Okay so here the journey begins. Andrew decided it would be a good idea to get me walking into the hospital. I really hope I was having a contraction during this picture because I look pathetic. I woke up at midnight on Sunday with contractions. Because all week we had just been waiting for anything I stayed in bed a while to see if they were really contractions and to see if they kept coming. By 12:30 I woke Andrew up and said I think I am having contractions but I am going to walk around and see if they stay. So I was up doing dishes and cleaning the kitchen to see what would happen. By 1:30am they were still coming on strong so I got Andrew up to start timing them. We put on the good old Cosby Show to have something to distract us while timing them. By 2:30am I knew it was time to get ready for the hospital. The contractions were coming every 5 minutes or less apart and I was in pain. We called our sweet friend Kristin to come over and take care of Sadie Jane when she got up. She arrived around 3ish and we were off to the hospital. It was a whirlwind to me to see how fast things were going because with SJ I labored at home for around 9 hours! I took one last look at my only child SJ and we got into our car and headed off.
We got checked into the hospital right away and here I am enjoying my epidural. A few things were different this time around. The nurse had to try twice to get my IV in-no fun but it all worked out. The epidural went smoothly but I did feel some weird nerve action in the midst of it. I got my epidural when I was at a 6 or 7. They gave me this wonderful liquid meal as you see in the picture but they wanted me to lay on my side so it was a little hard to get anything down and I was starving! Unfortunately the epidural slowed things down. My doctor was one busy woman on Monday so it took her a while but around 11:30 she broke my water and they put me on pitocin. So we waited a little longer and then around 12:30 I started feeling the urge to push. Well remember how I mentioned my doctor was one busy woman? She was in the middle of another procedure and my pain was getting severe. I kept holding off because Drew was still up high so I thought in waiting maybe he would drop. The pain got to be too much and I knew there was no way I could not stop from pushing so just as Andrew called the nurse in she told us my doctor was on her way and that I could start pushing. Pushing, I hate pushing. I know it is how to end all of the pain but I dread it each time. So now I am in pain and shaky but I am glad I get to do something through the pain and not just lay there. I start pushing and the nurse told me that with the first few pushes Drew moved way down. This was a huge encouragement to me because with SJ she would just not come down and I had to push forever. I kept praying to God before I pushed that He would be gracious to me and He definitely was! My doctor arrived and within a few more pushes Drew was crowning. This was great but probably the worst pain of my life as she told me to wait until the next contraction to push him out. In my head I wanted to say-NO WAY!!! But I knew I had to do it and as I told the nurser, my doctor and Andrew how much it hurt they all encouraged me to hold on and before I knew it my doctor was telling me to push again. He came out and I was very relieved!
Here he is right after he was born. It was such a joy to have him right there with me as they finished things up. I didn't get to do this with SJ because she wasn't breathing when she first came out so they had to keep working on her for a while before I got to hold her.
Andrew James Callaway weighing in at 8 pounds 6 ounces and 20 inches long.
Remember how I was starving??? I was thankful they gave me food right away but who really has good hospital food? Andrew had some leftovers from his lunch and I downed them as soon as I could. My favorite thing about the hospital is their ice and this lovely drink they make-cranberry juice and 7up. It is so good and I probably had 7 of these big drinks before I left the hospital.
Here's SJ and Nana meeting Drew for the first time. SJ really has no idea what is going on but really likes having Nana here to play with and loves saying baby.
So that's it-Drew is here and I am recovering much faster than I did with SJ. I am so grateful that the Lord has blessed us with this little boy. I never knew having 2 children would be so much fun!
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