Birth Day (7/11/07)....

At 2:00 PM on 7/11/07 we headed back to the Birth Center for another NST and a check up. When we got there Denise wasn't there, she was at the hospital with another Birth Center patient. We saw Peggy for the NST and to discuss the upcoming options for helping my labor progress. My contractions had stopped, however when I sat down for the NST they seemed to be picking back up. Because the NST machine was not fully working and she could tell I was having contractions she wanted me to go over to the hospital for some more testing with Denise. She could tell that Jamesen was having some decelerations but couldn't tell if they were early or late during the contraction (one is good and one is not).

So over to the hospital we went. It was probably about 2:45ish when we got there and saw the nurse..... she put me on the monitor and admitted me to the unit. Denise came in to catch up on where we were from the last couple of days and evaluated the NST. Because my contractions had started again but weren't regular she explained that she felt it was time to get the show on the road. And then she used the dreaded "P" word. Pitocin! The pitocin was started around 3:30 pm - 4:00 pm and was to be upped every 20 mins. or so. In the meantime we called my mom and Lindsay (my sister) to tell them to come on up. The contractions became more regular (every 2-3 min.) and more intense almost immediately. I'm not going to go into too much detail as I will be writing and posting my full birth story shortly. All I will say for now is that giving birth "naturally" and "med free" was the most intense, wonderful, amazing, mind blowing, life changing, eye opening, intimate and awesome experience one could ever experience. I labored from about 3:30 PM to 10:04 PM and it was most definitely the most amazing 6 and a half hours of my life so far.... well there are some pretty close seconds but wow.. at this time I can't stop thinking about it. I keep replaying that night over and over in my head and when I get to the part where I feel him for the first time my eyes well up like they are right now. People told me that I would feel this way but you just don't get it until you are in that place! I have to say that there is no way I could have done it with out Melissa.... She was my ROCK. At one point I looked at her and told her "this is getting so bad".... she just looked back at me and told me that I could do it. The whole time people kept telling me "you are doing SO great Lauren" and I only half believed it..... I'm so happy that I could have the experience that I did and I was lucky to have such a strong and supportive birth partner. My mom and sister were great to have there too... My mom rubbed my back and fed me ice and my sister taped most of the birth and delivery!! Can't wait to watch it some day.

Melissa followed Jamesen to the nursery...... this is the part that I didn't want! I didn't want to be separated from Jamesen AT ALL. At that point I was compliant and just happy that things went the way I wanted up to this point. The nursing staff continued to monitor me and after about an hour transferred me up to the maternity floor to be with Melissa and Jamesen. We got absolutely no sleep and were so anxious to leave in the morning. We waited and waited for Jamesen to be cleared as I had already met with Maria and been given a clean bill of health.

We ended up leaving around 3:00 PM and headed home for some visits from family and friends.... Jamesen had a HUGE welcome home party and was exhausted... I'll write more later on all the fun we've been having since being home. I actually couldn't ask for a better baby and am just trying to catch up on sleep at this point! Breast feeding was rough to say the least at first but is getting better and better every time he eats!!

That's all for now but I'll be posting an update on the past couple of days at home and eventually my full birth story.

The Stats:

Height: 20 and 3/4 inches

Weight: 7 lbs 15/4 oz.

Time: 10:04 PM

Date: 7/11/07