Just as a warning, it is a LONG post. Probably followed by another LONG post. So you have been warned!
Little Ezra is here and he is great. Its only been almost two months since he first got here, but it seems so much longer. In a good way :) I really can't tell what he'll be like once he gets bigger, but what I've seen so far, I'm keeping him!
Ezra was a week overdue. Things got started on the 7th of February about 3:30- 4:00 in the morning. Nothing serious, but I was pretty sure I was having contractions. Strong enough that I couldn't sleep comfortably, but not bad enough to get Jason up for. Its strange thinking about it now, but I truly can't remember what contractions feel like any more. I guess that is one blessing.
I eventually did get back to sleep for maybe an hour, but I just had the feeling that today was the day (well, it was almost the day). I let Jason know what was going on, but not to freak out. The contractions were only 20-30 seconds long, so no baby for a while. The weird part was they were consistently 3 minutes apart.
I let Jason get to work since I knew it would be a while and I wasn't needing to focus on contractions. So I went about my morning, but in the back of my head I didn't know when to call my midwife. We had an appointment the day before are had decided against checking for progress because I didn't think much was going on. I guess I was wrong :)
Around noon, I finally decided to call. Things were still the same (20-30 sec, 3 minutes apart), but I wanted to be safe. I had to talk to 3 different people and tell them what was up. I think I freaked them out with contractions being 3 minutes apart... especially with a 45 minute drive to the hospital in store. Apparently, their policy is when contractions are 4-5 minutes apart, to start heading to the hospital.
So they wanted me to stop by the office to see what was up, since it would be easier to get checked there, instead of worrying about the admissions process at the hospital for a false alarm.
I of course took my time getting ready, but to Rapid we went. At the doctors office, they confirmed contractions, and they verified that I was 2.5 cm dilated. Our midwife recommended we stay in Rapid and start walking around to see if that speed things up.
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| About to leave the doctors office...we're officially staying in RC |
After a while, Jason and I decided that we would stay in Rapid and get a hotel to labor in.
I really have no concept of time of how long we were there, but I had some tub time to see how that helped laboring, I paced around the room, I sat on my exercise ball... and Jason watch a basketball game... I think it was a Lakers game, I wasn't even focused.
Contractions seemed to get more and more intense. And like all the pregnant women did before me, I was absolutely positive I was making some serious progress. It got intense, and I didn't want to worry about not making it to the hospital, so like all the first time moms before me, we decided to make our way to the hospital. It was probably around 8 or 9 PM by now. Driving in the car now was becoming unbearable. I never realized how bumpy the roads of Rapid City were until that night. I had to keep reminding Jason to break slowly because any sudden movements were INSANE!
SO we got admitted and went up to triage (where they check whether you are staying or not). I got changed into the all too flattering rose colored hospital gown and was told I was only 3 cm dilated. I WAS CRUSHED! How in the world could .5 cm of change be so much more painful.
I had asked to not stay if I wasn't at least 4 cm. So the nurses had me walk around the corridor and nurses station to see what progress we could make. Jason and I made our laps with many stops every 3 minutes. Breathing and leaning against the wall was what got me through that. My hour jaunt around the hallways of Rapid City Regional was done and we went back to the triage room. On a side note, it was in this room I experienced my first "projectile vomit into the garbage can because the bathroom wasn't close enough" vomit. Very fun, I will have you know.
So, triage. The nurses checked and I was at 4 cm. We could now go to our room. I was in a little bit of shock because things were actually happening, I was at the hospital on my way to our room where I would see and meet our little guy. Surreal.
I'll leave off here for the first half of the story...its a bit long...
