After a fun birthday celebration one day early on Monday (Tyler
had the day off) we went to bed and Tyler fell asleep. I, on the other
hand, at around 10:30-11pm started
feeling contractions. At first I wasn't sure if I was in labor or not
because I knew my water hadn't broken and I thought maybe I had food poisoning
from the restaurant we had eaten at for lunch the day before. I also
thought it was too much of a coincidence for the baby to be born on my birthday
because we had been joking about it for so long. After figuring out that
they were coming every 10 minutes for an hour, I was convinced and woke up
Tyler. It was funny because he kept repeating "really?" in such
a confused half-asleep way.
We started timing the contractions which were
getting closer together pretty quickly. I called the hospital and they
said to come in when they were coming every 2-3 minutes for 2 hours. We
make it to the hospital at about 2:30am. I get checked and I am dilated 4-5 cm. They got
us to a room and the hours of contractions began. Looking back, I don't
know how I got through it. It was very painful, but what helped was
having Tyler there counting down each contraction, telling me there was only so many
seconds left. Around 5 in the morning, I was feeling exhausted so I slept
between contractions for the rest of the time (believe it or not). It was
confusing because I would wake up in excruciating pain and then deal with a
contraction, fall instantly back asleep, and dream even if I had only been
asleep 2 min or a few seconds.
At some point they told me I was 8 cm
dilated and broke my water for me (which actually didn't hurt). I was
feeling pretty good because I thought the time was near, but the pain was
getting really tough to deal with. I asked for pain medicine they could
put in my IV. (I really didn't want an epidural) I ended up getting 4 doses
over the rest of the time but the nurse said that the trick was it became
gradually less effective with each dose. Around noon they checked me again and I was still
at 8cm. Tyler felt a discouraged because he thought the baby would have been born by 5am! But I knew the baby would be born soon.
Around 2pm I
had to pee so Tyler helped me to the bathroom. I had two contractions
while in the bathroom and all of a sudden I had the greatest need to push
because I could feel the baby coming. I told Tyler to get the nurse
quickly. The midwife and a bunch of nurses came in and told me I couldn't
have the baby on the toilet so they made me go back to the bed. I begged
them to let me push, they said not yet.
I was pretty hysterical at this
point and they get everything all set up and finally I started pushing.
It felt like an out of body experience because it hurt soooo badly but at
the same time I almost couldn't feel it because I needed to get the baby out.
I pushed for 13 minutes and then little Andrew was born. When we
saw him, we both thought he was the most perfect baby we had ever seen.
It was a very emotional moment to meet him for the first time. I was very sore for a few days but I seem to be
recovering very quickly. I really never understood how you could love a
baby so much, but I cannot even express in words how much I love our little
baby. Everything I went through was worth it to bring our son into the
world!
7 lbs 1 oz - 20 1/4 inches - born at 2:14 PM
All cleaned up!
The happy Mommy
Daddy glad to finally be able to hold his little guy
He has such a cute little face
Tyler bought roses the day before we went to the hospital. He was planning on making me breakfast in bed and giving the flowers to me on the morning of my birthday but we had to adjust our plans a little! They got a little dried out sitting in the car all day as I was in labor, but they are still beautiful
Andrew all bundled up in his car seat
Leaving the hospital
Colorado has big thunderstorms almost every afternoon during the summer. There was lots of lightning on the drive home but as we arrived and were unloading the car, the skies parted and the sun shined down
Those thunderstorms really helped our plants grow in the garden. This zucchini was about ready to be picked before we left for the hospital, and when we got home a few days later it was as big as the baby!
Andrew's aunt and uncle Lissa and Jason surprised us with delicious treats from Edible Arrangements!
So cute with his little eyes open
Baby yawn!
All bundled up like a little pea in a pod
My mom flew out to meet the little guy and help mommy and daddy take care of him the first few days. He loves his Grandma Judd so much!
We couldn't resist having a newborn baby photo shoot. We had lots of fun finding things to use as props to make cute pictures.
The hospital gave us a little camouflage baby onesie. How could we NOT take a picture like this?
More cute stuffed animals from his Great-grandma Tuell
He slept for most of the pictures
Mommy and baby resting after a busy day of taking pictures
We sure do love our little Andrew Graham Carson!
