How Brayden entered this world

So here goes the unabridged story of how it all happened.

Two days after my due date and feeling very large, but actually pretty comfortable, just anxious for our little guy to come, finally I started feeling contractions. It was Thursday night around 8 pm. They weren't painful but just coming about every 5 minutes pretty consistently. That went on for about two hours and we decided to go on a walk ( which we saw an alligator crawl out of our apartment complex's pond right in front of us up onto the sidewalk so we crossed the street). They went from 5 minutes to 3 minutes apart and a little more painful so we decided to call our doctor who told us to go to the hospital so we did. Of course when we got there my contractions died down a bit and weren't consistent at all and I was still only dilated to 2 cm. So they told us to wait an hour and see what happened. In an hour I dilated to a 3 and they told us to go for a walk. That helped bring back my contractions and they went ahead and sent me to labor and delivery around 1 am and hooked me up to an IV for fluids and for an antibiotic since I tested positive for strep B. The IV is what hurt the worst. The antibiotic burned as it went into my arm. So Andy and I waited and waited. My contractions were consistent but not that painful and I was still only dilated to a 4. So around 5 am I was sooo tired and fell asleep and when I did that my contractions pretty much stopped. So when I woke up I was like um.... should I just go home? I was sooo tired and all I wanted to do was sleep. My doctor showed up around 8 am I think and I was still at a 4 so he decided to break my water to help speed things up. They also put me on pitocin to get my contractions going again. Soon I could feel my contractions and they were definitely more painful. We called my parents and they soon came to the hospital and fed Andy and got me ice chips...

So soon I decided to go ahead and get the epidural. Everyone had told me that it doesn't hurt so I wasn't too scared, but mine hurt!! Wow. Then when he tested it out the room started moving and everyone sounded like robots. When I said that he was like oh ok I must have hit a vein so he had to take it out and do it again. Ouch. But I'm still glad I got it done because it was sooo nice to be free of pain and and I slept, and slept and soon it was 5:00 pm and I was still not progressing like I should. I think I had only progressed to 5 cm. They kept pumping me up with pitocin and within the hour I was up to a 6 but my epidural started to wear off and that is where things got a little chaotic. I could feel the contractions in my left leg and I thought I could just deal with it but it was getting worse and worse so I asked for more epidural so a different guy came in and gave me another dose. It helped but my blood pressure dropped down really low and they had to give me oxygen, and then another drug to pump up my blood pressure and my heart started pounding and I felt really strange and some point in there I threw up. Luckily I had only been eating ice chips all night and day. Then the nurse didn't tell me this at the time but Brayden's heart beat was dropping with every contraction that I was having so they turned off the pitocin and made me lay on my side. They kept switching me from the left side to my right side to see if it would help with his heart beat but it was still dropping. My doctor came in around 6:00 pm and checked my cerix and I was still at a 7 almost 8. He said he really didn't like my situation. He told me that the baby's heart beat was dropping and that he thought the umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby's neck and that was why the baby wasn't dropping down into my birth canal and dilating my cervix. He said even if we waited it out we'd probably do a c-section anyway, but with baby's heart rate dropping he didn't feel comfortable waiting, so he strongly suggested that we do a c-section. There wasn't really any choice it had to be done. So I freaked out and started bawling and then shaking really bad and everything happened really fast from there. They wheeled me out and into another room and pumped me up with more epidural so I started shaking even more and I had a really hard time calming down. I pretty much didn't calm down until like an hour after it happened. But at 6:20 pm our baby Bradyen Andrew Hague was born. My doctor was like WOW He is huge where were you hiding this guy. He was 8 pounds 4 ounces and 20.75 inches long. They took Brayden out and cleaned him up and then Andy laid him on my chest but I was still shaking so bad and then threw up again... It was totally not how I imagined I would meet my baby for the first time. They stitched me back up and the doctor commented on how perfectly formed my abs were and that I must workout... haha. Maybe we will see them again one day.

They wheeled me back into my delivery room and I got to hold Brayden a little. They tried to have me breast feed then but he wasn't latching on or sucking at all just biting. haha. His blood sugar level was pretty low so they had to supplement him with some formula. Then after that everything is a blur because I was so worn out. They switched me to a recovery room and Andy and I stayed there for the next three nights. I was pretty sore and couldn't walk and the pain pills knocked me out so I didn't really get to enjoy Brayden as much as I would have liked to. I couldn't hold him very well because I was so sore and he was still not latching on so breast feeding wasn't going all that well either. Basically having a c-section was not fun at all and I don't suggest it to anyone. Luckily I have Andy. He took really good care of me and Brayden and still is!

Going home was nice and strange at the same time. My mom has been here to help and I have really appreciated that. I would not have survived without her. It has now been a week and I am feeling a lot better. I finally got to change Brayden's diaper for the first time a couple days ago and he is starting to breast feed with a little help. Things are going really well.

I am sooo grateful to have Brayden in my life now. He is soo cute and such a good baby. We are so very blessed and I can't even begin to describe how good it feels to be a mommy now. It is not easy but it's totally worth it. I have already forgotten about how much I didn't like being pregnant. It is funny too we went to the pediatricion yesterday and found out that Brayden has gained weight and grown in length and as much as that made me feel good because he is getting enough to eat and is thriving it made me a little sad because he is already growing up too fast.