Baby Boy's Story

He's here! It seemed so surreal for a few days; now, it seems crazy (in a good way) and real (especially at 2:00 morning feedings). Here is the story.

Tuesday night we finished packing the bags so we'd be ready for the 7:00am induction. We went to bed. At around midnight I woke up with some pretty strong contractions, so I decided to get up and walk around to see if they'd go away (like they always had before). But they didn't go away, so I started timing. 5-6 minutes apart. I woke up Allan, told him, and took a quick shower. After the shower, the contractions were closer together. It was time to go.

We got to the hospital around 1am. They admitted me at 1:15 after checking me out--I was at 5cm. I was dealing with the contractions pretty well. They were about 2 1/2 minutes apart and weren't too painful. The nurse came in and said the anesthesiologist was in an emergency c-section and I'd have to wait for an hour before my epidural. I said, "Okay," mostly because that's all I could say, plus I was dealing with the contractions.

In the progress of that hour, however, the contractions intensified and became longer. I started moaning with the pain (maybe I even screamed once), and the nurse came in. I didn't know it at the time, but the machine had registered I had a contraction that lasted more than one minute, which alerted her. She asked if I wanted to be checked to see how far along I was, and I said, "No, I'm probably just a wuss." She disagreed and checked me.

"You're between an eight and a nine."

"I can't do this without an epidural," I cried. Pretty sure I was crying.

"You're already doing it," she responded, "but I'll check on the anesthesiologist."

And the blessed man came. Oh, that epidural was the greatest thing ever. He gave me a pretty big dose to help bring quick relief, and quick relief it was. God bless that man. I even told him that he worked miracles, and he laughed.

After the epidural, they checked me, and I was at 10cm. They called my doctor; he came and broke my water. Then pushing time. I pushed for about an hour, and then the doctor came back in and I noticed all the nurses dressing and prepping. It then registered that I was close. As I was pushing, they all were saying how great I was doing. I said, "You just say that to everyone." They assured me I was superb. 15 minutes later, little boy was here.

Charles Thomas Stewart was born at 5:16am. He was 8 pounds, 7 ounces and 21.5 inches long.









So, now we're home and adjusting. I can honestly say this is the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. But it's also the most amazing thing I've done.