First post as a mom!

First off, thank you to everyone for all of your support and love through this. It definitely was not what I expected right from the start. Being told that you'll be getting sleep while you wait for the meds to kick in and then being given Pitocin right away is definitely a big change, for example. And pushing out a baby was also not what I imagined...well, I guess I hadn't let myself imagine it. And now I know why. But I am so grateful that I was able to have a vaginal delivery. The contractions were definitely awful and I didn't enjoy not being able to move my legs after the epidural, but after 8-10 hours of labor without pain medication I was so over that. And once they started the Pit my body was ready to take over, so even when they backed the meds down to give me a break I kept having intense contractions. I progressed double in the hour without Pit what I progressed in the 8 hours with it. That epidural was a Godsend. I did have them back down the amount of my medication though, because I couldn't stand not being able to move my legs, and decided that I would rather have a little more discomfort an the ability to move. At the end though...wow. It was hard to back up my previous decision. The epidural was working wonderfully on my right side but my left side had feeling, and feeling sucked. But I made it through it, and somehow managed to make it through my contractions and push him out. I thank my husband and mother for that, because they were able to keep me focused on something other than the considerable pain, even if it was just my breathing. And they were both with me. It was amazing how quickly things progressed. Less than 24 hours after being induced my son was born, at exactly 1730. But they checked me, said I was at an 8-9, immediately reached for the water breaking stick, and I was complete as soon as  it broke. Things went very quickly from there, although I did have many severe contractions before I was allowed to push. I think I pushed through six-ish contractions, three pushes each.

I have to say, feeling the head coming down was a singular experience, and then my little linebacker decided to come out with both of his shoulders at the same time, which felt like pushing out another head. *TMI Warning* I tore on both sides getting this little guy out. He wasn't put immediately on my chest, like I had hoped for, but in the moment I was glad of it, because I was still in quite a bit of pain and because of my double tear and something having to do with clotting the doctors spent quite a bit of time between my knees after the birth. *TMI Warning* He came out with a splash. The catching doctor was fairly covered, which isn't really surprising considering how much amniotic fluid I had. I continued to have contractions afterwards, and then just cramps, I guess. I was able to hold him as soon as he was wrapped up, and managed for quite a while, but I was very pleased that he was content to be passed from family member to family member for a while, because I was in too much pain to enjoy holding him, and therefore didn't want to.

So now he's here, sleeping in his rolling bed next to me. I am waiting for David to come back to attempt to breastfeed, as I didn't want to wake Hunter up without some back-up. And here is so, so here I go! I can't believe this little guy is mine!