tracythomp - 4-3-2010 Laike Michael Thompson

I am a mother. It is amazing. There are honestly not words to describe the change that has taken place in my life. I love this little boy more than words can express. I woke up on Friday morning April 2 more ready to have this baby then I ever thought I would be. Adam and I talked about how perfect it would be to have this baby on that day. In fact back in January I had circled Friday April 2 (good Friday) as the perfect day to go into labor. So I got up and around 9 am I started having regular contractions. Adam was timing them and they were lasting about 30 seconds and happening ever 3 or 4 minutes. He went to work around 10 knowing that he may have to come home early. I had a midwife appointment at 10:30am so My mom and I went to that expecting that they would tell me to relax and probably later tonight I would go to the hospital. I went to the appointment and it felt like forever before they would see me. They didn't have me down on the schedule to see the midwife but only to have a Non stress test. I eventually went in for the test and asked the nurse if I would see the midwife. She said that most likely I would see her but I wasn't in the schedule. My contractions picked up and I was starting to get irritated that no one was seeing that I was in labor. After about an hour and a half Gail (the midwife) came into see me. She asked if my contractions were regular and I told they were about 4 minutes apart and lasting for about 45 seconds. She asked me if I thought I was in labor and My mom said "yes I think she is". When Gail checked my cervix I was 5 cm and she told me that I need to go to the hospital. I told her that all my stuff was at home and I needed to go home and wait for Adam to come. She told me that I should just have Adam get my things and I should go straight to the hospital. I was worried that I wouldn't have a chance to eat anything at the hospital and I wouldn't have the energy to go through with the labor. So my mom went through the drive thru at Wendy's and I had a chicken sandwich. We went home and Adam was already there. We got our things together and went to the hospital. At the hospital I was able to get into triage rather quickly. Once I was there they monitored the baby for a couple of hours to make sure he was okay. It took so long because his heart rate wasn't as active as they hoped. Finally they put me in a room and I was able to get comfortable. I got in the jet tub and that was extremely relaxing. My contractions were slower at this point and so we all just hung out. Gail came to the room and talked with me about some of my options. She told me that we could break my water and that would speed things up. I told her I was not ready for that and I wanted to see if things would pick up on their own. IT was about 5pm and Gail told me to get some food and try to move around a bit to make things faster. It was probably around 8:30pm when things really started to change. I could tell my contractions were more intense and I was getting less of a break in between. Gail came back and we decided that she would come back at 9:30 or 10 and if my water hadn't broken we would do it then. When she came back I was definitely ready for things to get going. I was getting tired and knew that unless we did something I would be in labor FOREVER. When Gail checked me I was still 5 to 6 cm. As soon as he checked my water broke. It felt really good to have the water break. It was soothing. HOwever, then things were HELL. I didn't have more then 5 seconds before I felt like the contractions were overtaking me. I tried to use my breathing and Adam would squeeze my hips as I got through each contraction. The worst part was laying down and while they monitored the baby. My mom would put cool wash cloths on my face. It was a team effort to get through each pain. Eventually the contractions were so bad and I needed more pressure on my hips. My mom was on one side pushing on a hip and Adam was on the other. I pictured myself as a ketchup bottle with the baby being squeezed out. Around 12 I told everyone that i felt pressure and wanted to push. Gail asked if I was getting the urge to push. I said "I WANT TO PUSH" she said "that didn't answer my questions but lets see where you are. I was 9 3/4 cm and she told me I could push. We began pushing which was better. I felt like i was actively doing something to get the baby out rather than just handling the pain. Gail had me moving around and changing positions to try and push in different ways. Finally around 2:02 am our beautiful Laike Michael was born. Because there had been meconium in the amniotic fluid the neonatal people had to come and suction the fluid out of his lungs. I did not get to hold him right away but was more focus on making sure he would be okay. Finally they gave the baby to Adam while they made sure the excessive bleeding that I was having would stop. I was finally able to hold my baby while I waited to be stitched. I had a pretty terrible rip that needed to be repaired. I loved holding my baby for the first time. He was so precious. I could not believe he had actually fit inside of me. I was quite amazing just to start at him. I felt the immense blessing and Grace that God had shown to me through this miracle. I won't write about the stitching because that is definitely a part that I never want to remember!.
So now Laike is home. It has been a week and 1 day since he was born and life is amazing. Adam and I are amazed at him. Everything he does down to his hiccups is the greatest thing. We love him, we are so happy to have him and can't wait to see how he changes our lives one day at a time.