The Labor Story...

Well, we have been home from the hospital for 4 days now, so I figured it was time for an update. I'm going to back up and tell the "labor story" first since people have been asking. 

Sooo...last Thursday morning my water broke around 6am. It wasn't a major break, and I wasn't having ANY hint of contractions, so I waited until about 7:30am to call my midwife. She told me to make my way over to the hospital and they would test to make sure my water really broke. There was no real hurry because I had NO other signs of labor going on, so I took a shower and got ready and packed my hospital bag (which I guess I should have done earlier, but I still had over a week until the due date!) Wayne was still in Barrow, so I called and told him he might want to catch an earlier flight. He was supposed to come down the next night, but thankfully he was able to get on the  morning flight on Thursday instead. 

Last pregnancy picture just before leaving for the hospital!

So, in the meantime Holly and I went to the hospital and got settled in. The first test they did was negative for amniotic fluid, meaning it showed that my water HADN'T broken. I didn't believe that and neither did my midwife, so they tested again and it came back positive. But I still wasn't having any contractions, so we spent the day walking around the hospital and climbing stairs and all sorts of things to try and get my labor started. I REALLY didn't want to be induced, so I was trying everything I could to get things going on their own. Finally at about 9pm, they gave me a medication to help soften the cervix in hopes that contractions would follow on their own and I wouldn't need pitocin. It worked pretty quickly, I started having contractions by about 9:30pm. 

Things went pretty slowly all night, but I was having contractions that were just strong enough to make it impossible to sleep. I think it was one of the longest nights of my life, just because I was sooooo tired but I couldn't sleep! Morning finally came, but that didn't mean anything except a different nurse. As soon as a contraction ended I would fall asleep instantly for about 30 seconds until the next one started. It was like trying to stay awake in a boring class...you know how you look at the clock, and then you fall asleep for a few seconds and it feels like forever, then you wake up and it's only been one minute and you still have 45 minutes of the lecture left...that's how it was all day long. I really didn't want an epidural, so we just kept plugging away. Let me tell you, Wayne is a pro back-rubber now! 

So, finally around 10am the midwife checked me again and I was only dilated to 3cm and 50% effaced. Ugh. But, she could tell that the initial break in the amniotic sac had been really high up, so the amniotic fluid was just slowly trickling out. She broke the sac again and then things finally started moving a lot faster. By 2pm I was having some serious contractions, by 4pm I wanted to die, by 5:40pm I started pushing, and by 6:08pm he was here! It was great, as soon as he was born they put him on my chest and let me hold him for about 20 minutes before they even weighed him or did anything else. I was so tired though, I kept almost falling asleep even while I was holding him! 

They took Chase off to the nursery for his bath and all that stuff, and I was able to get up and shower and put on my own clothes right away. The whole experience was really good (I can say that now that it's over...). Our midwife was wonderful, the nurses were awesome, and Wayne was INCREDIBLE. We weren't able to take any birthing classes together because there aren't any offered in Barrow, and we really hadn't talked much about labor and what I might want from him (that was on the list of things to do together when Wayne got to Fairbanks, but Chase decided to come early so we hadn't done that yet). So really, he was going into it totally blind, but we was so wonderful. Everything he did and said was perfect...I would have been lost without him. There is no way I could have done that on my own. 

Chase and I are both doing really well. He had us a little worried the first day because he was having some abnormal eye movements and not responding like he should have, so the pediatrician wanted to do some extra tests on him and watch him in the nursery. He had a cranial ultrasound and a bunch of extra labs, but everything came back normal. We've seen the pediatrician twice since we came home, and both times she has reassured us that he's acting totally normal now, she has no concerns at all anymore. He was just having a quarky first day on earth, I guess. 

So, there's the story. We are so attached to this little guy! He's adorable and we love him so much. We decided to name him Chase David after my dad. I absolutely adore my dad and wanted Chase to have his name. He is a wonderful and amazing man and I am so grateful to have him for a father! I couldn't ask for anyone better...there aren't words to express how much I love you, Dad!  We can't wait for you to get home and meet this little guy!

Here are a few more pictures...

Relaxing in our suite... :)

This is Chase so excited to go home from the hospital!!!

Me and Chase ready to go home and start real life!