Last Wednesday I had my 39 week appointment with my Doctor. The week before I still had basically zero progress towards labor and he'd asked if I wanted to schedule a c section. Travis and I knew that a c section was very possible this pregnancy since Sam came that way and I couldn't be induced, but we were really hoping for a vbac. I told the doctor we'd wait another week to decide.
I was rather nervous going to this appointment. I had tried to not get my hopes up just in case nothing had happened, but the doctor was extremely positive and thought we should just wait.
Later that afternoon I started having contractions. Travis and I were just so hopeful that we wouldn't need a c section that we decided to go out to eat to celebrate. Let me tell you something, it's not the easiest thing in the world to act normal out in public when you're having slightly painful contractions.
I had no idea what labor would feel like. And people always say "you'll know when you're in labor." I think this is kind of a lie. I didn't get any sleep that night because of contractions. Around 1 or 2 in the morning they were so painful I was in tears and I still wasn't positive I was in labor. Travis was timing them and they were close together but not the most consistent. Finally, we decided we should just go to the hospital. We called Travis' brother and his wife at 3 in the morning and they graciously came quickly so that Sam wouldn't be left alone.
I was so afraid of being sent back home. I hear those stories all the time. "We thought we were in labor but the nurses told us to go home and wait longer." That just didn't sound fun. But I had a contraction right when we got there and they were convinced it was the real deal. I was so relieved.
I won't go into all the details of the rest of the morning's events. But I will say that getting an epidural was just plain awful. They told me it usually goes much smoother than mine did. But I had to get stabbed several times (I was in tears at this point because of the pain) and then it only numbed my right side, so I could still feel every single contraction on the left. I was nearly convinced that I would rather just have the pain on half of my body than try to get the epidural fixed, but Travis and the nurses convinced me otherwise.
Once the epidural was working correctly life was a breeze! I could've stayed in labor all day long!
It being my first time in labor I thought I'd be there at least all day. But once the doctor broke my water things moved fairly quickly. I also thought I'd have to push for 3 hours. Nope, just under 30 minutes. The whole baby popped out in one push, shoulders and all. Travis said the doctor wasn't expecting it but thankfully she caught him.
After the epidural wore off and I tried to get out of bed for the first time I decided a c section would have been the better option. I don't recall feeling such horrid pain. Once I was on meds life started to look a little more hopeful. Sleep helped with that as well. Travis was so helpful during the entire process and I'm glad to have him by my side always.
Regardless of the pain and sleeplessness and being overwhelmed we are so happy to have little Tyler here and so thankful that he is healthy and that we had a smooth delivery.
Now here's some photos from the past 6 days. (I can't believe it's already been that long.)
When Sam came in to meet Tyler, he said "take it back."
He has warmed up to him a bit more at home and will give him kisses as long as it's his decision. And he loves to be a little helper.
Here we go on our new adventure.
