Back to blogging....with a BABY!

Who knew that that last post would actually be my last one before Graham was born?!?!  I never imagined that it really would be, but God had a different plan.  The past month has been a roller coaster of emotions....some good, some bad, but all blessed.  Perhaps one day I'll go into everything that has happened in the last month, but for now, I'll introduce our sweet little boy and journal his birth story.

Almost 2 hours after I wrote my last post my water broke.  I had gone to lunch with Clint and our church secretary that day.  She had mentioned that she thought I had dropped some, but I passed it off without much concern.  I got home and took this picture of myself and sent it to my mom.  She agreed that I had dropped, but I still thought we'd induce on Sunday....I still had plenty of time to get a mani/pedi, clean my house, finish the last of the packing etc.   Little did I know....

After I blogged, I went out and was working in our flower beds.  I cut back lots of plants and was doing a lot of bending over (I should have known).  I swept the porch and then it was time to get a little bit of work done.  I sat down at my computer around 4pm to start making some phone calls.  I remember getting a little hungry so about 4:30 I got up to get a snack when it happened.  I walked into the kitchen and thought....OMG, this isn't pee!  I ran to the bathroom and just sat there for a second and immediately called Clint.  Freaking out, I said, "Clint, I think my water just broke!!!"  I was crying at this point and literally freaking out....whose water breaks these days?  Doesn't everyone get induced!?!?  So in pure calm Clint fashion, he said....ok, I'll come home, why don't you call the doctor.  So....I did what every girl would do, I called my mom!  By this time I was crying hysterically and could barely get the words out to her.  She, like Clint, told me to call the doctor.   So, finally, I control myself enough to call labor and delivery.  They tell me to put a pad on and if I filled it up within 30 minutes then to come to the hospital.....well, I had that thing filled in 5 minutes!

Clint (calm as a cucumber) comes home and packs his bag.  I frantically run around the house throwing last minute items into bags.  This maybe too much for some, but I think it's funny now....when Clint came home, I was still in the bathroom.  I was just in so much shock that I couldn't move.  Murphy, our dog, was licking up my water off the bathroom floor!  Disgusting, I know....but maybe a little funny???

Anyway, we finally get our bags packed and make the 45 minute drive to the hospital.  It was surprisingly calm and went by rather quickly.  We got me checked in and I was dilated to a 1 and 80% effaced.  I was having contractions about 4 minutes apart, but couldn't feel a thing.  We got all settled into labor and delivery and nothing much happened until early that next morning.  All of our families got there and I got to see everyone while I was still feeling good.  I'm not sure exactly what time it was, but I started feeling contractions sometime in the early morning hours.  I got 2 doses of pain meds through the IV and then finally somewhere between 11am and noon I got the epidural.  That thing was AWESOME!  I was able to sleep about 2 hours before I started pushing and was so thankful for that.  About 2pm a nurse came in to check me and she said, "You're at a 9.5."  I remember thinking to myself....wait, a 9.5, that means pushing soon....no no no, let's go back to a 7!

So, they sat me up and got me into pushing position.  They wanted me to sit there for a bit to get Graham moving down a bit more.  As I was sitting up, I was bossing Clint around so much!  My OCD came out because I was telling him to straighten this and pick up that.  I even remember telling him to straighten the blinds in the room....if I was about to push out a baby, I wanted everything in my vision to be perfect!  HA.

So, doctor comes in and coaches me on what's about to happen.  I'm still not believing that I'm about to be a momma!  After my first push, the doctor leaves and it's just me, Clint and two nurses for most of the time.  During the pushing process, I actually kept a sense of humor.  I remember joking with Clint and the nurses the whole time.  They found out Clint was a preacher and at one point were asking him why the CofC doesn't use instruments...I was thinking....really, we have to talk about this right NOW?

About 4:30, after an hour and a half of pushing, the doctor comes back in so I knew we were close.  I pushed a few more times with him in there and then he told us that Graham had a head full of blonde hair!  The doctor said, "one more push and he'll be here."  I remember thinking....oh gosh, what if he's not here in that one push, what if I let the doctor down?  Haha

So, at 4:44pm on September 21st, this little angel was born.  He weighed 7 pounds 15 oz and was 20 inches long.  Such a gift from the Lord.