Tommy's Birth Story

It all started on Sunday the 15th. I was at church and practicing songs with the Primary aged children for the program that was happening the following week. One of my goals this pregnancy was to make it to this program. I would be 38 1/2 weeks and I knew the possibility of me having the baby before then was pretty likely. We had been working hard to learn all the songs and the kids sounded so good, I was super excited to see them preform for their families the following week.
While I was standing up, directing the music, I was feeling some tightness in my back which would lead to tightening in my stomach. Braxton hicks.
On Monday I felt like  crap. My back was killing me. I even went as far as to call my mom to ask her for her heating pad. No, I do not own, nor have I ever used one. That should tell you how desperate I was for some relief. My mom (who is a labor and delivery nurse) asked me if I was having contractions. Since I was only 37 weeks I laughed, told her no and brushed it off.
That night Steven got home from work and he could tell I was not well. My aunt was throwing a Birthday party for my 1 year cousin that night and I was determined to go to try to get my mind off of myself. Steven tried to convince me not to go, since he was pretty sure we would have a baby soon, but I tried to convince him that I was totally fine. He was doing everything he could to try to make me admit that I didn't feel well, including having me drive us the 20 minutes to my aunts house, getting Winston in the car...
When we got to my aunts house I plopped down on the couch and hardly moved.
Tuesday.
I woke up feeling great. I had an appointment that morning and my mom met me at my dr.s office to hang out with Winston.
My dr. determined that I had progressed to 3 centimeters 80% effaced. The previous week I was 2 centimeters and 50% effaced. My dr. told me that she did not think that it would be much longer. Scary.
I went home and just had a feeling to pack the rest of my bag and get everything for Winston ready. About an hour after my appointment the pain came back. This time I felt more cramps than I had before. I laid down and put on movies for Winston pretty much the entire day while the back pain and cramping continued off and on throughout the day. Around 5:00 the guilt of ignoring Winston got the best of me and so we walked down to the playground to spend some time together outside. I could not enjoy myself and it started to dawn on me that what I was feeling was probably contractions. I downloaded an app to track my contractions and decided that I would start to time them when we got home. After we slowly made our way back home I started. They were about 10 minutes apart.
I made dinner, got Winston ready for bed, got him to sleep and waited for Steven to get home. Steven had to stay late at school and got home around 7:30pm. At that point I had him time my contractions. They were about 8 minutes apart. We decided to watch a show and my contractions were getting more and more intense, painful and closer together. By the time they were 6 minutes apart I decided to take the longest and most painful shower of my life. After I got in our bed in the fetal position, waited for a contraction to pass and called my mom. She told to go to sleep and see how I feel. Impossible. I am a weenie and was on the verge of tears with each contraction. After my contractions were 5 minutes apart for 1 hour I was so ready to go. Around 10:30pm I called my mom to tell her I was going in and to send my dad to stay with Winston. We called one of our good friends to sit with Winston while my dad made the 30 minute drive up. No, I could not wait for him.
My biggest fear was that I was not really in labor and they would send me home.
We got there at about 11:00pm.

The worst part of getting into the hospital was all the questions I had to answer while being in pain. That is all.
I was dilated to a 4 and they told me they wanted me to walk around for a while and then they would check me again...
After being in triage for a little bit my mom met us there (at about 12:00am), walked in while I was having a contraction, walked right back out and told them that I was going to be staying and to line up the anesthesiologist for my epidural (!!!).
Almost immediately I had a few nurses come into my room, and put in an IV. I was so confused and couldn't believe what was happening. I asked 2 or 3 times, "So does this mean I staying?" They transferred me into a room and shortly after I was getting my epidural. Sweet relief and I felt  like I was able to be back in the world after getting it.
Really, my head had been spinning and it was all such a whirlwind.

My water had not broken yet. My dr. was not on call that night and would be available again at 7:00am. We decided to not do anything to break my water so that I could have my dr. deliver. Around 2:00am I sent my mom home and Steven and I tried to get some sleep.
My cute nurse (who worked with my mom) told my mom that she would text her as I progressed. Around 4:30 my nurse checked me and told me that I was all ready to go but my water just needed to break. She called my mom to come in and decided to call my dr. on the off chance that she would come in.
Luckily my dr. was more than willing to come in. She told my nurse to call her as soon as my water broke...
After nothing happening my dr. came into my room around 6:30am and said she was too anxious to wait  any longer.
So she started prepping, broke my water and by 7:10 I was pushing. Before I even start pushing I was an emotional wreck and so, so excited to meet our little baby.

 My husband was the best support and stood by my side the entire time. I as also lucky to have my mom in there with us.

At 7:24 Thomas Steven Hale was born. He has the most beautiful little face, most amazing blond locks, and is just perfect.

 7lbs 8.6oz 20in

We are so happy to have his sweet little spirit in our home. We feel so blessed.