How the Stork Delivered Jake

Well, I have seriously been trying to blog all day long. And now it's 10:30pm and I still haven't finished. Do you know how much this is killing me?!

At least it's a precious little boy keeping me from the computer and not something completely miserable! Because he's about the furthest thing from miserable I could possibly think of.

I know everyone wants to know how this all went down. Because just a few days before his delivery I was complaining about being pregnant forever, I hadn't progressed, and was basically going to set a world record (in my head at least). So here goes:

In the middle of the night on Tuesday (October 6th), I started having contractions. Not super painful, but enough to where I could finally start "timing something". I woke Seth up once a little freaked out, just because I didn't really know what was going on. They continued all day Wednesday. Not really painful, just enough to be uncomfortable and noticeable. I chalked it up to nothing and thought, "this must be how all women start to feel before they have their babies." Of course I was secretly hoping that everytime I stood up my water would break or something but no such luck. :)

Wednesday night was a different story. I woke up around 1am in a little more intense pain! The contractions were coming every 7-10 minutes. I finally got up and came to watch TV so that Seth could get some sleep. By morning, I was starting to freak out a little. I called the hospital to talk with a nurse and they confirmed what I already thought...that they wouldn't admit me until contractions were 2-3 minutes apart. But I was confused because at the doctor on Monday I hadn't progressed at all! So I called the dr's office as soon as they opened and they told me to come in right away. Seth decided to stay home from work and go with me. When we got to the doctor, he told me I was 2cm and 90% effaced! WHAT?!

Dr. Rawson told us we could possibly expect to be at the hospital later in the day Thursday or Friday morning. But he also warned us the contractions could stop at a moments notice and I could have several more days. We went home and took the dogs on a walk. Bet people in the neighborhood didn't know what to think of the pregnant woman having to stop approx every 4 minutes and cringe! By about 2pm, the contractions had gotten so bad that I could hardly stand up. Seth was having to hold me up and I was getting really lightheaded. He also thought this was be a good time to take a video of my contractions.

Said video has now been deleted. I mean, really?!

Now that I think about it, it probably would've been hilarious to post on the blog. I had the most horrible face and kept telling him to turn off the camera.

Anyway...

We headed to the hospital around 2pm. When we got there, I was dilated 4cm. THANK GOODNESS! I was so scared of being sent home. I told them I needed an epidural STAT. It's probably a good thing I didn't know how long it would take, otherwise I might've punched the nurse if I knew it would be 6pm by the time I saw the anesthesiologist!! We were admitted shortly after and were in a room by 4pm. Dr. Rawson came to break my water and I got the epidural a couple hours later. Ah, the anesthesiologist. My guardian angel in green scrubs!

The dr. said to get some rest because we could probably expect an early Friday morning birth. To make a long story short, I progressed from 5-10 centimeters in about 4-5 hours and was ready to push around 10:30pm. They called the doctor and we were so freaked out! I was scared, Seth was sick to his stomach, and it was so surreal because we knew our baby would be here SOON! I started pushing at 10:44pm and Jake was born at 11:02. I know 85% of the women reading this might want to kick me, but that 18 minutes felt like 5 hours!!!

But looking back, it went so smoothly. My labor wasn't terribly long...I didn't push for that long...I didn't need any stitches...and I almost felt like a champ the next morning. Man, I should have a baby everyday!

JOKES PEOPLE.

And it goes to show that nobody can predict the future and this truly was ALL up to God! Here we thought he would come late and he came early. We thought he'd be born on Friday, and he made it by Thursday! I thought I'd never make it through delivery, and here I am today. :)

And.this.little.boy.is.so.worth.it!!!!!!!!!

I apologize that was so lengthy. Most of you are probably falling asleep on your keyboards about right now but I needed to document this, at least for me! Because you know next week I'll be knee deep in re-telling some other long-winded story about his first trip to the pedi or something. You never know in the exciting world of being a mom!

We are enjoying being home this week and spending time as a family. Seth has a few days off and Jake is probably loving all the attention he's getting! I apologize if I haven't been able to return all your calls, messages, etc. It feels like the phone has been ringing nonstop and emails are coming left and right! It's like I gave birth to a celebrity.

Dang him. And I was the one who was always supposed to be famous! The sacrifices we make for our kids!!!

I'll start y'all off with some pictures from his first few hours and then have some super cute ones to post shortly after. Perhaps during our middle of the night feeding. Unless I'm catching up on the 2.3 million TV shows I'm behind on. It's such a toss up.

p.s. An hour or so after Jake was born, I looked at Seth and said, "We missed Jim & Pam's wedding!!!!!" He looked at me like I'd lost my mind. Even through the pains of labor, I still knew which shows I was missing...

:)

Jacob Garrett Anderle
So emotional! I couldn't believe he was finally here! Jake meeting his Nana and NonnieProud daddy!
Dr. Rawson was the BEST. I seriously have the best OB. He was so encouraging and did a wonderful job with the delivery.

Alright, that's all for now, folks! I am dog tired and have a hungry child. And I probably desperately need some sleep too. But hey, I think this post might be long enough to keep all you reading for at least a few hours tomorrow...