My Baby Story

Here's how the whole thing went down last weekend including a few graphic details:

1. 5am Saturday morning: bloody show. I woke David up because I was so excited that something was finally happening.
2. All day Saturday: light cramping, contractions while at Deanna Rose with Tommy
3. 9pm Saturday night: water breaks...more of a trickle then a gush this time instead of a huge gush. Less than 10% of women have their water break to officially start labor, and mine has broken both times.
4. 10pm Saturday night: drop Tommy off at my parents' even though he says HE is going to the HOP-SIT-AL to have his baby
5. 11pm: arrive at hospital and find out I'm 3cm.
6. 12am Sunday morning: check again after some pretty strong contractions. Only 4cm. TONS of mucous in the bathroom.
7. 3am: Check again---still only 4cm. Start to freak out a little and say things to David like, "YOU got me into this."
8. 4:30am: can't take the pain anymore and order the epidural. Ahhh. Some relief for awhile.
9. 9am Sunday morning: still at 4cm. Dr. orders some pitocin to get things moving. Tommy and my parents come to visit.
10. 10am: Start to feel the contractions again, especially in my lower right back. Wonder if the epidural is wearing off.
10. 11:30 am: check...9.5 cm! So I went from a 4 to a 9.5 in 2.5 hours.
11. 11:45 am: Ask the nurse for a top off of the epidural before pushing and she says no. I decide Nurse Teri does not deserve to have a breast named after her.
12. 12:20pm: pushing, which felt to me like the ultimate crunch workout
13. 12:37pm: HENRY DAVID IS HERE! Since there were no complications during delivery he got to come straight on my chest. He was crying just a little bit and didn't have that much stuff on him. Everyone says he looks big. David cuts the chord.
14. Weigh in: 9 pounds! I knew it.
15. David goes out to tell everyone. My mom comes in to meet him. Tommy, Paul, and my dad come in after I'm stitched up.
16. Tommy is more excited about getting new cars from me as his big brother gift than he is about his brother.
17. 1pm: First breastfeeding. Hank can latch! And he has a strong suck!
18. 2pm: Time to move out of the delivery room and into the recovery room.

A few other things I want to document here so I remember include: Tommy bringing me a carnation the day after delivery with the proudest smile I've ever seen on his face, calling my grandfather to tell him we named our son after him and having him clear his throat and say, "Well there aren't many Henrys in the world," one particularly strange nurse telling me in the middle of the night she needed to check my "weenie," and Tommy telling everyone that Hank was HIS baby after holding him for the first time.

So there you have it. That is my baby story.