Labor and delivery of Cooper John

It all start Wednesday night around ten. I was on the ground playing with Boone and felt a little gush. I looked at Cody and said pretty sure my water just broke. Contractions where very mild at this point so we decided to go to bed. I really didn't get any sleep, I started timing the contractions around 1 am they were 5 minute apart and I was bleeding quite a bit. I woke Cod up and said I think it time to pack up and head fore the hospital. This was so exiting, we got everything together and got to the hospital around 3. They let me go right to a room sense my water had already broken. I got checked and I was already a 4 and 90% effaced. This was good news to me, I was progressing and the contractions really didn't hurt all that bad. I was very confident that this labor thing was going to go fast and smooth. Well I continued to labor the rest of the night laying in bed trying to sleep in between contractions. Around 7am I was no longer able to just lay there. Elizabeth (my Douala) would use counter pressure while I was breathing through a contraction and that help so much. I was able to breath right through them. We went on walks around the hospital, rocked on the birthing ball, slow danced with Cody and sat in a huge tub all through out the day. Finally someone came to check on me at about 3pm they said I was dilated to about a 5 maybe 6. I started crying, there was know way I could continue for to much longer. I could tell I was becoming exhausted. Cody held me and reminded me that I could do this. He really gave me the confidence to continue on. I then got into the tub again. It was amazing, the tub is like an epidural in my opinion. Everything feels much better. Then around 5:00 my contractions intensified by like a million. They were coming super fast and SO HARD. I was freaking out, I thought for sure this baby was coming any second. The nurse came in to check and see if I was fully dilated and she said I was dilated to a 6 or 7 I cant remember. That was so hard for me to hear. I did not want to continue, I decided an epidural sounded pretty good right now. I think I even begged for it:) I wasn't able to get one right when I asked, they started me on an IV and gave me some drug that made me so loopy. They told me that I was going to feel like I was very drunk. And that it did, I always wondered what being drunk felt like. Well lets just say, I didn't feel much at all, my body was so relaxed, I could barely open my eyes. I said anything and everything that came to my mind. I laughed at everything but I could still feel all the contractions I was just to relaxed to really care. Around 7:00 my epidural finally arrived. I was very happy for this. I felt immediate relief. ( From what I had read in a lot of my books they made me think epidurals where bad, that they would take away the labor experience) I was going to try and do it with out one but I was still leaning toward getting one if I needed to. Well let me say, the epidural was nothing like I thought it was going to be. I could still feel and move my legs, I could still fell my contractions just not the pain only pressure. I was able to relax a bit and not think I was about to die. Cody really liked it too. He said it was really hard seeing me in so much pain and not being able to stop it.

Finally at 9:00 I felt like it was time to push. I called for the nurse and sure enough I was fully dilated and the babies head was engaged. Then the real work came, I had know idea how hard it was to push out a baby. I figured my body would do most of the work. Wrong I pushed with every last bit of energy I had and more. I pushed for about 45 min, which felt like a really long time but the nurses said that's great for my first kid. On average it takes about 3 hours. While I was pushing I really wasn't in reality. It felt like a dream, I couldn't open my eyes knowing that that would take energy. I remember everyone telling me the baby was almost there. and saying look at all that hair and to keep pushing. Finally I felt all the pressure go away, and I could hear Kara reach down and grab your baby. I snapped back into reality and realized I had just given birth to this amazing little child. I was able to hold him from the moment he came out. He was beautiful. I was sobbing, I looked up at Cody and he was crying tpo. That moment I will remember forever. I have never felt so much love at one time. It was amazing. I will cherish little Cooper forever and be the best mom that I can be.