Let's see...when we last left off, we were planing for a May 1 induction but hoping and praying baby boy would come on his own before then. I had random contractions early in the week but nothing that really hurt. On Wednesday my feet swelled more than they had my entire pregnancy and I had an odd numbness in my mouth during lunch. The nurse had me come in for observation just to make sure everything was okay. My blood pressure, blood counts and ultrasound looked fine, so they sent us back home less then a few hours later. We were happy everything was okay but disappointed we weren't going to meet our baby boy that night!
Around 8:30 on Friday morning I felt my first contraction that would lead to the birth of our baby boy! Ten minutes later the next one came. All day long I kept track of them on my cell phone app. Sometimes they were only 6 - 7 minutes a part and other times they slowed to 15 - 20 minutes. I worked through them (even writing an article on revolution of manufacturing in America and enjoying a spicy Thai lunch) trying not to get my hopes up that this was really it. The pain finally started to get real just a few minutes after I got in my car to head home. I called Jay to tell him that he better mow grass in overdrive because there was a good chance we were going to be heading to the hospital. He asked if I could just hold on so we'd get one more good night of sleep - we all know now that wasn't going to happen! The contractions didn't slow down when I got home, so we packed up the car, installed the car seat and headed up to Nana and Pa's to wait things out. They finally forced us to head to the hospital around 7:45. One last family picture as a family of four.
We made a quick pit stop at Sonic to get Dad some dinner and me the largest cup of ice they offered. We made it to the hospital around 8:45 and spent a good 15 minutes doing paper work before heading to the evaluation room.
I was in a lot of pain at this point. Contractions were about 45 seconds long and only 90 seconds a part. I was very disappointed when the nurse told me I was only a three and she couldn't even feel his head. She asked me if I wanted to walk around the hospital to help move the labor along. I politely (maybe?) told her that I'd walk if that was what my doctor wanted me to do, but I REALLY didn't want to. They did a quick ultrasound to make sure he was head down, put in an IV and contacted my OB for further instructions. A few minutes later, the nurse came back and said my doctor had recommend I head to L&D and get my epidural. The nurse then asked me if I wanted a wheelchair or if I wanted to walk to labor and delivery. You can imagine what my response was. She quickly said "well, some people want to walk." Good for them. This girl wasn't walking in that kind of pain...
Soon we were in the (awesome) new labor and delivery suites and waiting for the epidural. Getting the epidural was a bit rough but by 10:45 I was feeling no pain and ready to get the show on the road. It was at this point that our main nurse finally introduced herself. She told us that she could tell we were more interested in the epidural than learning her name. They broke my water at 11:00 and informed me that I was still only at a four. At this point we thought we thought we had a long night ahead of us.
I labored for awhile and went back and forth about having Nana, Pa and Aunt B bring the kids to the hospital. Shortly before midnight Pa made the decision that they were headed our way. Around the same time the nurse decided they needed to break my water again. The crew showed up in the parking lot around 1:00 right as the nurse told us I had dilated from a 4 to a 7 in just an hour. Around 1:15 I told the nurse that I was feeling a lot of pressure and I wanted to be checked again even though she had just done it 15 minutes before. Sure enough, I had gone from a 7 to a 10 in just 15 minutes. It was go time!
They called the doctor and had me do a few practice pushes while we waited. They told me to stop after just one push because the baby was "right there." The pressure I felt while waiting for the doctor was unreal. At one point I was afraid to breathe because I was certain he'd come right out. The doctor showed up around 1:30. Twenty two minutes and a handful of pushes later, at 1:52 am, our baby boy,
Aiden Robert Kiefer
was here!
8 lbs 1 oz, 21 inches and absolutely perfect! We couldn't wait to introduce him to the rest of the family.
