So I will try to backtrack and give the story of Julian’s birth. Sometime around week 34 or so, I stopped by the doctor’s office and was told that I had already started to progress we’ll say and that he would likely be born early. I was given similar feedback upon subsequent visits and I started anticipating his birth at any second. Finally, around week 38, we scheduled an induction for Friday, November 4th. I got a little nervous and decided to reschedule for Monday. Then Friday afternoon, I decided to stop by the doctor’s to make sure my water had not sprung a leak. My boss dropped me off at 1pm and told me that I could head home afterwards. The doctor confirmed that I did in fact spring a slow leak and that she was sending me down to labor and delivery because she was not confortable with me leaving. I called Jo and started texting family and friends. Jo arrived right before they sent us back to a room. We got comfortable in a large delivery room and eventually two nurses came in to assist. One nurse informed me that pitocin had been ordered and she would administer it soon. I explained that my wish was to avoid pitocin and that I had been told my water would be broken futher and that we would go from there. The doctor stopped by and agreed to this plan and proceeded to break the water. I laughed at this process because it was so unmistakable and nothing like peeing. Things proceeded and eventually the contractions became about 3 minutes apart. Jo was helping me through them, but I realized I needed the epidural, especially because I was tensing up. Luckily this came quickly and in no time I was numb. The doctor stopped by and confirmed that all was ready and I just needed to call her when I felt the urge to push. She also told me to stop requesting pain medication so I would be able to. The nurse followed this with the advice that I should hold out as long as possible, so I did. The pushing lasted about an hour and Jo helped me through it all. It took a while for me to understand that all the poop refereces in our birthing class were serious. When Julian finally arrived, I barely looked at him because I was nervous about the next few steps, especially after they paused to get the pediatricians. Luckily the pediatricians came quickly and had him in my arms in no time. Afterwards we were taken to our room where we stayed for the next two nights just hanging out with our son. Here are some pictures.
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