Just one day after my due date, On March 3, 2010, at 2:00am I woke up with contractions. They were about 20 minutes apart so I faded in and out of sleep for awhile. Then at about 3am they became closer, about 10 minutes apart. I started to get hopeful since this was the first time during my pregnancy that I had any contractions. By now I was more awake and alert and so Ryan and I turned on Seinfeld and watched it in bed while my contractions became closer and closer together. For several hours my contractions progressed and I was having them every six to seven minutes. I had a prescheduled doctor’s appointment at 1:30pm so my plan was to go to the appointment and hopefully I had dilated enough that I could get admitted to the hospital. So Ryan and I started to pack and get ready for the hospital. He put in a few hours at work and I cleaned up the house, showered and tried to rest as well. When we got to the doctor’s office I couldn’t decide if I wanted to pee in the cup or not. Every week I had been peeing in the cup to make sure everything was okay and so I thought if I was going to have this baby today, no need to pee in the cup but on the other hand if I didn’t pee in the cup and didn’t have the baby today then I would regret not peeing in the cup. So I decided to pee in the cup! The doctor came in and checked me to see if I had dilated at all. The last 2 weeks I had been a 1. The doctor looked at me and Ryan and asked if were ready to have a baby today! I was dilated to a 4 and 90% effaced. We both smiled and said yes. The doctor said he would call down to labor and delivery and let them know to admit me. We walked out of the doctor’s office and I talked Ryan into taking me first to Starbucks so I could get something to eat. I was worried about having a very long delivery and being hungry. The hospital will not let you eat or drink anything once you get admitted. So Ryan and I took a quick ride to Starbucks and ate some pumpkin bread. We showed up in labor and delivery and they were ready for us. We get situated in our room and they start plugging me into the monitors. We can hear the baby’s heartbeat which is such an exciting sound. At 3:30 the doctor breaks my water. At 4:30 the nurse checks me and I have dilated to a 6 so at 5:00 I get the epidural. I wasn’t in much pain but I thought since I was progressing I should get the epidural before it was too late. I was really nervous for the epidural so once the anesthesiologist walked in; I just turned to my side and closed my eyes until he was done. It wasn’t that bad; just a prick and some pressure. After the epidural, a few hours went by and my parents came to the hospital so I chatted with them for awhile. At about 8:30 I asked the nurse to check me and I was dilated to a 10. I was ready to delivery this baby! She had me push a few times to see how fast it would be and within a few pushes she could see the baby’s head so she called the doctor. At about 9pm the doctor came and I started pushing. As I’m pushing and the minutes are ticking by, I remember telling myself over and over that I can do this and even trying to get myself mad so I could push harder. It was definitely exhausting and mentally challenging. Almost an hour of pushing, Taggart was born at 9:49pm. It was such an amazing experience to feel him come out of my body and then placed on my chest. I kissed him and held him tight to me. I was so happy to meet him! Taggart weighed 9 pounds and 11 ounces and was 21.5 inches long.
Ryan was such a good coach and enjoyed every minute of it and amazed at the entire process. Which was surprising since Ryan cannot stand to even look at a needle. Ryan instantly fell in love with Taggart!! You could see the bond instantly. Ryan took great care of me and Taggart while at the hospital. Ryan did not let Taggart out of his sight even when the nurse would come into our room at 2am in the morning to take Taggart’s blood. Ryan would follow Taggart wherever he went. It was comforting to know that Taggart was safe. Ryan was very helpful changing every diaper and swaddling him and getting up with him at night to comfort him. Taggart stayed in our room while we were at the hospital and it was kind of neat that we were all together as a family for Taggart’s first night. We didn’t get much sleep but it was worth it.
I started breast feeding Taggart however both of us were struggling. It isn’t as “natural” as you would think. The nurse told me that I needed to get a good feeding because his blood sugars were low and if I couldn’t get something into his system then they would have to substitute some formula. I didn’t want that so I kept trying and finally we got the hang of it. The lactation specialist helped and Ryan and I would just ask every new nurse to help us and with everyone’s help we finally got it. It felt so good to know that I could give my son the nutrients that he needed.
Words can’t explain the feelings and emotions I felt knowing I was bringing a sweet spirit into this world. The world stopped for a moment and everything felt so right and perfect!
