Gabe's Birth

Everything about Gabe's birth was different from Luke's. To begin with he was 3 days early! Since I had been dilated to 3cm for several weeks, I was expecting him anytime. I even had MANY days with false labor contractions that would be consistent and last for hours, but never get strong enough. By the day came for actual labor, I was so tired of thinking I "might" be in labor, I took the contractions in stride and went out to dinner with friends. Up until this point, I had eaten very lightly when I was feeling contractions...just in case. I love food so this trend was just not going to work for me anymore. In hindsight, maybe I shouldn't have ordered fettuccine alfredo... After dinner and a walk, we had friends over to play games. At this point my contractions were still going and seemed stronger. Halfway through a game, I opted out and waddled my way upstairs to make sure I had everything packed that I needed. Since my water broke with Luke, I kept postponing the call to the doctor. Once I realized that the contractions were only 2 minutes apart, I thought I should go ahead and give the doctor a call. He told me to come in, but I could tell that he didn't believe I was very far along. Matt thought he should finish playing the game before even starting to pack his bag!!! We headed down the road about 15 minutes later in quite a bit of pain. I gave my boss a call on the way to let her know I wouldn't be in Monday and then called both our parents to let them know. At the hospital, the nurses got me all set up in a room. Once she checked me and let me know that I was already 9cm and that there probably wasn't going to be time for an epidural the reality of natural childbirth set in. I was still feeling pretty good at the time (around 10:00). There were nurses quickly getting everything ready for delivery. The doctor arrived to break my water and this intensified the pain to levels that I prefer to forget. Luckily, the labor was fast at this point. I quickly dilated to 10. Okay I was 9 with a small rim, but I wanted to push so they let me. Okay so my body wanted to push, but I wasn't mentally ready. I think I panicked. Luckily one of the nurses was able to calm me down enough to push. The fact that I was also fighting to keep that fettuccine down while simultaneously push made it even more difficult. I am glad to say that I won that battle. Gabe was born at 11:13 after a few HARD pushes and a blood curdling scream that terrified Matt. Gabe was so alert and quiet after his initial cries. He just wanted to look at everything. Unfortunately, my enjoyment of holding him was put on hold while the doctor tried to stitch up my tears. It took several tries to get me fully numb - not a pleasant experience! It was all over so quickly though and I had a beautiful baby boy to show for it all. Grandma and Grandpa Aldridge had just arrived in town so they stopped by the hospital on their way to our house to watch Luke. They tell you to rest after birth...I think I was awake for the next 48 hours because I was so excited about everything :)