Labor and Delivery Part 1

April 9th!  I finally get to see my little man again in a sonogram!  I was 38 weeks and ready to check in on Fox's progress.  Daniel and Mallie were able to make it to the sonogram with me.  The sonographer told us that my fluid was low, but everything else looked GREAT!  I didn't think anything of it!  While walking across the hall to the exam room Daniel mentions to me that he has time to stay and meet with the Dr.  The sonographer leans in and says, "dad, I think you might want to go ahead and call out of work.  Unofficially, I think you will be having a baby tonight."

Talk about WHOA!  Daniel and I were immediately taken back.  Don't get me wrong, this is ALL we have been wanting for 9 months now, but something about the surprise of the news made us go from feeling so ready to, "holy moly what are we doing?!?"  I felt so unprepared... even though Daniel and I were plenty prepared.  The Dr. confirmed that we were delivering tonight and we needed to go home, grab our bags and head over to the hospital.

Time to get the phone-tree going!  Daniel, Mallie and I all called our "people" to let them know we were heading to the hospital to meet our Fox Man!  I called my Doula, Emily, and she was going to meet us at the hospital! I, then, called my other sister Rachel in CO.  I was still a bit shaken up, anxious, excited, nervous, everything!  Rachel was so calming and encouraging!  I am incredibly lucky to have such comforting and understanding sisters!  Now time to call my twin and see if he is having any sympathy pains.  While he had no pains, he was quite excited to hear about the arrival of his new nephew!

I know we were asked to head to the hospital after just picking up our bags... buuuut for my sanity, I needed to run through the shower, shave my legs and primp my makeup and hair :)  If I am going to be having all kinds of people all up in my crevices I want to look my best.  Around 2:00 we parked at the hospital and were ready to get this labor thing started.  I was hooked up to my IV and the nurse started me on a low dose of pitocin.  The following picture is of me handling the low doses of pitocin.

Ok, so I was told I was still too happy... so they bumped up the pitocin...

Alright... I'm still handling this a little too well... sooooo....

Ok I am DEFINITELY feeling the contractions now... However, I am still needing to dialate more.  And so...

yuuuuuuup.  I'm feeling them reeeeeeeeaaaaaalllllll well now and I'm progressing with dialation.  At this point, I was worried I would not be able to sit still during a contraction while receiving my epidural.  (Yes, I am not superwoman and was happy to accept the epidural)  I had Emily, Daniel, Dalie and Mallie all in the room with me hanging out while I labor.  Daniel, Dal and Mal left the room while I got my epidural and my gracious Doula held my hands while I got my sweet sweet drugs. Thanks Emmy!  After the wonder drugs, it was smooth sailing :)

Things were moving along nicely and then we had one gigantic surprise:  Look what flew into Dallas...

I was a hot mess! I could not believe Rachel up and left Colorado Springs with three kids and flew to Dallas to be here for the delivery!!  I couldn't speak I was so emotional and typically I am not one who is at a loss for words.  This meant so much to me!   Thank you again Cameron for getting Rachel to Dallas in time!! As the night went on, I kept laboring and everyone else stayed busy in their own fun ways...

This leads us to ... Labor and Delivery Part 2