My Shadow In Time: He is here...

Yup he but I'm sure anyone who follows my blog already knew that ;) I'm only a month behind in writing this blog post but hey, I just had a baby and everyone knows newborns don't give you much time for anything else.

Welcome Hayden Alan Day

4/21/2012

4:21am

19.5 inches

8.6 Ibs

born @ 39 weeks gestation

So where to start, How about with my last belly pics. Even though at that point I thought for sure I still had another week or two left.

I honestly had NO CLUE I was going to go into labor that day. It really was a normal Friday. I did laundry and then we went outside to play. Aaron, Ava, and I went and got mexican carryout from our fav mexican restaurant and Aaron and I even talked about how I would be fine with another week or so. Aaron was on call so it would just be simpler if baby waited. Guess that should have been our sign.

I had been sleeping on the couch since Easter because I was having a tough time with my hips and iliosacral dysfunction :( So that night I had gone to sleep at about 11/11:30 and at 12:30am was woke up by the dogs. I got up and went to the bathroom and came back to lay back down and just could not get comfortable. My hips and sides we sort of sore and tender and laying on my back was just not an option so I got up frustrated and turned the tv on.

I was sitting on the yoga ball and it didn't take long for me to realize that I would get comfortable only to be uncomfortable again a few minutes later. With Ava my water broke so I had no idea what to expect contraction wise this time. Honestly for the first hour or so I doubted I was really in labor. I had been having a lot of false labor and in fact Easter had felt more "real". Being a second time Mom I was not about to drive 45 mins to the hospital only to be told it was false labor and to go home.

So I pulled up my contraction master iphone app and after another 10-15 mins it was telling me to go to the hospital lol. I thought no way so I went and got my Mom because I thought I was losing it. She sat with me for another 30 mins and we both decided it was worth a call in since I had a 45 mins drive in. They said I could come or I could wait another hour or so...it was up to me. I said I would come in because I had a bit of a commute. Below is my chart from the app

Start / End	Duration	Frequency	Intensity / Notes
1:53 AM 04/21/121:54 AM 04/21/12	00:01:06	00:04:19	Medium
1:49 AM 04/21/121:50 AM 04/21/12	00:01:10	00:04:54	Medium
1:44 AM 04/21/121:45 AM 04/21/12	00:01:03	00:05:01	Medium
1:39 AM 04/21/121:40 AM 04/21/12	00:01:00	00:02:33	Medium
1:36 AM 04/21/121:37 AM 04/21/12	00:00:51	00:03:45	Medium
1:33 AM 04/21/121:34 AM 04/21/12	00:01:20	00:04:43	Medium
1:28 AM 04/21/121:29 AM 04/21/12	00:01:03	00:04:15	Medium
1:24 AM 04/21/121:25 AM 04/21/12	00:00:59	00:06:32	Medium
1:17 AM 04/21/121:18 AM 04/21/12	00:01:10	00:06:08	Medium
1:11 AM 04/21/121:12 AM 04/21/12	00:01:24	00:07:13	Medium
1:04 AM 04/21/121:05 AM 04/21/12	00:01:24	--:--:--	Medium
This chart was generated on May 5, 2012 at 6:57 PM EDT

So I went and got Aaron and gathered the rest of what had not already been packed. I told my Mom not to wake Ava yet but to wait until we got there and got settled and then she could take her to Nan's and head to the hospital. After all I labored for 22 hours and pushed for 3 hours with Ava so why rush right??? When I got in the car Aaron was standing at the bottom of the garage steps talking to my Mom and I said let's get going because I knew no matter what sitting in the car was not going to be comfortable. About 20 minutes into the drive Aaron started to sound a bit panicked. I was having to groan and yell a bit thru contractions that were coming every 2-3 minutes. He kept saying we should have left earlier but I woke up and starting timing them pretty quickly and was instructed not to call until they were 5 minutes apart lasting 1 minute for an hour.

