My Labor Story

Just a warning, this is a long wordy post, but it deserves to be told in detail :)

I always told Trey that I thought it would be fun to go into labor unexpectedly - as in the middle of the night, sending us into a panic to get to the hospital! I thought it would be so much more exciting than being induced and make for a great story. I even told my doctor about my wish for a dramatic story and she assured me that labor is not what they portray in the movies. My water will not break in public and there is no need to panic and rush to the hospital. I even read that less than 10% of women actually have their water break on their own.....well I was in that 10% of women!

Thursday June 6th, I get up and go to work to continue wrapping up before we go in to be induced in exactly one week. About 10 30am I felt a weird pressure in my stomach and i just felt off. I thought something was wrong, but I had a meeting I had to be at in 30 minutes so I needed to suck it up and get through the meeting. I also had doctors appointments that afternoon, so I figured I would wait until then to see what was going on. The pressure lightened up and I went to my meeting. It was unusually short, and I was out in 10 minutes and back at my desk. I was feeling a little clammy and lightheaded, so I figured I would go downstairs and grab some lunch. 

As I stood up at my desk, I feel a gush of fluid fall to the floor. (This may be a little graphic and TMI, but I have to get the point across :) ). Literally, a GUSH that has soaked my skirt and the floor of my cubicle!!! Here it is, my dramatic story I always wished for - and it's literally a scene out of a movie!! I panic! Look around making sure no one is watching me freak out, grab my bag and start walking out of the office. But my office is huge!! So while I am leaking fluid all over the floor, I have to walk across my office, down the stairs - literally clear across the office before I get to the door. It was the longest walk ever!! I walked fast with my head down hoping to not talk to anyone! And hoping no one is noticing the trail of fluid I am leaving behind.

Finally I get outside and call Trey! He is close to the hospital, so he's meeting me there. Therefore, I am driving myself to the hospital while in labor!!! I am about 20 miles or so from the hospital, not close! Once I start driving, the contractions begin! I am driving down the busiest highway in Dallas, in full on labor!!! It was crazy!! By the time I get to the hospital, the contractions are so bad that I am hunched over in tears!! 

They see the pain I am in and rush me through registration and into a room as fast as they can! The pain I was feeling was pain I can't even put into words! I have never felt anything like it. Apparently, contractions hurt on a whole new level when your water breaks, I felt like I was dying :) I kept telling the nurses that something was wrong, this isn't normal, this can't be ok!! I think they were laughing under their breath and kept assuring me that everything was just fine. But there is no way that kind of pain is "natural" or "normal"! I was convinced something was wrong! As I am crying and screeching in pain, I look over and Trey is snapping pics of me on his iPhone! And then sends them to some friends of ours!! Really?!? Those pics will not be making it onto the blog :)

The nurses are rushing to get me the epidural and it finally arrives! I burst into tears again because I am so nervous to get the epidural! I have always heard you have to be super still as they are inserting the epidural, but there was no way I could sit still while having these contractions! I kept telling the nurses that I was scared about staying still, no way I could do this and I didn't want to be paralyzed!! Again, they were laughing at me and reassured that they do these over 500 times a month and they promise it will be ok. So I calm down and the epidural is in, thank goodness!

I am starting to feel much better at this point! Since we both rushed to the hospital, Trey needed to go and get my our bags, so Julie and Alex came up to the hospital to keep me company while he was gone! The doctors told us we have 8-10 hours before we will be ready to push, so that gave our families plenty of time to get here from Lubbock and Houston. When Trey gets back, the girls are leaving for a bit so they can come back up later for delivery! As they begin to leave, I start feeling the contractions again. So they give me more meds, but it didn't work. Within 5 minutes of them leaving, the doctors check me and I am ready to push!!! Only 2-3 hour later!! We were shocked! 

So after about 45 minutes or so we are ready to push and 45 more minutes later Liam is here! I will spare you the details so the actual delivery :) but it was the easiest art of the whole process! And the most amazing moment of our lives - seeing Liam for the first time. Such a surreal and amazing feeling! Our little boy is finally here, we can't believe it! 

The best moment of all was when they laid him on my chest for the first time and I said hi to him and he immediately lifted his head and looked up at me. It completely melted my heart. I couldn't believe he recognized my voice right off! So amazing! Then, as they took him across the room to start his check up, Trey went with him. As he was crying, Trey grabbed his hand and Liam wrapped his tiny hand around Trey's finger. It was so cute! 

This was by far the craziest, most amazing, bizarre and coolest experience of my life. There is nothing like it! Childbirth is something I feared my whole life and now I have experienced it! Such a surreal feeling to know I grew a baby inside of me for 9 months and now he is here for us to take care of for the rest of our lives! We are more in love than we ever thought we could be and more nervous than ever knowing we are fully responsible for this tiny little life! 

Stats at Birth
June 6, 2013
Born at 631 pm
Weight: 7lbs 14 oz
Height: 20 1/4" long

OK, sorry for the LONG post - here are some pics of our first few days as a family of 3!