Welcome to the world Grayson

Grayson was due Nov. 8th and I was absolutely convinced he was coming late. So when I woke up at 4am on Oct 28th with a little bit of cramping I was sure it was nothing. How very wrong I was! I decided to stay home and telework and told Tom to go to work because it was "just those Braxton Hicks things I think." When I called the doctor that morning to let them know I was having some mild cramping they told me to go to the hospital right away. I told them it didn't really hurt that bad and they asked how far apart the contractions were. Contractions? It hadn't even occurred to me that these were contractions (just felt like menstrual cramps) and I hadn't even tried timing them. After debating with the receptionist on whether I REALLY needed to go to the hospital, I realized there was no getting out of it.  Since Tom had just barely gotten into work and I didn't want to make him turn around and come right back (especially since I thought it was a false alarm), I told him I'd have my mom take me in and we'd call him right away if I was really in labor. Well, turns out I was dilated to a 4 and they told me I'd be having the baby that day!

I was admitted around 11am and Tom came as fast as he could to the hospital. My blood pressure was high, so I had to take some medicine during labor that didn't make me feel very good and kind of out of it. So most of my labor was kind of a blur, but I do distinctly remember being able to start pushing around midnight. This was the one stage that I really underestimated.  I always thought when they said you could start pushing that you’d just a push a couple times and out would pop the baby! Nope.

I pushed for about an hour with the help of Tom and one of the nurses. It helped me the most when Tom or my mom would say something or react to my pushing. Like one time Tom said “I can see his hair!” and my mom would just make excited noises and tell me how great I was doing. I’m really glad they were both there.  I knew he was getting close when the doctor came in and they put my legs in the stirrup thingies.  It seemed like I only had to push one or two more times and out little Grayson’s head came!! The doctor told me to give one more small push and I blasted the rest of him out. They put him on my chest right away and the first thing I noticed about him were the lines under his eyes and that he was trying to open his left eye and look at me. It was such a sweet moment.

The doctor delivered my placenta while I was holding him, and then they took him to be cleaned up and gave him to Tom to hold. He was so perfect and alert and beautiful.

He was 7lbs 1oz and 21 inches long, born at 1:12am

Proud papa

I'm so glad my mom could be there

Aunt Addie and Uncle Jamey drove all the way from Ohio to come see him!

Best feeling ever

The hospital didn't go as I expected, but looking back now I'm so happy that there were no major problems during the delivery and that I gave birth to my healthy and cuddly baby boy.