Ian Jacob Earl is Here!

On August 20,2008 at 7:39 am Ian joined our family weighing 7 lbs 8 ounces and measuring 20 1/2 inches. This is really the first few moments of "free time" I have had since his birth and am excited to finally sit down and write out his birth story. So here goes...I had been dilated to 3 cm and 75% effaced since my 36 week appointment and was not so patiently waiting to go into labor. At my 39 weeks appointment I was dilated to 4 cm and I asked my doctor to strip my membranes. I immediately started having regular but painless contractions on the way home from my appointment. This was at 4:00 pm. I had a baby shower to go to but decided if this was really the day I would like to spend some more time at home with Avery and finish cleaning the house a bit. We carried down all the hospital bags and got some other things ready. But since I had had a few nights of false labor prior to this I wasn't getting my hopes up that this could really be it. We went to bed around 11:30 pm. Avery woke up at 1:00 am and as I was settling her back into bed I had a strong pain in my back. After that I just couldn't go back to sleep and the contractions were picking up in intensity. I went downstairs and started trying to time them on Contraction Master. They were still only 10 minutes apart but were really becoming kind of painful. I started figuring this was really it though. Around 2:30 am I decided to get in the shower and see if things picked up or died down. Well they picked up and while I was putting on makeup and drying my hair, contractions were now about 7 minutes apart. I didn't think I wanted to wait until they were 5 minutes apart because given my family history of super quick labors I could be having him at home if I waited too long. I called my mom to come get Avery at 3:11 am and she arrived at 3:40 or so. We left for the hospital. When we arrived I was checked and the nurse said I was only having mild contractions and they were still only 7-10 minutes apart. I was so afraid she was going to send me home but when she did an internal exam I was 6 cm dilated! We were admitted. She must have thought my labor was going to progress very slowly from here because she said I could have some pitocin around 7:00 am when the doctors were up. I got my epidural right away which was nice. Then I just lay there and shook like crazy and waited. She check me again a short while later and I was 8 cm at about 6:00 am. We called Laura to come and said it shouldn't be long. I got a catheter inserted and noticed that I felt it go in and did not like it. Then I started to notice that I was feeling a lot of pressure and urgency to push which I never felt with Avery. We figured there was something wrong with the epidural and so called in our nurse. She said I could get a special boost from the anesthesiologist. Well when he got there and checked me out he said "oops! your epidural tube is disconnected!!" Now I am at about 9 cm dilated with no epidural! He was able to give me the extra shot but said it would take a bit to work. I am wanting to push so bad and am moaning in pain. Plus my doctor is 25 minutes away. At 7:30 pm he arrives and gives me a local anesthetic because he said I am going to tear. I am able to push immediately and 5 pushes later little Ian is out. I was able to feel him come out which was cool and I looked down after his head was out and saw his little body slide right out. They laid him on my chest immediately and he was perfect. He scored 8/9 on his apgar test. He is nursing well and he sleeps ALL THE TIME! I have to wake him up to feed almost every feeding. He is such a sweet boy and we are all so in love. Avery had a bit of a hard time adjusting but I think things are getting better there as I try really hard to spend all my extra time with her. Ian is a week old now and I will post about that when I get a chance!