Hey Jude!

The waiting game ended early on Saturday morning, June 4.  I was feeling great on the 3rd.  Apparently I was extra chatty, says my mom, who we were with late on Friday night after relaxing by the pool for a few hours.  It's strange to look back on that time.  I had no idea I would be going into labor a few hours later.  I mean, I know you never know when that moment will come, but still, very strange to think about.

So here's the story of the birth of our little Jude bug.

After leaving my parent's house late on Friday night, Christopher and I headed home and went straight to bed.  We were both so tired.  Chris fell asleep first, but I tossed and turned a bit since I had some cramping.  I'd been having that cramping for the past two nights so I didn't think anything of it.  Since it came mostly at night I figured it was probably just Braxton Hicks contractions.  So I tried to sleep through them.  I did pretty well until about 3:30 in the morning.

At 3:30 I woke up to pee, something I was getting very familiar with.  After I peed, I tried to go back to sleep.  I was just dozing off when I felt a very painful cramping in my lower abdomen.  It didn't last for too long, but long enough for me to think something about it.  My doctor had always told me that if the pain took my breath away or if I couldn't talk through it and they were 5 minutes apart then it was time to head to the hospital.  The pain didn't take my breath away so I didn't think it was time quite yet.  But, I did grab my phone to start timing.  That pain was at about 3:45am.  I tried to at least doze until the next pain.  It started coming on at about 3:50.  Aha! 5 minutes apart.  But I didn't get too excited because although they were painful, they weren't as painful as I thought they should be, so I just kept laying there.  Until suddenly, there was a gush of fluid.  I sat up quickly and thought, Oh my God, could that have been my water?  Did my water just break?  I woke Christopher up suddenly by saying, "I think my water just broke.  I swear my water just broke!"  Wow, let me tell you, he was wide awake after that!  His immediate response was, "Ok, love, we've gotta go to the hospital...we're gonna have our baby today!"  I couldn't believe it!  But, I wasn't in such a rush yet.  My doctor didn't tell me what to do if my water broke, just what to do if I was feeling painful contractions. I immediately opened my book What to Expect When You're Expecting.  It said a lot of times women don't have their water break so the only answer it gave us was to call your doctor.  But first I wanted to call my parents. 

I picked up the phone and called the house.  My dad answered and I immediately heard my mom in the background.  "Who is it?  Why is she calling?"  "Hi Dad, I think my water just broke." I said.  To be honest with you, I don't remember what my dad said, I just heard my mom again..."OH my God!  Her water broke!!!!"  She was so excited.  My parents told us not to rush since I wasn't having painful contractions yet.  After all, if I went into the hospital too soon I'd just be there in labor there as opposed to the comfort of my house.  I understood that, but at the same time I just needed to call my doctor. 

I paged my doctor at 4:00am and told her my water broke.  Without hesitating she said, "Well head on in to the hospital, you're going to have this baby today."  I still couldn't believe it.  It was THE time.  The time I'd thought about for 9 (well, technically, 10) months.  I was both excited and nervous.  I'd never had a baby before.....how in the world does this all work?!

I had our bags packed and ready to go, thank goodness because at this point my contractions were more noticeable and my mind was everywhere.  We still had time to brush our teeth and grab a few other things.  We left for the hospital at 4:25ish.  There was no one on the road for our long drive out west to the Women's Center.  While on the way there, I called my best friend Caitlin to tell her the news.  Mind you, Caitlin lives in California so it was 2:25 her time.  She answered the phone "BABY!!" partly because she was so out of it and partly because she knew exactly what was happening.  It was great to talk to her for many reasons, one being the fact that I could count my contractions and see if I could talk through them.  I was able to time them and they were about 5mins apart from each other.  I could still talk through them, though.  She wished me luck and sent many prayers our way and I still couldn't believe we were about to have this baby!

We checked into the hospital at about 4:45.  I was wheeled to the delivery room and asked to change into the ever-so-cute hospital gown.  I think I've decided that I'm going to design some cute gowns.  I mean, come on, would it kill anyone to at least add some fun colors and/or designs?  Anyway, I told the nurses that my water broke at home, but they weren't sure of it so they had to do a test to see.  The test involved putting on a pad and walking around the room to check to see if more fluid would come out.  I did this for about an hour.  At this point the contractions were getting much worse and I had to stop and focus on my breathing during each one.  Chris was the best at this point, rubbing my back constantly.  That's gotta be a weird feeling for a guy....to see your wife in so much pain and not know what to do about it.  Anyway, after the 'test' was done, they were able to see that, in fact, my water had broken.  Didn't I already tell them that?  I waited it out for almost another hour until they checked to see how dilated I was. 

