My journey as a wife, mom, and nurse: September 2012

Joshua Meyer made is grand entrance on his due date at 9:41 a.m. @ 7 lbs 13 oz and 19.5 long.

I actually went into labor with him. I was induced with the other 2. With Matthew I was leaking amniotic fluid and was not in labor so that is an automatic induction and with Luke I went to 41 weeks so had to be induced. Most OB's don't like you to be pregnant past 41 weeks. So I have never really gone into labor on my own. Well this time I did.

I woke up around 3:00 a.m. with what I assumed were contractions. Not really painful yet, but noticeable. I decided to get up and have something to drink and eat and do some things around the house. I figured if the contractions stuck around then it was probably the real thing. I did have a feeling that it was the real thing so I went ahead and got ready and tied up some loose ends around the house. My brother, wife, and 2 kids had just left the night before They must of had some intuition as well. They were supposed to leave Thursday morning but decided to leave the night before. Good thing they did. By about 5:00 a.m. things were really picking up. Now they were painful, but still manageable and definitely timeable. By this time I had called my best friend in Indiana and texted my Dad to let him know that I "might" be in labor. My Dad and stepmom were still in town staying in a hotel. They had come into town to see my brother and his family. They were planning to leave that morning at 10:00 a.m. God was definitely at work. Contractions were really picking up and by this point I am in a lot of pain. I am really wanting to get to the hospital for my glorious epidural. I called my Dad and told them to come ASAP to stay with the boys so we could get to the hospital. He said he would be there as soon as he could get there. At this point I am having some really bad contractions and really just want to get to the hospital. We called our wonderful neighbor to come over until my Dad could get there. She arrived within 5 minutes and out the door we went, of course after Mark took the trash out :)

We are about 15 minutes from the hospital so not to far, but when you are in labor it seemed like an eternity. We arrived, pulled up, got a wheelchair and I was wheeled in quickly. I am in a lot of pain by this point. Overall I am handling it well. No screaming, cussing, etc... although I really wanted to :) I just kept focusing on when I would be getting my glorious epidural. Well, the nurse checked me and lo and behold I was already 8-9 cm. YIKES! I couldn't believe. Luckily I didn't have him on Cooper St. :) So of course I panicked thinking it was too late to get the epidural, but they said I could still have one. Thank goodness. I was wheeled upstairs rather quickly and things were happening very fast since I was so close to delivery. Remember that I work in the NICU at the hospital I am delivering at so I pretty much knew everyone in the room. That is actually a good thing. I was very well taken care of. I did get my epidural, but the bad news is it never really took. I think I was just too far along. It did take the edge off initially but after my water broke and I was close to pushing the contractions got really bad again. Things did get a little scary at the end, but all turned out well. Luckily I only had to push for about 10 minutes. Of course after seeing my sweet Joshua it was all worth it. He looked great.

Just for the record I am not against a natural birth, but I just prefer to have a painless labor and delivery. I actually do think that natural birth is the way to go. Having babies in America is very medicalized and all these interventions do carry the risk of problems for Mom and baby, but I wasn't planning on a natural birth so this birth experience really caught me off guard. Of course now I am glad I got to experience labor. I will say that the recovery after was so much quicker and I do believe that was due to less time with an IV, epidural, no induction this time, etc... My body did what it was designed to do.

We came home 2 days later and so far so good. Recovery has been a breeze. It just gets easier and easier with each baby. Breastfeeding is going well. He is tongue-tied, like Luke was, so of course I am paranoid that I will have all the same issues I had with Luke. The 1st 8 weeks were very hard with Luke. So far it is going good so I think his tongue-tie isn't as significant as Luke's was. It is definitely painful at first but it goes away rather quickly and I can work with his latch easier. My milk was in before I left the hospital which was so quick which is great. Joshua is eating great and sleeping good too. Matthew and Luke seem to be adjusting just fine. The hubby goes back to work tomorrow so I am on my own but I think I will be just fine :)

Photo bomb coming up!

Blessings,

Betsey