As you already know, I absolutely did not want to have my son on Leap Day. I was having contractions ten minutes apart for three days but my ob/gyn told me that she didn't think I was going to have him until after my due date which was March 4th. She told me this on February 28th. I woke up on February 29th at 11am and did the usual, go to bathroom then get a bowl of cereal. After I finished my bowl of cereal, the contractions got five minutes apart. I kept timing them but told my boyfriend that I didn't think I was in labor because I was told if I went in labor it would hurt. These contractions didn't hurt at all. So I just kept keeping track of them just in case they were to get painful. Three hours later the contractions still were not painful by any means, they felt like period cramps, and were now coming 3-5 minutes apart and lasting for roughly 45 seconds. I went ahead and called the doctor office and they told me to come in so they could check things. Sure enough I was still only 2cm dilated and about 60% effaced. I'm not sure why but they went ahead and kept me anyways and broke my water a couple hours later when I was still only 3cm dilated. The contractions started coming a lot sooner, not even a minute apart. Slowly, they got more painful. Within an hour they were so painful that my face would turn purple during one. My boyfriend and his mom left at 8pm to run home and get a few more things and feed our parakeet. I got the epidural about five minutes after they left and I am so glad that I did. I had planned on going as long as possible without getting it, but here I was barely 4cm dilated and in so much pain I couldn't even be nice when I would talk. The nurse told me that the epidural would take about an hour to kick in. I was perfectly fine within five minutes of getting it. Time seemed to slow down after the epidural though, so the wait from 8:30pm to 4:30am, when they told me I was 10cm, seemed like forever. Especially since I had just fallen asleep at 3:30am. When I was 10cm my son's heart rate had shot up pretty high, so I was put on oxygen to help get it back down. It didn't help at all. The nurse kept telling me to let her know when I felt pressure so that we could start pushing. At 5:15am, she came back in the room and told me that she was going to check if I was okay to push because they didn't want something happening to him due to his high heart rate. At this time, my boyfriend had just walked in the bathroom to put his contacts in. I can only imagine his face when he heard the nurse say, "My God girl you can see his head already." I couldn't feel a thing, gotta love that epidural. She went down to the nurse station to let them know that she was gonna help me deliver him until the doctor on call could come down to my room. He was in the middle of delivering another baby. I was pushing for about 15 minutes when another nurse came in and let my nurse know that the doctor was delivering someone else's baby but would be in as soon as he finished with this one. Meanless to say, the doctor only made it for three pushes and my son was here at 5:55am March 1st 2012. He weighed 8 pounds 12 ounces and was 22 inches long. He was perfect. He looks exactly like his dad did when he was a baby. I couldn't ask for much more.
That first day was pretty tiring yet, I never went to sleep until they came to take him to the nursery to check on his vitals. I was suppose to call and let them know when I wanted them to bring him back. I did not because I was a bit stressed that no matter what I did I couldn't get him to latch and I tried to give him a bottle and he wouldn't take that either. I didn't know what to do since it had been 7 almost 8 hours since he had last ate. They did manage to get him to take the bottle for them through the night and in the morning he was back to latching on like a pro. I honestly don't remember much of the second day for some reason besides the fact that he was circumcised that morning and I had major diarrhea.
The day we came home was pretty stressful. He kept crying and I had absolutely no idea what to do. He would fill a diaper and as soon as you put a clean one on he would fill that one too. We went through quite a few diapers. Now, I make sure that if I believe he pooped already I go ahead and feed him because he WILL poop during or immediately after. I even give him a five minute waiting period after eating just to be sure. I thought he wasn't eating enough because at the hospital they told me he should be eating for 15-30 minutes every 2-3 hours. He would only show hunger signs every 3-4 hours and would only eat for 5-10 minutes. At his doctor appointment on Tuesday he was weighing in at exactly 9 pounds. The doctor said that means he is eating perfect and should be left eating the way he wants.
My advice for any first time moms would be to never give up. I am not one to stick to things that are not easily done and breastfeeding is not easily done. However, I absolutely hate breastfeeding but I am not going to give up on it. It is was is best for me and my little man. It does seem like you are constantly feeding and your nipples will definitely get sore but you get use to it. Also listen to people when they say get your sleep now. I am running on maybe 2 hours of sleep a night and about an hour and a half during the day. It is extremely exhausting.
Well that is my story. Now for some pics of my handsome little man.
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