The Birth Story

For those of you that would like to hear little Austin's birth story- this one's for you! (And so we can remember the day) This could turn out a little lengthy so we won't be offended if you stop here and just skip to the pictures. Initially the doctors told us that Austin would be due on November 18th, but at our 20 week ultrasound the doctor changed the due date to the 12th. Up until last Tuesday (the 11th) we had seen very few signs that would indicate I would be having the baby. Bummer. I tried walking for miles, eating certain foods, bouncing on the pilates ball etc. But it was not helping me to efface or dilate very much. So, last Monday night we finally surrendered our efforts and decided he was going to come when he was good and ready. Low and behold- I was up for a few hours Monday night with what felt like cramps. Mind you- they didn't feel anything like "textbook" contractions so I figured that I had eaten something that didn't agree with my stomach and was finally able to go to bed. I continued to wake up about every hour with a cramp, but the discomfort would subside and I was able to go back to sleep. No problem- this couldn't be labor because you are supposed to be doubled over in pain... right? Tuesday morning, Veterans Day, came and I was still having stomach pains. I basically called the whole family trying to poll everyone to see if I was having contractions or not. (It's really funny because some of my family said "Don't fool yourself, there's no baby coming today.") My mom convinced me to give my doctor a call just to be sure everything was alright. Reluctantly, I gave the doctor a call and left a message that I was having cramps but I don't think it was labor- so there wasn't anything to worry about. I went out to run some errands only to be summoned to the hospital by my doctor. I got Andrew up out of bed and told him that he didn't need to shower or bring anything to the hospital because I KNEW it was false labor and that they were just going to send us home again. For some reason I'm a little self conscious about showing up to the doctor and/or hospital only to find out that nothing is going on. We got to the hospital and they put us in a room, the last available room, around 11 and we got situated. After being hooked up to the monitor and being checked by the nurse we found that my contractions were coming about every 5 minutes and I was dilated to a 3. The doctor then came in and told us that we would have a baby by the end of the day. We couldn't believe it! So, I dragged Andrew out of bed to the hospital with no shower and no breakfast only to find that he was stuck there. Sorry Honey! The next few hours were pretty routine- just laying in bed, contracting, and watching movies. We had the option to start Pitocin to help labor go faster, but my mom was trying her best to make it to Texas for the birth so we decided to hold off. At about 6:30 pm I decided to get an epidural the contractions were still bearable, but Hey- why not? My mom made it to the hospital around 8:30 and we started pitocin around 9:30 and waited. And waited and waited and waited until about 2 in the morning when my body finally decided that Austin could come out. I was pretty lucky to only had to have pushed for about 40 minutes, but unlucky in that I had to have an epesiotomy. Austin came at 3:33 Wednesday morning at a whopping 9.77 lbs, 21.5 inches long and perfect! I now know why I felt so much like a whale! I'm pretty proud of myself for squeeezing out such a big baby! We have loved every minute of being parents and feel so blessed to have been able to create life. We spend hours upon hours just staring at Austin and can't believe he's ours. It truly is amazing how it is possible to love something so much that we just met. Austin is so precious and we can't wait to introduce him to all of our many friends and family. We love you all! Thank you so much for all of the love, support, and sweet words.