranes again. I had dialed slightly - I was 2-3cm - but he said I was very soft. He figured I would go into labor that night, however I was doubtful. I really didn't want to get my hopes up again.

At 9:00pm that night, the contractions hit in an instant and they hit hard! Everyone had told me that when I was in real labor, I would know, and boy, were they right! We called my mom around 11:00 so she could come out and watch Nola for us to go to the hospital. We got to the hospital around 1:00am,they put me on the monitor and I was contracting every 3 minutes, with 60-90 sec contractions. I was still only 2-3cm, but I wasn't too concerned because this was the real thing. The nurse suggested I labor in the shower for a couple hours and then se'd check me again. After 2 agonizing hours in the shower, I was checked again....2-3cm. What the heck!?! The nurse continued to tell me this is common when you get your membranes stripped - to have intense false labor. I was about ready to kill her at this point. How dare she tell me this was false labor - it was the most intense thing in my life! I was also terrified - if false labor is this bad, how could I survive the real thing? Well, she gave me a shot of demerol and had the intentions of sending me home. Lucky for me (not) I had a reaction to the demerol and was shaking and jerking uncontrolably. Doug said it looked like I was severly handicapped. It was terrifying and I still felt every contractions. By 6:00am the medication wore off and they checked me again (still 2-3cm. I talked to my Doctor and told him I wanted a C-section, that I couldnt do this anymore. He got his nurse to schedule one for me for the following Monday, October 3, and told me if I come in over the weekend with contractions, I could get the C-section. This calmed me down a but and they sent me home. It was scary going home because I was still having contractions, but you gotta do what you gotta do!

Once we got home, I had a hot bath and then crawled into bed for a rest. Haha, yeah right!! After the bath, the contractions got even more intense (which I didn't think could be possible) and I couldn't handle them. At this point, I could barelt even breathe. The contractions were on top of each other and I felt like I was going to die. I called labor and delivery at 8:am and explained what was going on. They said all I could do is come in a get checked again. So we packed up again and headed back to the hospital. Both Doug and I were really cranky at this point - we had'nt slept all night and we were sure the hospital was just going to send us away again. The drive to the hospital was horrible!! Having a contraction in a moving vehicle, where you can't change positions was brutal.

Once at the hospital, I had the pleasure of having contractions in the ER while waiting to be admitted. I felt like such an idiot - dropping to my hands and knees and grunting through a contraction while strangers watch. Not my idea of fun. Once Doug wheeled me up to labor and delivery, I was checked and I had dialated!!! Yahoo! Progression!! I was 3-4cm and I was so happy! We had said we'd do a c-section, however with that little bit of dialtion came a huge boost in my confidence and moral. Also, I had an amazing nurse this time around and she gave me an amazing piece of advice. She told me that I need to own my contractions, not them own me. She also told me not to fear when one was coming, but to look at it as another one down and being that much closer to meeting baby. That helped SO much!! I found the only way I could cope with a contractions was to get angry and own it. After a handful of contractions we decided to go ahead and try to birth this baby!

At 11:30am, after 14 1/2 hours of hard, natural labor, I had an epidural and I was in HEAVEN!!! I have no idea why someone would pass that up - it was amazing. I literally felt nothing. I actually asked my nurse a couple times if I was still contracting, 'cause I couldnt feel anything. With the epidural, they gave me pitocin to keep the contractions coming. A couple hours in, the nurse cecked me and I was 5 cm. I was happy to hear some dialtion was happening. Later that evening, around 3:30pm, the nurse checked me again and unfortunatly, I was still 5cm. The nurse called my doctor and then preparing me for a c-section. I was so bummed...so bummed. I had one through all that labor, just to have another c-section? Yuck. But, it is what it is and we just had to deal with it. The nurse took me off the pitocin and we waited for the Doctor to come and see me. Shortly after I was off the pitocin, I started to shake. I figured it was due to nerves, but as much as I tried to breathe and calm myself down, I could not control the shaking. The Doctor showed up an hour later and gave me a quick check. Guess what? I was 10cm!!!! It had taken in ages to dialate to 5cm, and then I went to 10cm in an hour. We were so happy - I was going to be able to try to deliver! There was one small set back, however, I was still very numb from the epidural and the nurse wasn't sure how I was going to be able to push. The put me back on the pitocin and we waited for a half hour before we got down to business. Now, I truely believe that the Lord was looking upon me that evening, because in that half hour, the freezing began to wear off and I could start to feel my contractions again. I could do this! I could push the baby out!

At 5:00pm we started pushing. I felt no pain with the contractions, only pressure. To be honest, I really enjoyed the pushing part. My adrenaline was going and I knew meeting baby was right around the corner! The nurse was blown away at my ability to push! She actually had some other nurses come in and see because I was doing a good job :)

After an hour and half of pushing, at 6:35pm we heard what we have been waiting and WANTING to hear for the past 8 months - 'It's a BOY!' It was the mos amazing moment of my life! I did it! He's here! I'm not pregnant anymore!! Yahoo!

So thats my story! I am so glad its done - I dont ever wanna do that again.

Here are some pic's of our beautiful Robbie in the hospital :)