Welcome to the World, Max!

On September 19th, 2012, my life changed forever.  No matter how many people tell you that having a child changes your life, you never truly understand it until you experience it yourself.  Although I've been soaking up every second I get to spend with our little Max, I wanted to take time to document his entrance into the world, because I don't ever want to forget every detail and what a miracle it was.  So, here's his story!

On Tuesday, September 18th I was having mild contractions on and off throughout the day.  The day before, I'd had a "false alarm" and thought that my water had broken.  But, the doctor sent me back home saying it wasn't quite time yet.  She predicted that I would go into labor that week, but couldn't make any guarantees.  So, on Tuesday night around 11:00 pm, I was woken up by stronger contractions and what I once again thought was my water breaking.  The contractions were uncomfortable, but not painful.  I told JB that I thought it might be "for real" this time.  I tried to fall back asleep, but every time I would drift off, another contraction would come.  At 1:00 am, the contractions were coming every four minutes and I decided to call my doctor.  She suggested I continue to labor at home until it was really painful and then told me to meet her at the hospital.  So I took a shower, did my hair and makeup, and then stayed up all night. That makes perfect sense, right?!  I watched a few movies on HBO while JB slept on the couch next to me.  Around 6:30 am, I nudged him awake and told him I thought it was time to go.  Knowing that I wouldn't be allowed to eat anything once I was admitted, I made him stop to get me a bagel on the way to the hospital.  Who stops for food on the way to the hospital while in labor??  This girl right here.  It's a good thing I did too, because I wasn't allowed to have anything--not even ice chips (although one of my nurses snuck me a few).

When we got to the hospital, we waited in the maternity triage room to meet with my doctor.  She got to the hospital around 9:30, and she determined that part of my bag of water had in fact broken.  She went ahead and broke the rest of the bag and told us we were going to have a baby that day!  Because my water had broken at 11:00 the night before, she wanted to speed up the labor process to avoid any type of infection from happening.  She told me I could "walk the halls" for a half hour, and then she would be putting me on pitocin to speed up the labor process.  When the pitocin drip was started, I had to be put on the fetal heartrate monitor to ensure that the medication wasn't affecting the baby's heartrate.  This also meant that I couldn't walk around anymore.  This is exactly why I didn't created a "birth plan" ahead of time.  Of course, I had wanted to walk around and not be bedridden for as long as possible.  Well, that idea was squashed after we had been there for a half hour.

Here I am--before the pitocin.

The nurse started the pitocin drip, and within 5 minutes I could feel an immediate difference in the strength of my contractions.

And after.

Within the next hour, I was doubled over in pain and unable to talk my way through them.  Here is where I have to say this:  Have you ever seen the show, I didn't Know I Was Pregnant?  How the *#*@ do women just have a baby in the toilet and not know what is happening?!  When the pitocin drip started at 10:30, I was 1 1/2 centimeters dilated.  By 1:00, I was asking for the epidural.  The nurse coaxed me into waiting until I was 3 centimeters dilated, because sometimes an epidural can slow the labor process if it's given too early.  By 2:30, I was finally at 3 centimeters, and the anesthesiologist showed up and administered the epidural.  Cue the angelic music.  I'm pretty sure I told her that she was my new best friend.  Within 2 minutes of getting the epidural, I was completely numb and resting.  I took a 2 hour nap, and when I woke up, I had progressed to 7 centimeters.  Why would people choose not to get an epidural??  By 6:30, I was 10 centimeters dilated, and my nurse called the doctor back in.  It was time to push.

In just 45 minutes, our months of waiting and wondering ended, and Maxwell Michael Dustin made his way into the world at 7:14 pm on Wednesday, September 19th, 2012.  He weighed 8.69 pounds (exactly what the ultrasound technician had predicted weeks earlier--even though he was born one week earlier than his due date). He was 20 1/2 inches long, with skinny frog legs, chubby cheeks, and a little bit of light brown/blond hair.

We fell in love instantly. After the shock of the birth, Daddy cut the cord, and we spent the next hour alone with our little Max.  Then, we introduced him to my family and JB's family (via Skype). I'll post more pictures of this soon!  Our lives have been changed ever since, and I can't even describe how truly blessed we are to have been given this gift.  Life is so good.