I will begin this post by saying that I am not going to write this for the faint at heart. So if you do not want to know the gory details of birth, then this post is not for you! (aka my brother)

I had been experiencing contractions for two weeks, but never consistent. They would become consistent, usually at night, and I would be ready to wake up Michael and head to the hospital, but then they would stop. At 38 weeks to the day I went to my OB and he said that I was dilated to 5 cm. He asked if I wanted to go to the hospital that day, but after finding out that my least favorite doctor was on call they day I told him I would wait, because he was on call the next day. I came home and told Michael that we would be having a baby tomorrow! The rest of that day I hung out on the couch so my labor would not progress any further. On 38 weeks and 1 day I knew it was the day to have a baby! Michael and I took Grace that morning out to breakfast to her favorite place, Chic-fil-a. (or in Grace language chic-chic) We also took a quick trip the grocery store to stock up the fridge for Grace and when we came home. After that I called my doctor's office and asked if I needed to head straight to the hospital or the office first. They wanted me to come and see first if I was really in "true" labor. The doctor in the office said I had not progressed from the day before, but felt very comfortable sending me on to the hospital if I felt I needed. I told him I was ready to have this baby today! So off we went, after a quick lunch. (With Grace I did not have time to eat lunch and she was not born until 10:30 that evening and I was starving!!! So I did not want that to happen again, because I did not know how long it would take for David Michael to make his entrance.) We made it to the hospital right after lunch and after checking in it was about 1pm. We made it to the room and met the most wonderful nurse, Amy. She immediately got me set up on fluid and monitors. After the monitor had been running for a while we discovered my contractions were coming at a very random rate, which I knew. I would have a contraction two minutes apart and then maybe not for twelve more minutes. At this rate we might not have had a baby for days. We made the decision to go ahead and break my water and begin pitocin.  At this point I was dilated to 6cm. It was not long after that my contractions became almost unbearable. They felt as if they were continual and never breaking. I immediately began asking my nurse if I could get an epidural. She came in and began the process, but when she asked me to sit up on the edge of the bed I looked up at her and said, "I can't because I am pushing". She looked at me as if I was crazy, but went ahead and checked to see where I had progressed. She immediately said, "get the doctor, this baby is coming"! Before I knew it my legs were up and the doctor, nurse and scrub tech were attending to me. I really did not have to be told to push, because it was involuntary.




 I did have to have another episiotomy because my doctor, Dr. Price,  was worried I was going to tear on my scar. The only pain medicine I had was a lot of lidocaine. I remember Amy saying, "Look David Micheal's head it out". The last thing I wanted to do was look down and see his head! I just kept saying, "I want him out"! It was VERY painful! Once I began pushing, it was not fifteen minutes later and David Michael was placed on my chest.


He and I were able to just sit there and cuddle for about thirty minutes. It was so nice to have some alone time before introducing him to the rest of the family. He immediately latched on and nursed like a champ. (I have been spoiled with two great eaters!) After all the family came in to meet our new addition, we were wheeled to our next room.

To be continued...