EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT!

My son is finally here. Cooper Reed Corbin was born February 18, 2011 at 8:48am.  He has been an exciting little booger from the very moment he took his first breath. But more on that later. First let me tell you all about how he got here.

I went to the doctor for another weekly check up on Thursday, February 17.  When the doctor checked me she said I was a very loose 1 - she rounded up to 2cm dilated.  His head was still very low. She scheduled me for another weekly appointment, but told Tanner she didn't think I would need it. When she said this I thought she was probably right, but I never dreamed I would see her again quite so soon.

Thursday at work I noticed some achiness in my back. I thought at first that it was just the lower back pain many pregnant women get, although I hadn't really had any lower back pain since the sciatica went away. As the day went on, the pain started coming a little more frequently and a little more regularly. I thought maybe they were contractions, but they didn't hurt all that bad. I figured once I got home from work I would put my feet up and relax and they would stop. I just hoped that the phone didn't ring. That's right - I was on call and in labor. I had warned my boss that I might have to have someone cover for me and it wasn't long before I made that call.

Once I got home and started timing contractions, they were lasting about 45 seconds and coming about every three minutes. We called the women's center and they said to keep timing until I had a total of 2 hours with contractions every 3-5 minutes.  So I sat waiting as patiently as possible while Tanner gathered all of our things to pack the car. He also finished eating the lovely dinner he'd made - steak kabobs. I was too scared to eat anything, but it looked delicious.

We arrived at the hospital about 9:15 and when the nurse checked me I was between 2 and 3 cm dilated. I knew that was some change from earlier in the day, but I didn't think it was enough to constitute active labor. They hooked me up to all the monitors and we waited in the triage room for about an hour and a half.  During this time, my contractions were getting further apart, but more intense. I really thought we would be going home. I thought they would want us to labor at home for a while longer and see if the contraction interval picked back up. I was wrong. I was now dilated to a good 4. Our nurse, Eva, told us she would get all the paper work and get us checked in. "Let's have a baby," she said. Instantly I was overcome with fear and excitement and joy. This was real. We were having a baby.

We got back to our room and I kept contracting like crazy. They hurt, but I wasn't dying. I thought I was doing ok to breathe through them. My mom and sisters came back to see me and I realized that distraction was more helpful than quiet breathing. I tried to talk and carry on with whatever I was doing when the contraction started. This was MUCH better for me than trying to breathe and relax.  My sister, Tiffany, who had her second baby with no pain meds whatsoever, even said she thought I was handling labor really well. This meant a lot because she is the tough Langdon sister. I am the baby with no pain tolerance.

However, by midnight I was vomiting with the contractions. Not fun.  At this point they gave me some IV Zofran (love that stuff) and I told them I was ready for my epidural.  I got in position and realized that this was the most comfortable position I'd been in all night. I loved having Tanner's arms around me and being able to just melt into him during my contractions. If the anesthesiologist hadn't been there and all set up I might have just labored sitting up in the bed for a while longer. But I figured if I could avoid further pain (and vomiting), why not. By 12:15 I was in the process of getting my epidural and realizing that apparently some women are bigger babies than I am. The epidural DID NOT HURT! It wasn't like being licked by kittens, but it was not bad. So maybe I earned 1 tough girl point for that.

By 1am my legs were lead and I was dilated to 6cm.  Tanner and I tried to sleep a little during the night, but it was almost impossible. My parents, his parents and my two sisters were all out in the waiting room. They would come back to our room a few at a time and visit. It was nice to see everyone and made the time go by a little faster. Eva would come in every so often and help me move the tree trunks that were my legs. This helped to move things along and by 3 AM I was 7cm. It took until 5am to get to 8 cm and by then we were all getting very anxious. Tanner and I were so ready to meet him and Eva wanted me to have him before she left at 7. By 7am I was at 9 cm and they started pitocin, knowing that I would need it after delivery. And just in case you were wondering, water still hadn't broken. Eva missed meeting Cooper, but her replacement, Jennifer, was equally wonderful.

This is random, but did anyone else feel like their butt was gigantic when you had an epidural? It was like when you go to dentist and they numb your mouth. Your lips feel huge even though they are obviously still thier normal size. Told you it was random, but I thought it was really funny. Maybe some of the drugs went to my head a little!

Dr. Davis had a C-section first thing in the morning so she came in around 7:45 and broke my water.  Almost immediately I was dilated to 10cm. They started setting everything up for delivery and Jennifer noticed something concerning on one of the monitors. When I was having contractions, Cooper’s heart rate would fall. Not terribly low, but low enough that she started massaging his scalp (which she informed us was full of hair) to stimulate him a little. She didn’t seem too concerned especially since we were so close to delivery.  Once everything was set up they asked me to push just to see how well I could. I was still able to feel the contractions (barely) which helped me know when to push. We did one practice push and he was crowning. They told me just to wait a few minutes and Dr. Davis would be there.

As soon as Dr. Davis arrived I started to push again. She mentioned that if we changed our minds, she would take the baby home with her because her son really wants a baby. It was so weird because I had learned that we live in the same neighborhood. I mentioned that we were neighbors and as I’m pushing she’s asking me if I’ve ever waived at her and she ignored me. I just laughed (as I’m pushing) and said I don’t think so. It was so funny! I’m pushing a person out of my body and carrying on a conversation with the person responsible for catching him! I should have told her to focus!  The next contraction we decided it was time to have a baby……and so we did. It felt like a fish floundering in my belly when his body and legs were coming out. Three pushes and I went from pregnant woman to mommy. It was amazing!

I know everyone is anxious to hear the rest of the story, but it’s almost time to feed again. I’ll try and get everything written down and posted soon. I just don’t want what has happened since he was born to steal the thunder of that moment. Everyone says your life changes instantly. This is definitely true for us. I am so in love – with my son and even more with my husband. God is great and life is good.