I had been up for hours anticipating your arrival and we still managed to arrive late to the hospital for your induction. I'll blame daddy for that one. At 39 weeks and 4 days, mama had been dilated to three centimeters for two solid weeks and no contractions were in sight. February 11th was cold but sunny with a threat of snow. We were as prepared as ever and ready to meet you.
We were scheduled to arrive at 7:00am and we managed to stumble in around 7:45. Dropping off big sister Amelia at Nannie and Grandpa's took longer than expected. After getting all checked in, mama got her IV placed and was started on Petocin. Dr. G came in around 8:30 and decided to break my water since things were going so well. She instructed me to start walking the halls to get things really moving and I could have an epidural once I hit four centimeters.
Laps with an IV pole attached to you are super fun, let me tell ya. We at least prepared accordingly this time and packed tennis shoes! Knowing what to expect the second time around made things a lot easier on us. By 10:30am, my contractions were getting stronger and I knew I wanted to get my epidural placed before things got too much harder.
I was lying in bed with an epidural by 11:00am and Dr. G predicted you would be here by 3:00pm. FOUR HOURS! In four short hours, we would get to meet you! Just like with your sister, my epidural took forever to fully kick in. They ended up calling the anesthesiologist back in around 11:30am because I could still feel pain. After another round of numbing, I was finally comfortable and already to six centimeters!
Even though mama couldn't eat, daddy called Papa up to bring him lunch. The nurse instructed him not to go too far as I was progressing quickly. By 12:30pm, I was at a nine and decided to call Taylor, our birth photographer, to head to the hospital. Things went pretty quickly from there.
My cervix was stubborn again and stalled at a nine. Even though I was 95% numb (I'm lucky and still manage to have some feeling in my legs even with an epidural), the nurses managed to get me onto all fours (don't ask!) and this technique brought me to 10 centimeters by 1:00pm! As crazy as it looked, it worked and they called back in Dr. G because I was more than ready to start pushing.
With Brandon by my side and Taylor above our heads, I began the birthing process. After pushing through three contractions (I only pushed five times with Amelia, so this seemed LONG!), baby boys head was right there. It got scary after his head made it through and Dr. G instructed me to stop pushing and called a code for backup. I did my best to remain calm as Dr. G didn't some quick maneuvering to safely get baby out without further assistance.
Grandpa and Nannie brought Amelia up a few hours after Theodore's arrival. Needless to say, it was love at first sight. Amelia was destined to be this little boys big sister.
