Birth Story and the first days with Nicolas

Hey all,

From Nicolas week 1

So most of you all know that Nicolas has arrived on February 23 at 9:41 am. But let me start at the beginning.

On Friday night, 02/20 my due date, Leo and I went out to get dinner. We got home and while watching tv, I feel asleep as normal. We went to sleep at around 12:30am. At about 1:30am, I woke up having a "pain" in my stomach. I thought it was indigestion so I tried to go back to sleep. The "pain" went away and then as I was drifting back off to sleep the "pain" hit again and then again, at 10 minute intervals. I went to the bathroom and came back and the "pain" was still coming and going. I woke up Leo and I told him that I thought I was having contractions. He then says, "so do you feel like pushing." He got a little ahead of himself. We started timing the contractions and they were coming every 10-15 minutes. I could not go back to sleep so I just tried to relax and rest. I got up around 9am and took a shower, washed my hair and picked up around the house. I also finished packing my bag because I thought that the contractions would get closer together and we may be heading to the hospital that day. Leo, Pebbles and I went for a 2 mile walk around the neighborhood and got back and the contractions were getting stronger and were coming for often maybe 8 minutes apart. We decided to go to dinner and got back but the contractions were not getting any closer or stronger. We decided to go to bed at around midnight after we tried watching a movie. The contractions were getting really strong especially when I was lying down. So every time I'd have a contraction I would get up from bed and try to breath through them. Leo tried to sleep but I didn't get any sleep. I decided to call the doc and ask them what I should do. The doc told me to have 2 tylenol and 2 benadryls and try to sleep. This didn't do anything for the pain and it didn't get me drowsy. We got up and decided to go to the mall and walk around to see if the contractions got any worse and then we could finally go to the hospital. I was having to stop every few minutes and breath through the contractions. The people at the mall were looking at us like we were crazy.

We got home and I decided to call the doc again and ask them what else I could do. The doc told me to take an Ambien (a very strong sleeping pill). I took the pill and I was able to sleep for only 20 minutes. This was at about 5 pm. I roughed out the contractions for another 3 hours and then the contractions were coming every six minutes, lasting more than a minute and I really had to concentrate to get through them. I told Leo that we should go to the hospital, I was so tired of being up for 2 days with no rest. I was hoping that these contractions were real and that the baby would soon be here. We got to the hospital at around 8:30pm, they checked me out and I was 2-3 centimeters dilated and contracting every 4 minutes. They decided to admit me. It then hit me that I was in real labor. They took us to the room and then monitored the baby and me for about 20 minutes. The nurse then let us go for a walk around the hospital to try to make the pain more bearable. We walked for about 40 minutes which flew by. We got back to the room at around 11:45 pm and while I really wanted to go natural, I stood up to try to get through the contraction and my legs were so weak they started trembling. I then knew that I could not handle labor if I were to have to go a few more hours with the pain and the lack of sleep. The anesthesiologist came by at around 12:15 am, 02/23, and gave me the epidural. I was 5 cm dilated at this time. I was finally able to sit and lay down and I slept for at most 3 hours and the rest of the time I just rested in bed. Leo slept that whole time in a chair next to me.

At around 6 am I felt a gush, I called the nurse and she confirmed that my water had broken. The 2nd nurse came in at 7am and checked me and said I was fully dilated and was ready to push. That freaked me out a little. I had no urge to push so I wanted to wait for my body to tell me to push. I asked if I could have like 30 minutes to see if I ever felt the urge to push. The nurse came back and I still didn't feel any urge but I figured I couldn't stall anymore. So we started pushing at 8am. I pushed with the nurse and the help of Leo for the next hour. The nurse called the doctor in and the doctor made it at around 9:15am. Those last 26 minutes were the hardest. I thought he was never going to come out. Finally the doc said, ok he is coming and then he was finally out! It was such a wonderful feeling. There were so many emotions in those minutes when they put the baby on my stomach. The one that stands out is of pure and utter love. The tears just started rolling and I felt so relived that labor to finally over and that Nicolas was finally out. He was healthy and beautiful. He was born at 9:41 am, weighed 6 lbs 13 ounces, was 19.5 inches and has a full head of hair.

The hospital stay was great. The nurses were wonderful and we tried to rest while we were there b/c we knew it would only get harder once we got home. We stayed at the hospital until Wednesday.

Nicolas is doing great, he cries when he is hungry, dirty and cold. The first night home was pretty rough. He was feeding almost every 1.5 hours. The pediatrician said that he was doing great and the lactation consultant was awesome and gave us some really great information.

From Nicolas week 1

And while we are sleep deprived, emotions are running high and we are adjusting to our new lives, I would not trade it for anything. I truly love Leo more now then before, I can't describe the love I feel for my son and could not imagine our family (including Pebbles) any other way.

PS: Pebbles is doing great. She is respecting his space and we only let her get close enough to lick his feet. She is very curious about him but not overly excited. Nicolas does not even flinch when Pebbles barks. He is used to her barking since he's been hearing it since he's been in my belly.

Sorry this is so long but I wanted to share what I was feeling with all my friends and family.

Here is a link to pics of us at the hospital and Nicolas.
http://picasaweb.google.com/nataliasanc/NicolasWeek1?feat=directlink