Learning As We Go: The Day this NATION was born...

Now when I talk about this Nation, I of course mean our son.
He wasnt born the same day as our great nation that we live in. He was born October 27th 2010 and exactly 8:09am. He was 6lbs 5.5ozs and 20 1/2 inches long.

I had a cervical surgery done when I was 19 due to some precancerous lesions on my cervix which were removed. So they told me on my many OB visits that I might have to be inducedbecause my cervix may not efface or dilate without the help of medication because of scar tissue. They were right. I went up to 39weeks and was four days away from my due date. (Nov.1st) They decided to induce me because I had gestational diabetes. It wasnt out of control but basically there comes a time where it was just better for him to be out. So we set up for me to go in on Tuesday october 26th at 10pm. I'll always remember walking in through the double doors casually at a normal pace, thinking to myself how Id always pictured myself RUNNING into the hospital but I was just walking. I saw the nurse sitting at the desk. She says "Are you Amanda?" And I said yes. She goes ok come this way. And she walked me into Labor room 1.

Several hours of paperwork later (and breaking my iphone screen :( )around 1:30 am they came in applied a gel to my cervix they told me to relax and go to sleep and that this wouldnt be sending me into labor and they would start pitocin in the morning. 5 minutes later, I was rolling around TRYING to get comfortable, and I started to have alot of pain in my belly. I looked over at the machine monitoring the babys movements and any contractions. There was mountain after mountain. After me and Doug discussed if I may be in labor he went to sleep and I called the nurse. She confirmed that the mountains on the machine were indeed contractions! She checked to see if I was dilated and POP! She said "I just broke your water by accident." I was shocked it was going to happen tonight. At the time I was only dilated to 1 but she said I was effacing rather quickly. After hours of trying to wake Doug up and calling the nurses every 20 minutes screaming in pain begging for something. They finally decided I was now dilated to 4cm and could get the epidural. I was shaking heavily and wanted that epidural so bad. Doug woke up when they said I could get the epidural and while they did that he went and got some breakfast. By the time he came back up I was done with the epidural and dilated a full ten and ready to push!

I felt sooooo wonderful on the epidural. They asked if an intern could come in an view. I said sure as long as she held a leg up because I didnt think Id be able to. She complied. So everyone is gathering around and telling me ok PUSH PUSH PUSH....1...2...3....4....5...6...7...8...9...10. I did this for about 30 minutes overall but only did a whooping 15 minutes of pushing. My doctor came in and caught the baby just in time. Doug, a proud and astonished daddy, cut the chord. "HARDER!" the doctor scolded at him. I heard my sweet baby son screaming they laid him on my stomach while wiping him off. I pulled him a bit closer as they did and kissed him on his head...goo and all. I was over joyed and immediately started crying...even thinking about the day makes me swell up with tears. I was so proud of him and loved him so much. And looking at his face on my chest I instantly thought...he looks just like his daddy.

The hospital was wonderful. I learned to breastfeed and basic baby care. The only crappy thing was I couldnt sleep while breastfeeding him which I did plenty of after coming home. I was so emotional crying everytime I laid eyes on my beautiful son. I was so happy. I instantly loved being a new mommy.