It's been a while!

Well, I haven't posted on here since very early in my pregnancy. As you can imagine, alot has changed... I'm now a new mommy!! :)

Patrick David Turner was born on July 21, 2009 at 6:33p.m. He weighed 8lbs, 9oz and he was 23 inches long! Yes, he was a whopper! That day, was the single most amazing day of my life! In all my years on this earth, I have never done anything better than giving birth to my son. Guys... he is absolutely amazing and motherhood is even better than I could have imagined! Even the things I thought I would loathe, are things that I love because they are a part of caring for and loving him. I was truly blessed and I thank God for him every day! I really must have done something truly spectacular to deserve such a healthy, happy, gorgeous, thriving, miracle!

My pregnancy was a breeze!! I was never sick and I always said "watch, my pregnancy is so easy - I bet I pay for it with the delivery." I never knew how true those words would be! LOL!

I had decided fairly early in my pregnancy that I wanted a non-medicated birth. Yes, that means no epidural! Crazy? No, I wanted to do this naturally... the way it was done for years and years before that magic needle. So, I was very much prepared for a painful delivery, but I knew that I could handle it. My water broke around 2:30 on July 20th - at work! I was up getting ready to file some papers and felt my water break. Oh boy! So, I looked at my Dad and told him what had happened (we work together) and he flipped! He was more nervous than I was! I actually drove him to meet his fiance and my husband so we could all go to the hospital together! I was pretty calm and was just excited to finally meet my son!

So, off to the hospital we go, my water flowing more with every laugh or cough... it was a 30 minute drive to Eden, NC where the hospital was. When we finally got there, I was embarrassed to go in because my pants were wet... silly huh? Here I am big as a whale, obviously pregnant and ready to pop, and I'm embarrassed that my jeans are wet? Haha! Well, we went inside and got checked in and I was wheeled up to labor and delivery. Oh man... now I'm so excited I'm trembling! This is it - this is finally it!!

I remembered during my childbirth class and tour of the "birthing center" that there was a room that was double the size of the others that they reserved for twins, and so I asked if I could have the "big room" in the back. She checked to see if any twins were due to be born, and there weren't, so, they gave it to me! I didn't really expect to get it, but I figured it couldn't hurt to ask. There was one stipulation though, I had to give it up if twins were to come in. Luckily that didn't happen though!

So, now we are in our big room. Me, Michael, Daddy and Debbie. Making phone calls and texts and letting everyone know what was going on. It was 3:30p.m. They checked me and I was 3-4cm dilated (the same that I was that morning at my appointment) and 80% effaced and I still had a bag of water to break. Apparently it was just a fore bag that broke. Looks like it's going to be a few hours I thought, so I sent Mike home to get the camera and laptop... essential items that we can't live without when having a baby, right?! Ha! Well, Daddy had a fit! He did not want Mike to go home... afterall it was over an hour round trip. He thought Mike was going to miss the birth of his son. But, I made him go. I wasn't going to have this baby without my camera and laptop to show the pictures off afterwards! No way! So, off he went, counting on my word that "this baby isn't coming anytime soon."

Mike made it back to the hospital with everything I had requested (good man!) and I was still pregnant, and Daddy could breathe easier now ;) Around 6:00 - another gush of water. "Yes" I thought... "my water broke bring on the baby"! So, they checked me again, I was still the same and get this... they felt another bag of water. They said it must have been another fore bag that broke and that I could get up and walk around to try and get things moving. So, that's what I did. Walked the halls for 45 min. and rested for 15. When this didn't work, I requested a birthing ball. After about 5 min. on that thing I felt another gush! "Woohoo - lets get this party started" I thought! Nope... when they checked me they found that there is still another bag of water that needs to go. Okay, it's now the wee hours of the morning and I am not holding my child! Walking the halls, I broke yet another bag of water, but was told that wasn't the last one either. By now, the nurses are thinking I'm some sort of freak of nature... they have never heard of this before. So, now we are at 4 bags of water and still another to go. A few hours later, when they checked me, bag #5 broke, only to find that there was another one! I was getting frustrated! Afterall, it's the next morning, everyone had been able to sleep except me because of the contractions, and I had been in labor for over 12 hours now. The doctor finally got my ok to start me on pitocin after many prior refusals from me. After that the contractions got stronger and closer, and they were very painful. I could tell a HUGE difference if I lost my concentration during them. As long as I focused on my breathing, I was handling them beautifully! I knew I could do this without medication!! I felt so strong!

By the time they found my 8th bag of water... all of that flew out the window!! I lost my cool... my blood pressure shot up to 100 something over 99... I was horrified! I asked to have something to help me sleep or I wasn't going to make it. All of that empowerment was gone out the window. I was feeling like a failure and so discouraged. I could no longer get back into the mind-state that I was in prior. I was exhausted. They put me on Nubian and I felt even worse... now I wasn't going to have my natural childbirth. But at the same time, I needed sleep. A few hours later, the morning of July 21st, after no progression, I started to have horrendous back labor!! It was honestly the worse pain I felt ever in my life. So much worse than the contractions I was feeling earlier. After an hour or more of dealing with that, I broke down and asked for an epidural.

At around 2 or 3 that afternoon the doctor came in and broke the last bag of water... bag #8... and said that I was barely 9cm dilated. She instructed the nurse on what to do if I felt the urge to push to try and stretch me more. I never felt that urge to push but I knew I had to or they were going to have to cut me open to get this child out! I kicked my dad and his fiance out, got the nurse and told her I had to push. And so it began.

3:30 p.m. exactly 24 hours after I had arrived there, I began to push. With each contraction I pushed with all my power. This went on for an hour... pushing with each contraction. By now, Michael got some reinforcements... my mom and Debbie came in to assist him. He supported my mind as they supported my legs! LOL! By now my doctor was also in there assisting with the birth. After about 2.5 hours of pushing she threatened me with a c-section. I was begging for water - she wouldn't allow it. I was begging for ice - she wouldn't allow it. I begged for a mint - she wouldn't allow it. My mouth was so dry. She told me that when I went in for a c-section, I couldn't have anything on my stomach. With every push she told me I had to get the baby turned around or we were going in surgery. The last time she threatened me with a c-section, I got so mad and I literally pushed until I was honestly scared of busting a blood vessel in my head. I didn't care at that point. I didn't go through all of this only to get cut open. This baby is coming out. I pushed harder and harder and cussed more and more. On the final push, you could probably hear me outside of the hospital. I pushed so hard and so long... one final push... he was out.

Tuesday, July 21st at 6:33pm, I finally heard the most beautiful cries of my life. My son was here! They put him on my chest and Michael cut the cord. He was whisked away to get cleaned up and weighed as I was getting stitched. It was at this time that my doctor admitted to me that she would have allowed me to push for 6 more hours before she allowed me to have a c-section. She did not believe in that and she said she was just trying to scare me for motivation. When she told me that, I cried. I don't know why. I think it just made me feel so lucky to have her as my doctor. My appreciation for her grew immensely. I couldn't have done that without her.

A few minutes later I was able to hold my little boy and attempted to nurse him. But, there were soo many people that wanted to see him and they were in the waiting room for hours, so I let him meet all the people that cared so much about him and had waited all this time to meet him. I was so proud. Even though I didn't have the non-medicated birth I had visioned, it didn't matter. I had a beautiful, healthy, baby boy to call my own!! It was the proudest moment of my life. I did it. It doesn't matter how I did it, but the end result was my son. My healthy, happy, handsome baby boy!! Who could ask for anything more?