Hello all! I had posted this over on Weddingbee since I was posting more over there, but wanted a few of those who moved over to Hellobee to hear Sam's birth story as well!! He's been a bit of a handful, but is sleeping now, so I thought I'd take advantage of that!

I'm going to start off by saying that Sam's birth wasn't anything that I was expecting, and in a bad way. We both had a bit of a rough start, and I don't look back on his birth fondly except that it was the day he arrived in our lives and made us a little family.

I started with my first contraction around 10:30pm on Tuesday, 9/25. I wasn't sure if it was real, but I definitely jumped out of bed with how painful it was! I had been cramping all day and actually went for a pedicure with my SIL that night, but I definitely wasn't expecting him to come for some reason even though I was due two days later!

I let my husband know that I thought I was in labor, and I downloaded a contraction timer app for my phone. It took until about 2am for the contractions to start coming every 3-4 minutes lasting a good minute each. At that point, both of us quickly took showers and I called my doctor. Off to the hospital we went!

I got there and was only 1cm dilated. I was having pretty painful contractions, and while I went in thinking that I might be able to do it without any medication, I knew once I got there that there was no way I was going to be able to handle it! They gave me something to relax me just a bit so that I would stop fighting each contraction and hopefully dilate more. It worked b/c in an hour, I went from 1 to 4cm! At that point, they ordered the epidural for me which took about another 45 minutes to an hour to arrive.

I have to say that I can't say enough about the nurses and doctors at the hospital we went to. They were absolutely amazing! The anesthesiologist came in and administered my epidural which started to work for me almost immediately...and thank goodness! Once that was in, I was in heaven and was definitely a lot more calm. One of my OBs then came in to break my water to speed things up. Once that was done, both my DH and I decided to try to sleep just a little bit. Nurses kept coming in to check me and my blood pressure and what not, so I didn't get much sleep, but I rested which was needed!

As things progressed, I stalled at around 9cm, so my doctor decided to start a small dose of Pitocin drip. That worked and in about an hour, I was fully dilated and ready to push! Two full hours later, my little Sam was not coming out. The doctor said that he was stuck on my pelvic bone and it didn't look like any amount of intervention (meaning forceps or a vacuum) would help him out naturally. I got the bad news that it was time for a C-section.

This was by far my worst nightmare. I don't know why, but I was so scared of a C-section. At my hospital, they wouldn't let my DH in until they were about ready to start, so the entire time that they prepped me for the surgery, he was sitting out in the hall worried sick. I was having a bad reaction to the medication they had given me and my top half was shaking uncontrollably. They tried their best to keep me warm and to help hold my arms down, but it was definitely scary and difficult! Once my DH came in, he held my hand and was absolutely amazing telling me that everything was going to be ok.

The C-section itself had complications. Sam was apparently so wedged in from me pushing that they were having problems getting him out. My doctor finally pulled his legs out first and then his head which he said he's done once in his life and was 18 years ago. Sam wasn't breathing right away b/c there was meconium in his fluid, and that freaked me out. He had no APGAR score at one minute and was at a 7 at 5 minutes. They had to do a lot of resuscitation, and he also had a fever b/c I had a fever of 103 when I went into the OR. Once they got him breathing and awake, they showed him to me for about 2 seconds. It was the most amazing 2 seconds of my life seeing my son's eyes looking straight into mine. Unfortunately, b/c of everything they had to do for him, they had to whisk him away to the NICU almost immediately. Again, I can't say enough about the pediatricians and the nurses and other doctors who assisted with everything. They saved my son's life and I will be forever grateful to them for that. They finally sewed me up and brought me back into recovery. My DH was able to go see Sam for almost an hour in the NICU and brought me back pictures and videos.

I'm not going to lie that the following 2 days were the 2 worst days of my life. I couldn't get out of bed b/c of my surgery, and they couldn't bring Sam to me since they were still monitoring him in the NICU. It was horrible. They would have to wheel my entire bed into the NICU if I wanted to see him. I only did that once. I wasn't able to breast feed immediately b/c both of us were on antibiotics, and they needed to monitor how much he was taking in. I felt so helpless and so sad that I couldn't have my baby with me whenever I wanted. Finally, the third day, I was up and walking better, and I walked down to the NICU as they were releasing him. That was definitely one of the best days. They brought him straight down to my room and all I did was hold him. My little angel had made it, and I'm so grateful to everyone who made that happen.

Since then, we've been home and adjusting ok! My DH is back to work and it's just been Sam and me. He usually sleeps well waking every 3 hours to feed at night...so he's giving us some good sleeping time. He does occasionally have gas issues, but we're working through those right now.

I just wanted to also say thank you to this wonderful community for how supportive you've been of me the last 2 1/2 years. Between not being able to get pregnant for the first 8 months to 2 miscarriages to finally getting pregnant, but having a rough pregnancy, I appreciate you all listening so much! You got me through the last 2 1/2 years and helped me to my son. So thank you so much, and now, introducing...Sam!