It was almost 7am and I was dilated 5cm.  The contractions were coming on so strong at this point, I didn't know what to do about it.  I was holding on tight to those bed rails and praying the prayer to St. Jude.  There is a line in that prayer that says, "Pray for me, who am so miserable, pray for me, that I may receive the consolations and the succor of Heaven in all my necessities, tribulations and sufferings, particularly (here make your request) and that I may bless God with the Elect throughout Eternity."  I bet you can guess what I inserted there.  Over and over again I would try and pray and breathe and do anything I could to get through each contraction.  Thank God for that break in between contractions.....that was a huge lifesaver!

So I must've been a wimp, but the contractions were coming on so strong that I needed to know how long it would be before I could get an epidural.  To be honest with you, when I asked I thought they were going to tell me it would be several hours.  For all I knew, labor with your first child was supposed to last for-ev-er.  So I expected this whole thing to go on all day.  To my surprise the nurse told me that I'd be able to get one in an hour.  I couldn't believe it!  An hour?  I could totally do this!  I made it through each contraction knowing that it soon would be my last.

When the anesthiologist walked in, I was the happiest person in all the world.  Everyone said the needle for the epidural hurts, but compared to the pain I was experiencing, anything could have felt better.  To me, the needle wasn't bad, and I'm not one to be OK with needles.  I felt a weird pain shoot down my back and that was the last I remember about the pain below my belly button, for the epidural was God's gift to all women.  Alleluia!

At this point, it was about 8am and I was feeling great!  They checked again to see if I was making progress.  This time I couldn't feel a thing when they were checking to see how far I was dilated.  Turns out I was already 7cm.  Neither the nurses nor I could believe how fast I was progressing.  It was exciting!  Around this time our families started to arrive.  I loved when my parents and siblings walked in the door.  I saw the excitement on all of their faces.  I will never forget it.  Made me even more excited for this baby to meet everyone.  We hung out for about an hour and then the nurse checked to see my progress.  I nearly died when she said,  "HOLY COW....you're 10cm already!"  My first reaction, which just flew out as if I didn't have a filter was, "SHUT UP!!!"  I just couldn't believe it.  10 means push.  Ahhhhh!! I was about to push out this baby! And it was only 9:30

After our doctor was told of our progress, and the fact that we were ready to push, she came right in.  I started pushing at 10:00am and by 10:30 our precious love, Jude Christopher, was born.  No one, including myself, could believe how fast it went.  My dad, mom, and of course Chris were in the room as we delivered Jude.  My dad actually videotaped the delivery, but I will spare you that one.  But I must say, I've watched it again and I'm so glad we have that special time caught on tape.  WHAT a miracle it all was.

Jude popped out one healthy little boy weighing 6lbs 15oz and was 20in long.  We all couldn't believe how much dark brown hair he had.  Such a handsome love!  All of our family came in to meet Jude and he was wide eyed and took it all in.  I was trying to take it all in too, but it was just too surreal.  The most unbelievable experience I've ever had.

After the doctor did her thing cleaning me all up, I was really hoping the sensation in my legs would come back.  I hated not being in control of those puppies.  Within 15 minutes the left leg started coming back.  By 30 minutes sensation in the right leg came back.  Not bad at all if you ask me.

All in all, my delivery was picture perfect.  From my water breaking at 4:00am to Jude's birth at 10:30, the whole thing lasted just over 6 hours.  One word of advice my doctor gave me....on baby number two, HURRY TO THE HOSPITAL!

Congrats if you're still reading this.  You've made it through one long blog post.  Now that our precious love is actually here, I will just have to bombard you will pics.  It might just be the fact that I'm his mom and all, but I must say, he's one handsome little man!

If you guessed this is during one of my contractions then you'd be right!

Ready to pop that baby right outta there

We're so excited to meet our Baby Jude

What a surreal moment.....he's actually here!

Look at Emily here.  Her hands were like that for about 5 whole minutes.

exhibit A: Em's hands

Uncle T can't be more excited

Nana Hasiak

Auntie Em

Grandma Annlouise (yeah, that's a mouthful)

Gramps!

Auntie La la

Uncs Al

Uncle Matt (ok, I'm obsessed with this)

Getting naked for his first bath

He looks like a grumpy old man

but he didn't mind after the blanket was on him

ok maybe just a little

Now he's just bored

We are so blessed to have such a healthy, happy little boy.  We love our Jude Bug!