Josh's Arrival Story

(Yes I know this is late but I thought I had put this up already...better late than never, right?)

I went to work Friday morning (5/8) not feeling great but just felt like my time was limited and I had things I had to do. I was only scheduled to be there from 8-1 (stayed till 2 but was busy the whole time). I left my office and ran to Wal-Mart to grab some last minute things I needed for the hospital and diaper bag for Josh (wanted to get it while I still had the energy). Got home and did some more work from the couch to tie up a couple more loose ends.

We had plans that night to do a belly cast & dinner with a couple of girlfriends but those plans fell through because one was feeling a little sick and the other was just running VERY late. So Rick and I decided to go have dinner at his parents house. After dinner I ran to the grocery store and got a couple of things we were running low on. I got home and Rick was mowing the lawn so I decided to take a walk to see if I could get things "moving".

FYI - the following info could be TMI for some...

Fast Forward to about 1am Saturday (5/9) when I woke up to pee and at this point I lost my mucus plug (They say it can happen many days before you go into labor as well) not really thinking anything of it I went back to bed. At about 2:30 while laying in bed I felt what felt like a water balloon pop in my stomach. I got up a couple mins later to go pee and returned to the bed and went to put my leg in bed when I felt a huge gush of liquid...I stood at the side of the bed for a second trying to comprehend what had just happened...I woke up Rick and told him my water broke we called the Dr. and because I was group b strep positive I had to go to the hospital at that point to get my antibiotics.

We arrived at the hospital at 3:15am on Saturday got "checked" in to our labor and delivery room and I got hooked up to all the machines and IV's. The on-call midwife came and checked me out and I was now only 1 cm (i was almost 3 on Wednesday) so I knew it was going to be a long day! We waited till about 7 am to call our parents and the two girl friends that were going to be in the room with us when we had Josh. People started showing up around 9am but we told them it was going to be a while so some stayed and some said they would come back later...At 7pm I was only 3cm (16 hours after I checked in) so we decided that we were going to need some help to get me moving...I got patocin (sp) at about 730 and at 1230 Sunday morning I was still only 3 almost 4 cm but was finally having consistent contractions. I received my epidural at 1am (or there abouts) and slept through every CM from 3 till 8...

I woke up at about 3:45 Sunday morning (5/10, Mothers Day) and was finally 8cm they continued to check my cervix until I was 10cm (5:05am). Once I hit 10 cm the midwife returned and we got ready. At this point the Epi had worn off enough that i was really feeling my contractions and not really enjoying life much. They don't tell you that it is going to wear off, I guess I understand why they let it but man some warning would have been nice! I think I finally started pushing at about 5:45 and an hour later (it felt like HOURS) out came Josh.
Everyone in the room (Rick, our friend Christine, & our moms) were all great...Rick and Christine kept cheering me on and letting me know when we could see the head. Rick was amazing through the whole thing, I couldn't have asked for a better husband :).

It was a long process but well worth it in the end! I have the most amazing little boy home with me who I never knew I could love so much! We are all doing great and are loving being home!