Birth Story and Brendan Mania :)

WARNING: This is a LONGGG post!

I wanted to update while I have a chance - Toots is taking a little nap right now. I'm going to put my birth story in here. If you don't like reading that stuff, feel free to skip to the end for some pictures :) I just always enjoyed hearing people's experiences, so that's why I'm including it.

Tuesday night, we went to bed at around 11:00 and were talking about what we were going to do the next day. Tim was thinking the baby might make his arrival on Thursday so he was going to get a haircut Wednesday and I was going to bathe and groom Tucker. I woke up at 4:00 AM to my phone ringing and it said "Private Number" so I didn't answer (I get calls like that sometimes randomly - I think maybe because I still have a College Station number so I might be getting drunk dialed). I went to the bathroom and got back in bed and was thinking that I thought Toots would be born on a day where he didn't have the hiccups. Right after I thought that, he got the hiccups! He had them for about 20-25 minutes and then stopped. Shortly after they stopped, I got a realllly intense pain my lower uterus/groin area. My whole uterus got hard so I thought it might be a contraction. I stayed awake to pay attention and had another one about 5 minutes later and then another 5 minutes after that. They were extremely intense - felt like someone was stabbing me in the groin area and it was hard to breathe.

I didn't want Tim to get up if it was a false alarm, so I got up and put some pants and a long-sleeved shirt on to go out into the living room to get on my computer to time them on The Bump's Contraction Counter. He woke up and I told him my stomach was hurting so I was going to go in the living room. I timed the contractions for 30 minutes and they were 4.5-5 minutes apart, lasting about a minute each. I knew this was the real thing (doctor said to go to the hospital when they were 5 minutes apart, 1 minute each, for 1 hour) so I went to wake up Tim. I told him I'd been having contractions 5 minutes apart for 30 minutes and he needed to get up. He flew out of bed and we started getting the last-minute stuff together and getting dressed while I kept timing. He came out to help me time and they go to be about 3 minutes apart at a little less than 20 more minutes of timing so we decided we better leave then.

My contractions were KILLING me on the way to the hospital. We got there and they got me hooked up and got me to change into a hospital gown. The nurse did a quick internal on me and said I was 5 cm dialated (remember, I was 3 cm on Monday, two days earlier) and told us we could let everyone know we weren't leaving. She also had stuff drip off her hand and thought my water broke, but the test came back equivocal, so she wasn't for sure. I felt a gush not too long after that and they decided it probably had broken or was at least leaking. I had to answer a bunch of questions between contractions and I was really anxious to get to the labor and delivery room so I could get my epidural. I was starting to get nauseous when I had my contractions and really didn't want to barf on myself while waiting!

At about 6:45-7:00, I got in the labor and delivery room and met the nurse that would be helping us. She ordered my epidural and the anesthesiologist got there pretty soon after that (I can't remember exactly the time). The epidural didn't hurt at all but the numbing medicine they give you before hand hurt really bad to me. They said it would feel like a bee sting, but it felt more like a "pop" on my back to me and I jumped and started shaking really badly. It was TOTALLY worth it, though, when it kicked in and that's when I updated here on the blog that I was in labor and also updated facebook. My contractions had gotten to be 2 minutes apart before the epidural but they slowed to about 6 minutes apart once I got it.

Soon after I got the epidural, the doctor came in to check me and said I was 8 cm dialated! I couldn't believe I had dialated so quickly in such a short amount of time. He had to do a surgery at about 9:00 and said he thought I would have the baby by noon. He came back about 9:30 and checked me again and said we were ready to push right then. I had a little bit of water left, so he broke it the rest of the way and left for a little bit while I started pushing. The pushing was pretty intense but luckily after the first or second round, I was able to feel the pressure to push even though nothing was hurting because of the epidural.

The doctor came in about 10:00 to start the "real" pushing and birthing process. I pushed for about 20 more minutes and Toots was born at 10:23 AM! Like I said before, he weighted 7 lbs, 9 ounces and was 19 3/4 inches long. He didn't seem to have much hair at first - hardly any on top and some brown around the sides and back - but today it looks like he has a little more and it's just lighter on top. Toots barely got out of me before he was crying and crying. Tim cut the cord and was an awesome support the entire time - he never got sick or anything, which we worried about a little.

The nurse told me that my labor was approximately 5 hours and 40 minutes from start to finish and that was almost unheard of for a first baby. Also, I only had to push for about 1 hour or a little less and that was also extremely rare for a first timer. She told me I was "made to have babies" haha. I got really lucky with everything and still want to have the 3 more kids I wanted to have before this one :) I had a 1st degree tear, so I had to get some stitches but the doctor said it wasn't bad at all. I actually thought the most uncomfortable part was delivering the placenta (gross, I know).

We ended up getting to come home Thursday afternoon, so I only had to stay at the hospital about 36 hours or so. The first night wasn't too bad but last night we didn't sleep hardly at all. I thought Toots wasn't getting enough milk from me because he started crying about every 20-30 minutes and I thought he wanted to eat everytime but he ended up having a lot of gas this morning and the pediatrician said it was probably from that that he was waking up and he just took my breast because babies always think they want to eat when their tummy doesn't feel well. He is down to 7 lbs 2 oz from his original birth weight but my milk should be coming in at any time now and he'll start to gain it back.

Now, here's what you really want - some pictures!


First time I saw him after he was born

Close up of brand-new Thorne

The new family :)

Ride home from the hospital in his cute little outfit. Of course, it had to be practically the coldest day in 4 years or something like that!

Today, half-way snoozing on CiCi's shoulder (my mom).

This one is kind of blurry and not the best shot, but here is Tucker's new shirt to announce his new status in the family. It said "only child" and that is crossed out and it now says "BIG brother." He is a little unsure about Toots and gets upset when he cries very loudly, but last night was way better than the first night as far as his level of being upset by the crying, so we're thinking he's getting used to him.

Hope y'all are having a wonderful weekend! If I left anything out or you have any questions, please let me know and I'll do another post (soon, hopefully!).