Hello Austin!

Well, he is here! He decided to start making his grand entrance on his actual due date, 8/8/11 at around 8am.  I started having contractions around then but they were intermittent for the first few hours.  My mom, who ended up coming to Denver on Sunday morning, and I went on a two mile walk.  When I got back I started timing the contractions.  They were still about 7-10 minutes apart and about 30-45 seconds long.  We hung around the house for a while and David was at work.  Around noon, they started to get a bit more intense.  I called the doctor and they suggested I come in for them to check me out.  I was still around 2 cm dilated at that point, but she said to call back before they close regular hours.  So I went home to start really timing the contractions.  David came home from work.  As a distraction, we watched our wedding video.  That was fun since I hadn't seen it in years.  The contractions started to get closer together (5-6 min apart) and longer (50-70 sec).  We called the doctor around 3:45 and she said to go ahead and go to the hospital since they had been lasting for about 1 hour with that timing.  So, off to the hospital we went, bags and all. After being admitted at 4pm, they checked me again and I was 3 cm dilated. The nurse inserted my IV.  The contractions were getting more intense at this point.  Since I tested positive for Strep B, I had to have penicillin through my IV, which burned going in..no fun.  Also, I had to let the first round of penicillin go through my system before I could get my epidural.  Around 7pm, they had given me the epidural. Wow, that thing works.  I did not realize that I would not feel anything.  It probably did slow down my progression some, but it was worth it.  Because of my need for the penicillin (2 doses of it, which have to be given 4 hours apart), they could not break my water until it had spread throughout my system.  So at about 9:30pm when I was 5cm dilated, the doctor on call at the hospital, broke my water, which is supposed to speed up the process.  Little did I know that it would still be about 5 hours until Austin's arrival.  My mom came back up to the hospital around 10pm to be with us.  When it was almost time to start pushing, Dr Granadillo, the dr on call that night from my doctor's group, came up to the hospital.  She is about 7 1/2 months pregnant so I felt horrible for the middle-of-the night timing, but I guess that is part of her job.  Then we ran into a little bit of a obstacle because Dr Grandillo said his head was faced sideways instead of up or down, which would probably require her to use a tool to help his head out.  So, she had me try laying on each side for about 20 minutes to see if he would turn.  It was time to push, which I did for about 40 minutes.  He came out face down, which is the easiest way at 2:22am. (didn't quite make his due date, oh well)  Hooray!  They cleaned him up and David got to hold him.  Dr Granadillo was shocked that he was 7 lbs 13 oz.  She expected a baby in the 6's.  David calls the whole experience "eye-opening".  (of course I didn't see much of anything).  We didn't get to our postpartum room until 6am after they had cleaned him, cleaned me, weighed him, and my anesthesia had died off.  Now we are here just enjoying getting to know Austin, our little blessing.  He is precious and so fun to cuddle with.  It sure is nice having nurses taking care of us.  What are we going to do tomorrow when we leave?  We will be all alone (with my mom's help) at our own house with this baby.  Hmmm... but it will be great!

Here are a few pictures from the first 36 hours of Austin's life.

DiDi and a BIG yawn

and here is me the night before he decided to start his long procession into this world (at 40 weeks).  The last pregnant picture I took!

More to come...probably after we make the trip home tomorrow.