Guess Who

Colton James Alan is here!

What a busy week it has been but so joyous!

My labor story is actually pretty awesome for being a first time mommy.
FOREWARNING GRAPHIC DETAILS FOLLOW; I am not shy and it is a lengthy post.

Early Wednesday morning around 1:30 am my water broke. I had gone to the bathroom (for the millionth time) and felt a little extra something something. I went back to bed not thinking much of it but as soon as I got in bed I felt more. I went back to the bathroom and like the movies it happened. ALL.OVER.THE.FLOOR.

I called hubby into the bathroom to confirm. He walked into the bathroom, looked at the floor and said "you just peed on the floor." He then crawled back in bed. After I picked my jaw up off the floor I went back into the bedroom and proceeded to glare at him. He looked at me and said "Do you think I can at least shower first?" I swear! I was not having contractions so I had no problem with him getting clean before we headed to the hospital later plus it would wake his butt up because he was clearly pretty tired.

My contractions started about a half hour later. I called the doctor on call. My contractions were only about 8 minutes apart. At my last appointment I was 2 cm dilated. He said since I was negative for Strep B I could labor at home as long as I wanted and then head to the hospital in a few hours. This had been my plan all along. Jason and I figured we had till about 6 am or so before I would need to go to the hospital. We called both set of parents just to give them a heads up.

Jason was there rubbing my back for my contractions and I finished getting our bags ready to go. By about 3:00 am I started feeling nauseated and my contractions were still only 8 minutes apart. They were pretty painful but I was getting through them OK. I could only deal with the pain if I stood up and leaned over the bed. Within a few minutes I started have sharp, short contractions every 2 minutes. Jason thought I was crazy because of how close the pains were coming. I was sure they were not contractions but some other pain associated with labor. I threw up once and that is when we decided to go to the hospital so I could get some nausea medication.

We arrived to the hospital about 345 am. As soon as we got to the labor room the nurse hooked me up to the monitor. I told her about the 2 minute pains and she confirmed that I was indeed contracting every two minutes. CRAZY! I had only been in labor for 2 hours. She proceeded to hook my up to some fluids and checked me. I was 6 cm. Amazing for only being 2 cm two days earlier. I asked for some nausea meds and epidural. I am totally for the pain meds because I knew it would help me relax. Plus, I work with epidurals in the hospital and I know the benefits, risks, etc. I had to wait about an hour for the epidural to be started. Once it was in I was in heaven. My two minute contractions could not be felt. I could still feel my legs but they were a little heavy and my hips were completely numb. I ended up shaking pretty bad for the first hour of the epidural but it was not as bad as the contractions had been.

They checked me again after the epidural around 6 am and I was 8 cm. Jason started to feel sick to his stomach (whenever he lacks sleep he gets sick to his stomach). He wanted to keep going to the bathroom and leaving me to labor by myself. This was fine once I had the epidural because I could not feel anything. However, around 7 I started to feel sharp pains again in my lower abdomen. I asked the nurse if she would cath me (drain my bladder since I could not get out of bed) to see if it was the pressure I was feeling. However, she did not get much urine. I started feeling my contractions again so she called the doctor back to my room. Come to find out, the epidural machine had stopped working. UGH! He gave me some extra pain meds and restarted to epidural. It never did work as well as before. I obtained some minor relief from the contractions but still felt a ton of pain and pressure.

Jason started to feel worse and I seriously thought I might murder him (my emotions were going crazy at this point). The plan was for my mom to be in the room with us but unfortunately I was progressing so fast she and my father were still in the 3 hour commute to the hospital. Jason thought he could ask the nurse for some nausea meds for himself and I told him he better suck it up and get through it. Every little thing was setting me off. Looking back now it is actually pretty humerous and at least we can both laugh about it. Around 900 am I felt extreme pressure and wanted to start pushing. The nurse and Jason helped me with my legs. I pushed for about 1 hour before the doctor came in again. He estimated about 1 more hour of pushing and helped motivate me to keep going. I was exhausted at this point and just wanted to sleep. I kept my eyes closed most of the way through the pushing just as a way to focus and I think I fell asleep a few times. Around 1130 the doctor came back in and I kept pushing. I could feel everything at this point. I remember pushing 4 good times and hearing the doctor say he was coming. He then said his second shoulder was stuck and I just kept pushing to get him out. In all honesty, when he came out it was the biggest relief I have ever felt. After only 10 hours of labor, Colton was born at 11:41 am, weighing 7lbs 12 ounces and measuring 19 3/4 inches.

He cried and Jason cut the cord. He had a cone head just from the passage through the birth canal. Jason got to go over and help get him cleaned up. Unfortunately, I ended up with a 3 degree tear from his shoulder being stuck. It was and still is pretty painful but well worth it. Holding him for the first time took all the pain away.

The rest of my stay in the hospital was somewhat eventful. I passed out on the toilet (luckily the nurse was in there with me) after I got out of bed for the first time. I then was not allowed out of bed without someones assistance for the rest of the day. The next two days I was tachy (high heart rate) and they drew some labs. Come to find out I had lost a lot of blood during the delivery. The doctor offered me a blood transfusion but I asked if I could hold off since by the end of the second day I was feeling better ( I have given enough blood to patients to know the benefits but I am otherwise healthy and wanted to see if I could go without a transfusion). I was pretty pale and weak for most of the stay. I am talking Edward Cullen pale. Jason was wonderful. He helped out a lot with the baby and taking care of me. Our families came and went and were very helpful in making sure we had everything we needed. By day three I was feeling okay enough to go home. I am still healing with stitches and still a little weak but I am getting better everyday.

We are now home. The changes in our lives have been overwhelming but we feel blessed everyday to have a happy and healthy baby. Colton is well and we are exhausted but enjoying life. Hopefully I can update more soon but as for know I am tired and my baby sleeps so I am going to sleep too! I leave you with pictures