Mommy's version of Landon's birth (the more accurate one)

I had gone to see the Dr. that Monday and the dilation had not changed from 1.5 at all. I had tried walking, but with Landon so low, he was pushing on my nerves to the point where it was hard just to walk around the house, let around the neighborhood. So, I hadn't done much of that. Friday night I had some labor contractions during the night and knew that these were different from the contractions that I have experienced since the fifth month of pregnancy. I called Heather Saturday morning to ask her what she thought about them and she said that she was pretty sure that I was having real labor contractions. Then I became concerned because my mom was in Utah with my brother Jason and his family because they just had my nephew Daniel and I didn't want to tell her that I was having contractions and have her get on a plane to come out here and not have the baby for another several days and have taken her away from her other new grandson... What a dilemma. I finally spoke with her and she said that in her opinion, I wasn't having labor contractions because they lasted too long. Labor contractions are more consistent and don't last very long... So, in her mind I wasn't in labor, but to go to the hospital if I thought that I needed to, there is nothing wrong with that. Feeling better having notified my mom of what is going on, I cleaned the bathrooms and did some house chores to get ready for my mom to arrive on Wednesday (my girlfriend Emily told me she went into labor cleaning, so that was a plus) and then got in the shower to get ready for Tara's baby shower. Went to the shower and parked way too far away and ate a ton of pineapple, (might possibly have eaten it all myself) and then walked with my sister-in-law Janice back to our cars (she parked far away too). Once I got to the car, Candy called me and within a few minutes of our conversation, I had a labor contraction. Luckily, the house the shower was at isn't too far away from mine and it is country roads, where the speed limit is 55mph and not much traffic at that time of day on a Saturday afternoon. I miraculously made the light to turn onto the main road and just popped on the cruise control while I endured the contraction. Candy told me that she new that this was the real deal (she has talked to me through several non-labor contractions before and knew this one was different).
James came home shortly after I got home and nothing else happened. We just kinda hung out, James played XBOX while I talked to my brother Bryan and his wife Amy and they gave me advice on labor contractions and so forth. We decided to get Burger King for dinner. So we went and got dinner came home, I pigged out, we watched some boring t.v.
Around 9:30 I started having contractions. I just laid in bed through them and they started about every 3 to 4 minutes. I called Heather at 9:30 and asked her what I should do. She said to wait another 30 minutes and if they are the same, page the Dr. So I did. Then I told James what was going on. He started to pack a bag. The Dr. called me right back and asked if I was uncomfortable. I said yes and he said to go on into the hospital and they would check me out and let him know my status.
So, we got ready to go, and the whole time, I just kept waiting for the contractions to ease up and completely expected to be sent home for false labor symptoms. We had to go in through the ER entrance and everyone just smiled at me like, there is no way she is in labor. Then we got taken upstairs to the monitoring area and they were not alarmed in the least. They had me change into a gown, give a urine sample and then settle into the bed. Jean did my intake forever it seemed and then took my blood pressure which seemed to be elevated. I asked her when we would know if I am in labor and she said, I am going to examine you right now. So she did the pelvic exam and says, "Well, you are at an eight," and seemed to become a little more business like. I said, " I'm sorry, did you say an eight????" She said yes, and I said, "Are you sure?????"
So then everything seemed a lot more crazy! James and I discussed how mom wasn't going to make it and the Nurse said," Oh she has plenty of time to get here," and then we told her that mom was in Utah and she said, "oh, nope, she won't be here in time."
Then James called mom and told her and she said, " Are you serious?!"
Then we called Heather to tell her and James's mom and realized that it was almost 12pm. Oops.
From there they did the IV and blood work and took us to our labor room. They asked me about whether or not I wanted the epidural and I couldn't decide. I thought, hey, if I got to an eight without even knowing it and the contractions weren't all that bad, maybe I can do this... But in the end, the Dr. really wanted me to have it because of my elevated blood pressure. So, we did that. I have to say, the most pain I had that night was from the cervical exam and the epidural needles, oh and the catheter insertion wasn't fun. Other than that, no pain.
So, they got me all set up with the epidural and then they told us to sleep and rest. At this point, my contractions started slowing down so we had lots of time for rest. About 3am, the nurse came in and I told her that I could feel my right side and was feeling pressure in my right hip, so she said," well, you have been laying on your left side this whole time so maybe the epidural isn't getting the right side very well. I will check you and then have you switch sides." She then told me that I was at a nine. The Dr. came in soon after and they broke my water. That was an interesting feeling. Then the nurse told me to rest and they left. At 5am, she came back in and I was at a 10 and she said that we were ready to start pushing. So, we did. We pushed through a few contractions and then she told me to rest for 15 minutes and she would come back and we would push some more. We did this for a while and she said that since I couldn't really feel where to push, that she was just going to let me labor down (let the contractions push the baby down instead of tiring myself out) because that was working really well. So she would come in and out periodically, have me push and then go for a while and come back. At 7am they had a shift change and we got a new nurse, Jen, and she came in at 7:20 and stayed with us until the birth. By this time, I had started to have feeling back in my left side as well, so I could feel where to push better. So, I pretty much pushed from 7:20 to 8:51 when Landon was born. She was a great coach and James was awesome as well. During this time period our cell phones started ringing constantly with family and friends wondering why we hadn't called yet. Once James told them that we were still in labor and pushing they were quick to let us get back to work. The Dr. came in about 8am and put on his gown and we pushed for a long time and then he said that they were going to use suction to help get the baby out. He had me push and James said," Look Kista!" I of course couldn't see a thing and then pushed one more time (all of this happened in a matter of seconds) and he was out! I started bawling immediately and loved to hear his tiny cry and James cried (which for those of you that don't know him, he isn't a crier and I told him that he'd better cry when our baby was born) which made me cry more! It was a blissful moment for sure. And then one of the nurses, April, asked where our camera was and we both realized that we left it in the car with our bags because we didn't think we were staying. : )