He's HERE!!

Warning: Mitch's pictures of my c-section are included...

Well, I guess i'm updating a little late! We had our baby on Tuesday evening!! He wasn't due until today, but we're just in love with him and i'm SOOO glad I didn't have to be pregnant for the rest of the week!!

I'll try to do a quick, Reader's Digest version of the story...with pictures, of course!

I woke up with contractions at about 5:45 am on Tuesday. I'm sure I slept through about an hour of them before that; I kept getting up to go to the bathroom and then realized they were contractions, not bathroom urges! I woke Mitch up at 6:15, after i'd timed one or two of them. There was a consistent three minutes between them. I called the midwife and she confirmed I was in labor and told me to take a shower then head to the hospital. Mitch grabbed the bags, installed the carseat base (oh yeah...we thought ahead!) and scraped snow/ice off the car windows...yeah, we live in the arctic.

We got to the hospital later when they checked me I was only at a THREE after eating breakfast there and walking around for about an hour. The contractions were getting stronger and more intense. They gave me morphine (it was AMAZING! I could almost sleep through the contractions!) and let us rest. When the morphine wore off I was only at a four...ugh...and the midwife came in and brought me to the jacuzzi. Oh it was WONDERFUL! It actually helped lessen the pain of contractions, too!

Mitch was a champ through everything. He was SO good, helped me breathe, gave his hands to me to squeeze, and helped me focus. It was great. I really don't know what I would have done without him.

Nathan's heartbeat had a baseline of 140 bpm the entire time, which they said was great. I was in the jacuzzi having his heart monitored every half hour by the midwife, Rachel. The second time Rachel listened to his pulse it had dropped to just above 100 bpm. She took us back to the room and measured me. I was only at a 5 1/2!! Ugh! (Earning every centimeter slowly!) She broke my water so she could put a heart monitor on his head. All these nurses and people rushed in and pushed Mitch out of the way. I remember two things: 1) worrying about Nathan and 2) seeing the poor, helpless look on Mitch's face and seeing him trying not to cry. It broke my heart! I was only scared for Nathan, but he had to be scared for the both of us!! I swear my heart grew for him 1000 times!!

Rachel called in the on-call OB/GYN from their practice and he recommended an epidural in case a c-section was needed (it would make it a non-emergency as opposed to an emergency cesarean). I took the epidural. At this point the contractions were completely unbearable. I was pretty embarrased; I usually have a really high pain tolerance. I wanted a natural birth and thought i'd have a better handle on the pain. It was horrible trying to sit perfectly still through the epidural while contracting. Luckily I didn't feel them give me even the numbing shot (I HATE needles!! It's more of an anxiety thing...) because of the contraction. Anyway, they watched his heart for about half an hour to make sure it was stabilizing. It did for about ten minutes, then plumetted to about 56 bpm.

The ob/gyn measured me and found I was at a 9-9 1/2 and 100% effaced. He had me start pushing to try and move the rest of the cervix so he could do a vacuum or forcep delivery. He wanted Nathan out ASAP, and there was no time to waste! His heart rate kept dropping, down to about 50, and mine was shooting up and reached about 160 (or so Mitch says...I wasn't paying attention to my monitors, only the slow, high-pitched pinging of Nathan's heartbeat).

They decided to do a "dual setup" and prepared for a normal delivery in an operating room, so they could switch plans immediately if needed. He had me pushing and pushing but the cervix just wouldn't cooperate. I felt really guilty and thought it was something I wasn't doing well enough, but he kept assuring me I was doing fine.

They gave me the dose in my epidural for a c-section and immediately prepped everything. Mitch was already in sterile clothes and was sitting at my head with the camera ready. He's such a science guy, I knew he'd want pictures and to watch...I, however, would have puked all over if I saw anything! I've never been more grateful for a draped piece of fabric at my neck!!
Mitch has quite the story about the c-section, and tells it quite gorily, like something straight out of a horror movie! I loved seeing him look around the drape in amazement and finally not seem so stressed. I'm so glad he could enjoy the experience. About five minutes after they put the drape up, they started the procedure and soon we heard a quiet little cry from Nathan!! It was amazing.

(I think this picture is SOOO cool! You can see his tiny little face off to the right! Mitch said they didn't have to tug on him at all, and that the whole process of getting him out was pretty gentle. The doctor is on the right and the midwife is the one on the left).
They weren't going to show him to us, because they thought he had congenital heart issues and wanted to rush him out right away. The midwife, Rachel, who got to assist with the surgery, pulled him up over the drape and let me see him. It was amazing, and a feeling i'll never forget. I'm so glad I got to see him before he left. We were both bawling and so overjoyed! It was the most relief i'd ever felt in my life; I just felt immediate trust for the doctors and knew that it was safer with them than inside me for our little boy, and I was SOOO relieved that he was finally here!!
Mitch was able to go follow our baby and make sure he was okay. At this hospital, the NICU is a lot closer than the nursery so they take all the babies there and check them out. He got great pictures and even poked his head into the operating room and told me he had a perfect little heart and really high Apgar scores! Nothing could have made me feel better than to see Mitch appear in the doorway and say, "Honey he's perfect!!" It turns out he was just laying on his cord and that his heart is perfectly fine! We're so grateful for our healthy little boy and we have had so much fun with him so far!!

The doctor was so, so patient and didn't rush into a c-section before he absolutely had to. He was encouraging and positive the whole time. He made the incision in the safest place for a VBAC and said i'm a perfect candidate for one since I was almost completely dilated on my own before the c-section. He told me I shouldn't have a problem finding a doctor who would agree to a VBAC. This made me feel so much better about everything!
The weirdest thing about all of the chaos was that I was completely calm. I have major anxiety when it comes to medical procedures, shots, my own blood, the list goes on. However, when they started mentioning a c-section, about an hour before Nathan was born, I had no anxious feelings whatsoever. My only concern was for our little baby. I didn't know my concern for him could outweigh my anxiety in doctors' offices or hospitals!

Mitch and I have finally realized what everyone was talking about when they promised all the pregnancy yuckos would be worth it! We are so in love with him and do nothing but love on him and cover him with kisses and adoration every minute of the day!!