Evan Michael, being a timely little bugger, made his debut on his due date, July 10 at 2:18 am. His labor was fairly fast and easy and I couldn't have asked for a better experience.
I had my 40 week appointment at 9am on July 9th. We had an ultrasound to check his growth and heart rate to make sure it was ok to keep him cooking for at least another week. With the measurements, the ultrasound tech estimated that he would be about 9 lbs, but she said the machine usually overestimates by about 25%. When my ob felt my belly, he said he was thinking closer to 8 lbs. He checked me and I was STILL 3 cm dilated (had been for the past 3 weeks) so he asked if he could sweep my membranes and see if he could "get things moving in there." I told him to go for it, but I didn't think it would do much. We scheduled an induction for the following Monday.
After my appointment, I met with my mom, had some lunch and did a little shopping. She left my house around 4:30pm. I hadn't had any contractions all day. About an hour later, I was hit with one really strong contraction. And then another. And another. But they were about 7-8 minutes apart and I had been told not to call my doctor unless the contractions were less than 5 minutes apart for at least an hour. These were painful, though! I sent a text to my husband telling him he should head home, just in case. I then get a call from the nurse letting me know that they had an opening for an induction the next morning - did I want to take that? I said, "Um, I'm actually having some pretty bad contractions right now." She talked to the doctor and they told me if the contractions became more consistent, to head to L&D that night. Well, they definitely started to get more consistent. I finished packing my bag, took a quick shower and called my husband to tell him to HURRY UP and get home. Of course, he was stuck in rush hour traffic. We still needed to drop the dog off at a friend's, too.
We finally get to the hospital at a little after 7pm and I'm hobbling my way to L&D. People kept asking if I needed a wheelchair and I kept saying no. Not sure why, lol! It took forever (over an hour) to get me all checked in and the nurse kept saying that most likely I was not in labor yet and that they would probably send me home or to walk for a few hours. There was no way I was gonna go home at this point, I was in some serious pain. When she finally checked me I was at 5cm. She was like, "Oh, I guess you will be staying here tonight..." I was thrilled to find out that out of the 10 doctor's in my ob's practice, mine was the one on call that night. Yay!
I had to get two bags of fluid in me before the epidural. This seemed to take FOREVER. The contractions were getting worse and worse but my husband, mom, and brother did a great job of distracting me and keeping me entertained. I finally get the epidural around 10pm and it was so easy. Didn't feel a thing. The nurse told me it would take about 20 minutes to kick in but it felt pretty instant for me - I never felt another contraction. After the epidural was in the nurse checked me and I was at 8 cm. I really can't believe I made it that far. I mean, the contractions were extremely painful, but not nearly as bad as what I thought they would be like, or from what I've seen on TV, haha.
We spent the next few hours just hanging out. At exactly 2am we heard a giant "pop" on the monitor. Uh, I think my water just broke. The nurse checked, and sure enough, it did. She also said, "your baby has a ton of black hair." Oh my god, you can see the baby?? Clearly, it was time to start pushing.
While the doctor came in and started getting ready, the nurse had me do a "practice" push. We waited a few minutes for the next contraction and I only pushed two more times before he came out. I did not think he would come out that fast and I was so into pushing. The doctor said "stop pushing and open your eyes!" I opened them and my beautiful baby was right in front of me. Hands down, the best moment of my life. They put him right on my chest and I just couldn't stop staring at him. I had no idea of what else was going on around me...we were in our own little world. After an hour, they took him from me to check him out, weigh him, bathe him, etc. We knew he looked big, but it turns out he was 9 lbs 7 oz!
Recovery was a little rough for about two weeks, since he was so big (3rd degree tear - ouch!) but now things are much better. He is a really, really good eater (already almost 12 lbs at 1 month!) and a pretty good sleeper. Being a mom is definitely the most challenging experience of my life, but also the best. I constantly stare at him in disbelief that he's actually here and he's mine. It was a long and tough journey to get here, but I wouldn't change a thing about it.
And here's my big guy today, at one month:
