Jimmy and Shannon... and Brayden & Kyle too!: Brayden's arrival!

I write this on Brayden's due date but he is already 3 days old and at home with us. We couldn't be happier with our new addition to the family!

This past week I had been working from home all week and had been having pretty consistent and annoying contractions all day and night Monday through Wednesday but the contractions never picked up in intensity or got closer together despite the many walks I went on and other tricks I read online about getting labor going. Thursday morning I woke up and all morning I felt like maybe I had taken a huge step backward in getting to the point of meeting my son because the annoying contractions I had had for the 3 days prior had subsided. But, I guess it was just the calm before the storm so to speak.

About 4pm Thursday afternoon, I had two signs of imminent labor that I had read about and I remember telling Jimmy that now I was very confused. With the contractions subsided and then getting these two signs I had no idea what to expect. Sure enough not long after the signs, I had a contraction that was very different from the ones I had had the three days prior. These contractions radiated into my lower back and were somewhat painful (at this time I didn't realize what painful was just yet! haha). At 4:30pm, I decided to start timing the contractions with a new app Jimmy had downloaded on my phone earlier that day :). There truly is an app for everything!

By about 5:30pm/6pm, the contractions were coming on average 7 minutes apart and were a lot more painful to the point where I couldn't walk during the contractions. I decided it was time to call the doctor. After talking to her about the contractions, she suggested we head to the hospital. I let Jimmy eat something first and then we were off to the hospital! I think we got there about 7pm-ish. I had to stop multiple times for contractions just to get up to the delivery room so I definitely felt we were on the right track.

The nurses checked me around 8pm and I was 2cm dilated and 70% effaced. They said they would check me again at 9pm to see if I had progressed to determine if we would stay and play that night. :) At 9pm I had progressed some and the nurse said it looked like we were having a baby that night. The next hour was the worst hour of my life so to speak. I progressed from a 2cm-3cm to a 6cm in one hour and let's just say the contractions that hour were awful. I was beyond ready for some relief and after they checked me and determined I was at a 6cm I immediately requested an epidural. I did not want to get an epidural too soon during labor as I know it can slow it down but I decided 6cm was far enough along.

I remember during pregnancy I was so worried about the epidural and it hurting but when you are in the moment you don't really care at all about that pain because of the other horrible pain you are having. After the epidural, I was in heaven so to speak! :) I remember laying there and just smiling. I could still feel the contractions but could not feel any of the pain associated. It was awesome!

By 12:45am, they checked me and I was fully dilated and effaced. They went to call my doctor and got us ready to start pushing. I couldn't believe how fast we had labored and that we were about to push out our baby! However, pushing was a much different story! I ended up pushing for 2 hrs to get our little conehead out but he finally arrived at 3am on 11/4/2010, conehead and all! :) Below are some pics of his first moments in the world! :)