The week prior to his birth I was having mild contractions off and on. Sunday the 24th, Josh and I went to Adventureland, which is a theme park in Altoona. We had free tickets from Josh’s work and some of our friends were going, and at this point…I figured walking can’t hurt and if anything may get things going. So around 2:00 we went to Adventureland, spent the day there, walking around…of course I didn’t ride any rides other than the ski lifts and the ferris wheel. We went home at 8:00 and as we were walking out to the car I started having contractions, that were a little more than mild, I was timing them the whole way home and they were about 6 min. apart. Once we were home, I tried relaxing and watching TV to see if they would go away, and they didn’t…instead they only intensified. I got up to load our dishwasher and was literally on my hands and knees everytime I had a contraction because of the pain, finally Josh said “should we go?” and I said yes. Luckily I packed our hospital bags that morning, just in case. Josh grabbed our bags and loaded the car, I made my way to the bedroom to change into pajama pants and then Josh asked if we should bring a towel…in case my water broke, and then I said..”Yeah, I think it just did” I grab a towel and walk through the living room, and sure thing..my water had definitely broke. So we got into the car, right at about 9:00 pm and drove to the hospital..we called the siblings and parents. We arrived at the hospital around 9:15 and I was wheeled to the maternity ward. When I got there they examined me, I was 2-3cm and 80% effaced. 20 min later they moved us into a room and the family joined us. Around 10:30pm I got my epidural…which is amazing…I didn’t feel the contractions after that! They checked me again around midnight and I was 5cm dialated…the nurse said we should get some rest and she would check me again around 2:00 am. So we turn the lights out and try and get some shut eye. Around 1:00 the nurse comes in and says my contractions are really strong and close together so she wanted to check me, I said that I’m starting to actually feel some of the contractions again..she checked me and sure enough..I was fully dialated and it was time to push. I woke Josh up and the nurse said we’d start doing pushes for a little while before the doctor actually arrived to move the baby down. So we did just that…I pushed 3 times for 10 sec each with each contraction, we did this probably 4-5 times before the baby was so low that it was time to call the doc. So they call the doc and I have to wait and push until he arrives…which was extremely difficult. By the time the doc arrived I probably pushed 3 more times and out came Landen. I cried…he cried and I was totally in love, his cry was the one of the most soothing sounds I’ve ever heard…which of course is something that changes instantly, haha. Since he was born so early in the morning, we were only up for another 2 hours..after the family got to meet him, and I was able to nurse him..we all went to bed. Landen stayed in our room with us the entire time, I just found it easier to nurse with him right there.
The next day…or actually the same day, just later on…the family came back to visit, yet Landen wasn’t being to social..he literally slept for the first 18 hours of his life. He didn’t even wake up to eat…which led to him having to have his blood sugar levels tested every 3 hours or so, which resulted in them pricking his foot. His blood sugar levels were fine so the nurses weren’t concerned, finally I pumped a little and bottle fed him…and he ate that which held him over for a little longer. At 10 pm on the 25th he finally decided to open his eyes, and that night he started wanting to eat every 3 hours or so. Because he was doing well and I was doing well the doctor offered an early discharge, which we gladly took. So our first day home was 8-26-08. I thought is would be way worse than it was but Landen is a good baby…he sleeps a lot and eats when he wants to eat.
2 weeks later, it still isn’t as hard as I ever expected, and being a mother is the best feeling ever. I can’t wait to see Landen grow up and go through all his “firsts”. It’s so amazing to see something that you and your husband created…it brings you closer together and now we’re a family and life almost feels complete…even though I know there is so much more ahead…
