Joshua's arrival began a few days prior, when I began having contractions. I was getting them in the evening but they weren't regular and seemed to go away when I went to bed. Friday the 13th I was having contractions most of the night and only got about 2 or 3 hours of sleep. However, we didn't head to the hospital right away since the contractions still weren't regular. I got up at 6 and laid on the couch hoping a change of position would help. After dozing off a bit and a phone call to my friend, Ashley for reassurance, I tried to go back to bed. I finally decided sleep was a lost cause around 8:30 or 9 am and went downstairs for some breakfast. As I ate and talked to Andy about how I was feeling I had an odd sensation that I thought might be my water breaking, but wasn't sure. I feared going to the hospital and being sent home so I called my doctor's office. After explaining what had been going on, the nurse said to head to the hospital. I took a shower and tried to remain calm.
We got to the hospital around 10 and got checked in. The nurse then did a test to see if indeed my water had broken before proceeding. At this point I wasn't really having contractions but the test showed my water had broken, so we would be staying at the hospital until he was born. We sat and watched TV, called our parents, and tried to relax. After the doctor (not my usual doctor) came in and checked me, we discovered I was still only 3 centimeters dilated. Since my water had broken, Dr. Hollman wanted to be sure that the baby arrived in a timely manner and put me on medicine to speed things up. Soon after this, my contractions increased with time and intensity. I did not want an epidural but felt that it was all too much and I needed it.
By the time the anesthesiologist came in for my epidural I was already pretty worn out, sweaty, and ready to have this baby. Andy and I both were not fond of the anesthesiologist. She wasn't clear with the directions she was giving me, seemed to ignore our questions, and had a hard time getting the needle in. Another anesthesiologist was called in as the first one and the nurses decided the epidural needed to be re-done. In addition, the baby's heart-rate was dropping. The whispers among the doctors and nurses, and talk of a c-section, started to worry me. They were able to get the epidural working somewhat correctly but I was still in pain from all the pressure I was continuing to feel. At this point, Andy said I was falling asleep between each contraction.
Around 6pm it was determined that it was time to start pushing. I was excited that things were progressing but a little let-down when I heard it could take a few hours of pushing before the baby was born. Pushing only wore me out even more, but Andy was a great coach and kept pushing me to keep up the hard work. By the 2nd hour of pushing, if not sooner, Andy and the nurse were holding me up to push. My strength was gone! The doctor came in occasionally to check the progress and when he put on the gown and stayed, I gained a small amount of motivation. He threatened a c-section again if I didn't push him out relatively soon. This and Andy's "cheering" forced me to work harder. After 3 hours of pushing, our baby was in my arms. I looked at Andy and we agreed Joshua James was the perfect name. He was soon whisked away by the nurse to get cleaned and checked. Andy watched over our little boy the whole time with a huge smile.
I had never felt so much exhaustion, but the amount of love outweighed the exhaustion and we held and stared at Joshua's precious face. He was finally here. Andy went out to tell our families of his arrival while I had a few moments alone with Joshua.
After a brief visit from both sets of grandparents and Uncle Jeff, we ate some dinner and eventually got moved to our room at 3 am. We tried to keep Joshua in our room for a while but our heavy eyes and exhausted bodies convinced us that we just didn't have the energy and asked the nurse to keep him in the nursery for a few hours while we tried to sleep. I don't think I slept much though.
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