We finally got to the hospital some time after 3am and had to wait for the triage nurse to be paged because she was on break. She was paged a second time because they said I sounded very uncomfortable. Which I was and had already yelled at Aaron because he asked me what my social was mid contraction (they were coming so fast I was no longer getting more than a 30 second break). I remember thinking both times I was in labor, why did I pre-register if you people are going to make me fill out this stupid card anyways. Anyways, the triage nurse came in smelling of smoke which you know is the exact smell I was wanting to smell at that point. Guess she had to finish her cigarette first. I guess everyone is entitled to a break but shouldn't there be back up??

She checked me and I was at 5cm so they said they would have me walk to a room. Um seriously that little walk seemed to take forever. I got into the room and another nurse starting asking me more questions about my previous labor and other information she needed to enter into the computer. A tech started doing God knows what with my arm. I had said I wanted an epi because at that point I was thinking no way am I going to be able to be in this kind of pain all day (bad case of denial that this baby was coming fast). She kept saying she would wait until I wasn't having a contraction to stick me but I finally said just do it because I wasn't getting breaks anymore. They drew 3 tubes of blood and then informed me that I had to wait for some sort of results from the lab before I could have the epi. She said it shouldn't take long because they should not be too busy. I do not remember having to wait long with Ava but maybe I did. I was in labor for so long with her it just seemed those morning hours flew by. I finally told the nurse I was feeling a lot of pressure with the pain so she checked me and I was at 7cm. At this point it was about 4am and I was tired. I just kept thinking of Ava's 22 hour labor and 3 hours of pushing and thought I need to get an epi or I'll never make it........I need sleep to do this all day. I think I was in denial about how fast I was progressing because my water hadn't broke like it had with her.

The nurse started warming up the baby check up area thing and called the midwife and said she should come check me. The midwife came in and I was at 9cm and they said the pressure I was feeling was the bag of water which was bulging. She asked if she could break it and I said no because I thought I can't push for hours like this......I need pain meds. I was panicked because I left the house not really believing I was in full labor and this was all going too fast. It didn't matter though.........the next contraction my water broke and literally shot like a canon across the room. They had to use blankets to clean it..........Aaron referred to it as horrifying. Like something out of a movie haha. At that moment I felt a few seconds of really great relief followed by that instant need to push. The midwife said not to push just yet because I wasn't quite there yet but I didn't care and pushed anyways. It was the only thing that felt good and brought me relieve. I don't even remember where anyone was in the room or if anyone was even ready to catch a baby. I said I need to push and I did.........within 3 pushes he was placed on my chest. Aaron said the nurse and midwife barely had time to get into position. Hayden had some bruising on his face because of how quickly I delivered him but no conehead baby this time. I couldn't believe it was over. I started instantly shaking from the hormones but was unbelievably hot. Aaron had his jacket on the room was so cold and I was sweating lol. When the nurses left we both just sat there in disbelief that he was here and that he was a he in general. When they said it's a boy it didn't quite sink in.

Aaron had been texting with my Mom and told her she wouldn't make it in time. He even had to send a proof pic that he was here.

We got a hold of both of my parents but were unable to reach Aaron's Mom for a few hours. My Mom, Dad, and Ava were at the hospital by 6am and Ava was so excited to meet baby grass. She even told my Mom on the way that now Mommy's belly won't hurt anymore because baby grass was here. Aaron's Mom got there shortly after I was moved to my postpartum room around 7:30 or so.

Here are some of the pictures from Hayden's first day.

At 6am in the delivery room.......I think we were all exhausted and stunned.

Later that night everyone came back up.

Nan with her second Great-Grandson and fourth Great-Grandchild

It was a very bittersweet day for Nan. Last year on 4/21 we lost Pop and this year we gained Hayden. Nan said she felt like he was a gift from Pop.

We had Hayden's first name picked within a few hours of his birth but we slept on his middle name. On Sunday we decided he should have his Daddy's middle name and so he became Hayden Alan Day.

To see his newborn pictures go to the link below. I have them all up on my photography site.

http://www.amandadayphotography.com/2012/05/welcome-baby-hayden-southern-maryland.html

Here are his countdown pictures so far and a few others.