Fast forward to May. Our anniversary and Stephen's birthday passed. Then on May 23 (the day before my birthday) I started having real contractions. (I calculate realness of contractions on whether they are painful or not.) They lasted off and on all day until I went to bed that night but weren't consistent. At that point, I assumed it would happen on my birthday or within a few days of it.
Tired of playing the waiting game, I started drinking the red raspberry leaf tea and upping my physical activity. People would give me their advice on what worked for them and I would do it and think "Okay, this is it!" then nothing would happen. On June 1st, I was completely over being pregnant in every way. Everyday five new lines would appear on my belly. I decided it just wasn't going to happen unless I kicked it into high gear. The full moon was coming and I just knew this baby was going to get out one way or another on June 2nd.
My mom was in town waiting for the babe to make an appearance so we walked all around downtown. I thought it would surely get something going, at least some Braxton's. Nothing. So that evening I turned on Just Dance and moved my groove thang. I found "Sexy and I Know It" and decided that if anything was going to put me into labor, dancing to that song was it. I gave it all I had until I was too exhausted to move.
Around 11pm when everyone was in bed, I started contracting. This was it. I didn't tell anyone because I didn't want to jinx it. I stayed up all night to time the contractions. They started to get painful and five minutes apart around 4 am so I woke my mom and Stephen shortly after.
On the drive to the hospital, the pains were becoming intolerable. By the time we checked in, I was blinded by pain and definitely wanted the epi. (Up until the hard contractions I was going to try au naturale.)
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| ISAAC'S FIRST PICTURE |
They gave me the epidural around 7am. People say you can't feel it but you can, it just isn't as bad as the contractions. The worst part about the hospital experience was the IV. I am so squeamish when it comes to blood drawing or anything vein-y. Everything happened so fast and felt like a dream because I had been awake for over 24 hours already. It was a little before 11am that I started pushing. The OB wasn't there yet but I did three solid pushes and the nurse made me stop because it was only going to take a couple more.
The head was nearly right between my legs. I wanted to meet my baby so bad that it seemed like forever before the doctor finally came in. I gave about three more pushes and little Isaac made his appearance at 11:23am.
He was all gooey and puffy. I didn't cry like all the other mothers do when they hold their child for the first time. I was in disbelief. I could not believe he was actually here and I was going to take him home and care for him. I quieted his screams by shushing him and kissing his tiny, slimy head. He finally calmed down and I lead him to my breast to nurse. He latched immediately. I expected it to be awkward but it was just perfect. I was in love.
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| DADDY AND ISAAC |
