D-Day part 1

Well, we made it. After nearly 37 carrying the little guy Archer Benson Anderson was born today (March 19, 2012) at 10:05 am weighing in at a whopping 4 lbs 13 oz. Call me terrible but I don't even remember hearing a height measurement. Sorry. I'll get back to you on that one. I'd ask Josh but he is taking advantage of the oh-so-comfy "bed" slash chair in my recovery room right now and catching some much needed zzzz's. I know that over the next several days Josh and I are going to get a lot of questions and I'm hoping that this blog post will be able to give our family a little peace and quiet over the next few days (you'll understand why we need this by the end of this post series). So, go grab yourself some popcorn and maybe a tissue and I'll tell you all about our crazy day! Today actually started well before any sane person should have ever been awake. After staying up until midnight with Josh, my mom and sisters on Sunday I woke up at 1:40 this morning with some pretty painful contractions. Now, you gotta understand that with both Blake and Logan I never had very painful contractions. The only reason I went into the hospital with both of them was not because of the pain. It was because my water had broken, and I would go into the hospital dilated to a 7 or 8. So when I awoke this morning with such big contractions I figured that I was going to be around at least a 7. Boy was I wrong. Anyways, back to the story... after waking because of the pain, I immediately 'jumped' (I use this term loosely) out of bed and headed to the bathroom because I felt like I was going to 'go' in bed. While sitting on the toilet and experiencing some very intense and very regular contractions I quickly began to realize that 'this was it'. I was going to be having a baby TODAY. Not gonna lie... I kinda panicked. As much as I had been waiting for this... all of a sudden I wasn't so ready anymore. To help ease the back pain that I was having with and between each contraction, I got into the shower. And the fact that I hadn't showered at all on Sunday MIGHT have played a tiny part in that as well. While there I figured I could gussy myself up a little - I didn't want to totally disgust the hospital staff. So I washed up and even went so far as to shave my legs, not without much difficulty though! I was 'dressed to impress' when I went in to the hospital, that's for dang sure. I didn't want to rush right into L&D so I went out to the living room to time the contractions (every two minutes, lasting for one minute) and noticed that my sister (hey Justine!) was still awake. It's always more fun to have someone to share your excitement with. At first I thought that I was going to hang out for an hour or two and stay at home as long as I could. Who likes to sit in a Labor and Delivery bed all day? Not me. It only took me about 15 minutes to change my mind. Justine went and woke up my Mom and Josh - Chalynn had already woken because of the commotion I was causing. Josh packed the hospital bag for me (I know, I know... it should have been done already - but I'm just not that prepared), went and started the car and after I hobbled myself out we were off. When we got to L&D I was gowned and checked. I was only at a 3-4! I couldn't believe it. I mean seriously. These contractions were SO painful and it didn't help that they were clear up and down my back and into my tailbone. Ugh. Talk about pain. I was wanting to hold off on the epidural, but it took me all of about 5 seconds to change my mind about that as well. I wanted pain meds, and I wanted them NOW. Unfortunately the nurse had to finish admitting me, get an IV started and then I had to have a bag of fluids before I could get the epidural. Insert whiny voice here. So not fair! As you can plainly see, I survived... but I wasn't happy about it. I was SO glad to finally see the anesthesiologist walk into my room. He totally hooked me up and to show my thanks my water broke right in the middle of the procedure. At least I didn't get him with it - can you say embarrassing? Yowza. Fluids did however, go all over the bed, down my leg and all over the floor. Not gonna lie... I made a mess, and I felt really bad that I was giving the nurse more work. Me being me, my labor started to kinda slow down and I wasn't dilating or contracting at a regular pattern and so Dr. O started me on Pitocin at around 7:45 or so. Lucky for me, I take to the stuff really well and I was fully dilated and ready to go only two hours later. During this time the party guests had all arrived and soon room 117 was THE place to be - which is exactly how I LOVE it. It was so much fun to have all my family there with me, cheering me on. My sister, Justine, even started a baby pool. We (including the nurses) all put in our 'bets' of when Archer would be born and how much he would weigh. Let me just say, not a single one of us was even close to guessing his weight, but Justine was the closest to getting the time right. Because I was attempting a VBAC (vaginal birth after delivery) I was wheeled into the OR for the delivery just in case something went wrong. Unfortunately, Dr. O would only let two people come back with me. I wanted five people there, so I was kinda bummed about that. Fortunately though the delivery was so quick that nobody missed anything and the rest of the crew were able to wait in the NICU! I was wheeled into the OR at around 9:40-9:45 ish and Archer was born at 10:05 am after a couple practice pushes followed by only 4 or 5 real pushes. The umbilical cord was so short that I wasn't even able to get a glimpse of Archer before he was wrapped up and blankets and whisked away into the NICU. Honestly, I didn't even get a peek of anything. Not his hair, toes, face or anything. I was so heart broken. I just knew it was going to be FOREVER before I got to see him... IF I even got to see him. Josh and my Mom stayed with me for a few minutes after Archer was taken out but I didn't need the support. I just wanted everyone to be there for Archer so I told them to go! ;) Dr. O and I finished the delivery and lucky for me (again) I didn't even need a single solitary stitch. Phew! It was strange to be so aware of the post delivery process. Normally at this point you're so overwhelmed getting to hold and see your baby that you don't really care about or realize what's going on around you. It was a very lonely feeling. With empty arms I was wheeled back into room 117. (too be continued)