I'm in love

Well, I had my baby!  What a magnificent day! It was such a magical day that I have not even wanted to blog about it because I feel that no matter what I write it won't do the day justice.  I'll give it a shot.  I'll separate the day into 2 blogs- This blog will be about and the labor and delivery, and then I'll do a blog later about the rest on the day. 

So- I was officially due on Mon. Feb. 6th.  I was really hoping to have the baby by then, but no luck.  I was scheduled to be induced on Tues. Feb. 7th.  I was a little sad that I didn't go into labor on my own- but we really didn't have a choice.  Darren started school on Wed. and had class Wed. and Thurs. and he can't really miss class.  I really didn't want to take a chance on going into labor his first or second day of school.  Plus our doctor said it's really not good to go over your due date, especially with my family's history of big babies and our little bodies.  So it was really the best option.

Here is my last day being pregnant!  YEA!!!

We went to the hospital at 7 am.  I asked my Dr. to break my water and see if my body would go into labor naturally and we wouldn't have to do pitocin.  So she broke my water at 8:30.  As soon as she broke it I felt a contraction- but then it stopped.  We waited 2 hours -till 10:30 and nothing happened so they started the pitocin. Nothing happened till about 11:30- then I started having contractions.  I had gone in dilated at a 3.   By 1:30 in the afternoon I was at a 5.  The contractions were pretty bad so I got my epidural.  The contractions up to that point were bad- but manageable, I wanted to wait till I got to about a 7 for the epidural, but my doctor said I was progressing fast, and to get it now.  She was right because an hour later at 2:30 I was at an 8.  At 3:20 I was ready and started pushing!  I pushed for 20 min and at 3:39 baby Gabe was born!  I couldn't believe it!  I was only in labor 4 hours and only pushed 20 min!  It was by far the best, easiest labor I have had.
 

They put oxygen on me cause Gabe's heart beat was dropping a little. 

Paul- I was in labor 12 hours and spent 2 hours pushing and had to get him vacummed out.
Ellie- I was in labor 10 hours and spent 1 1/2 hours pushing and they had to use foreceps to get her out
Kyle- I was in labor 8 hours and pushed about 45 min.
Gabe- labor 4 hours and pushed 20 min.
I think I'll have another one!
My doctor had told me it would only be about 4-6 hours, but I could hardly believe how fast it went. 

I loved how my doctor put him right up on my chest.  I was just sobbing!  1/2 cause I love my baby so much and 1/2 cause I was so happy to not be pregnant anymore!

This is my doctor- Dr. Humphrey.  I just loved her.  She did a great job. My last 2 doctors were awful so I was so happy to have a nice doctor.   Her office staff was great, I never waited longer than 10-15 min.  She was nice and always listened and took time to answer my questions.  Plus she has awesome credentials and is very respected in her field.  It was the best birthing experience ever!

More pictures to come tomorrow!