My LIttle boy has arrived

I will probably be leaving out some details but wanted to share my birthing experience the second time around.

Saturday January 24th, I started having contractions when we were having lunch in Seattle with my family and extended family. The contractions were 4 minutes apart and I had trouble walking, talking through them. We were headed to see my brother-in-law's new Restaurant Depot Store, but decided to take a detour to the hospital after lunch because the contractions were getting stronger and the nurse that spoke to me on the phone said come on in. My nurse who checked me said I was still 3 cm dialated and 90% efaced. I was in shock I had not changed any. She told us to walk for 30 minutes and come back and she would check. After the 30 minutes, no changes. I was almost in tears, okay I was in tears. She said she would call my doctor let him know and he would make the decision from there. I truly thought I would be going home. When she came in with the news that my doctor would be willing to break my water I was more than thrilled. My doctor broke my water at 5:50pm Sat. January 24th. My nurse had me walk and continue to move about. The nurse had problems getting my IV hadlock in, which was a valve if they had to hook me up to the IV for an epidural. I had in my mind I would be going this route. I did not take an epidural with Bailey and wished I would have, but after she was born the pain was gone.

I was progressing marvelously thanks to a little monkey I was focused on through my contractions and more walking and breathing through them. My nurse was the most helpful when they started getting harder for me. I asked her when I was 5 cm dialated what she thought about epidurals. She gave me her experiences with her children. She had 2 epidurals and the other 2 natural. She told me she did not like that her legs were numb and she had a hard time pushing. The other thing she said was an epidural could prolong my labor and they may have to use a vaccum or forceps to get my baby out while pushing. I took this all into consideration. Through my labor God was with me. I prayed a lot through my labor and concentrated on Bailey and how my body was designed for giving birth. God was my Strong Tower. A band called Kutless sings this song which is one of my favorites. I also had in the background, Jon played my favorite Christian artists throughout my labor. I could eat popsicles, drink water, and even have chicken broth if I wanted. Jon kept saying I was a witness to people in the room. My mom, 2 Aunts, and sister were in the room with me. About 7-8cm dialated my blood pressure shot up and beeping on the machine was going on. My nurse tended to me well and with God's guidance my blood pressure finally went down. The anxiousness was taking over, but I managed to get back on track with breathing differently through my contractions. My nurse talked me through each contraction and with locking in on her eyes I made it through each one the harder they got. With a technique of doing "hehehoo" and really forcing the "hoo" out is what really helped me. 8cm dialated my back started really hurting and I almost wanted to get the epidural and the thoughts of "what am I doing?" kept running through my mind. Again, asking God for strength to get me through this was my hope and strength.

I was finally to 10cm and ready to push. The pushing part I was not looking forward to, because I pushed for 3 hours with Bailey. I started out pushing against a bar that was connected to my bed. This technique only lasted one time, because it made me feel yucky sick. I then had my sister on one leg and my husband on the other and beared down and screamed like no other but his head crowned within one to two sets of pushes. On the next set I remember hearing her no more pushing and she called for my doctor. My doctor came in and with one more set of pushing and screaming my doctor said, next time no screaming on the next push and sure enough I beared down again and did not scream, focused on what I had to do to get my baby out and he was born the next push at 2:57am on Sunday morning January 25th. Tears of joy and relief came over me like you would not believe. I only pushed for 15 minutes which felt like to me an eternity!

Hudson Tait Anderson was born weighing 9 pounds 14 ounces and he was a week and a half early. Thank the Lord my doctor wanted to break my water otherwise he would have been growing bigger and bigger inside of me. What an amazing experience this was. I totally went natural. I took 2 Tylenol due to a headache that would not go away, but I don't think that counts. My husband calls me "Super Woman." I would say I was more of God's "Super Warrior" that through Christ I can do all things and all things are possible. I have a scripture above my mirror in my living room, "For with God nothing shall be impossible." Luke 1:37 this scripture went through my mind as I labored and delivered, plus others. I have other stories to share from at home and my walk with God strengthening me through my son, but I will have to blog another day about those. Enjoy some pics and Blessings to all!