Oskar makes his arrival.

I knew that I wouldn't be very good at keeping up with this blog. But, I'm still going to give it my best efforts... I'll start off the year with my birth story.

At around 2:30pm on Sunday, November 14th, I went to the bathroom as usual. After I finished peeing, I felt a strong gush and it felt like the liquid just wouldn't stop coming. At that point, I called my mother-in-law (because my mom wouldn't answer the phone) to take me to the hospital. When we got there, they immediately took me to the labor and delivery ward.. even though they told me that I was entirely too calm to actually be in labor. About an hour later, the nurse checked my cervix to see if I was dilated at all. She told me I was 3cm and that they would have to start me on pitocin and antibiotics. I was admitted to a different hospital 3 days prior due to a small rupture in my water bag but was sent home the same night. This nurse told me I never should have been released and that I needed to go ahead and deliver due to risk of infection to the baby. So, the pitocin was started around 5:30pm. For the first several hours, I didn't feel any pain that was worse than my regular period cramps. I laughed, joked, and watched t.v. with my husband. Around 11:30pm, we decided to try and get some rest even though the contractions were becoming a bit stronger. Around 1:30am, I started experiencing extreme pain in my lower back with each of the contractions. The nurse explained to me that I may be one of the few women that experiences what is called "back labor." Within half an hour, the pain was so intense that I could barely move... all I wanted to do was lay there and cry. So, I made the decision to get an epidural, which was given around 2:30am. I began to feel a little relief... but not much. I continued to try to rest off and on during the night since I was still only at 3cm. At around 9:30 the next morning, the nurses came in to check my progress because the contractions had become more frequent. I was still only 5cm dilated. My husband went home to shower and attend to our cat. At 10:30am, I suddenly felt as though I was going to poop everywhere... So, I paged the nurse. When they checked me again, we were all shocked to learn that I was fully dilated and effaced and ready to push! But, my husband wasn't back yet! They told me to try to wait until he returned. So, I quickly called him and he was shocked that it was already time. After I got off the phone with him, I called my mom to have her come up too. My husband arrived about 10 minutes later and it was go time! The doctor and nurses got everything set up while we were waiting for him. My mom arrived soon after I started pushing. Before I even started pushing, the fluid on my epidural drip had run out and they told me it was too late to replace it. So, I would be feeling a lot of the sensations... instead of them telling me when to push, I was telling them! At 11:17am, after less than 45 minutes of pushing, my son was born! My husband, mother-in-law, sister-in-law (via phone), and mother all got to hear his first cry! When they first placed him on my stomach, I couldn't believe that he came out of me! I didn't have time for many more thoughts beyond that because they took him to be cleaned while the doctor repaired a tear I had gotten while pushing. After his first bath, the nurse handed him to me and I think I was in shock that he was actually in the world now...

I will leave it at that for now. I'll continue the next post with the adventures of the hospital stay and the first few days at home.