Landon has arrived!!

It all started on Wednesday October 21 at around 10:15pm. I was laying in bed and my water broke! Prior to that I was having light contractions but nothing painful and nothing that I thought I needed to go to the hospital about.

When we got to the hospital they confirmed my water broke and they admitted me to labor and delivery. The contractions started to get pretty painful about an hour or two after we got there, so I decided to go ahead and get an epidural. After the epidural set in I felt great. We did find out that I wasn't able to lay on my back because Landon's heart rate would go down too low. They had to put me on oxygen to help me breathe better so that Landon's heart rate would get back to normal. They ended up having to put a fetal monitor in his head while he was in me to monitor his heart rate.

Even with that going on, the next 8-10 hours of labor went pretty well. I wasn't feeling much pain ...was able to update facebook, e-mail people and just relax some! :) I tried to rest but was not able to fall asleep any. I was too excited!

Well after staying dilated at 8-9cm for a few hours and not really progressing much the doctor came in and told me there might be a chance I'd have to have a c-section. Landon just wasn't moving down and I wasn't dilating much anymore and they were concerned about his heart rate. The doctor then left to let me try and dilate a little more before they confirmed I needed a c-section.

At this point I started to feel my contractions more. The anesthesiologist then came in to check on my pain level and it was getting worse by the minute. I started having really bad back labor. The anesthesiologist said he would go get me some more pain medicine and be right back.

Well it felt like hours but it was probably only minutes later (b/c I was hurting so bad) that the doctor came back in. She started talking to me more seriously about the c-section saying that in addition to the heart rate issues, Landon's head was starting to swell because it was being pushed up against me and not progressing much. She said she thought it might be a size problem. That she wasn't sure if I would be able to pass him. She pretty much asked me if I had to pick between just going ahead and having a c-section or trying to labor and then it possibly not working out and having to have an emergency c-section. So I said, for his safety, I'd rather just go with the c-section and not risk anything. I was really starting to get upset at this point...very emotional and in a lot of pain. I asked again about the pain meds and she said she'd go find the anesthesiologist and that she also had to go and do another surgery and that she'd be right back.

Well an hour later she comes back in and she checks me and discovers I'm dilated 10 cm and she said, okay we're going to push! In my head I was thinking, WHAT?! I was so confused. I had thought we were going with the c-section. I had thought I was going to get more pain meds. We later realized my epidural had completely ran out. But I went on with what the doctor told me to do and we started pushing. I pushed for about an hour. She even tried to use forceps to get him out. But he never even crowned. Come to find out Landon was also turned wrong - he wasn't face down or face up ...he was on his side. His heart rate started to get really low ..like into the 50's and so they had to do an emergency c-section.

From this point things got blurry. There were about 10 doctors in the room working on me at once. It was crazy and I was crazy emotional. I was in so much pain and I couldn't stop crying. They rushed me in the back and about all I remember is feeling like I was going to be sick and dry heaving and not being able to breathe or catch my breath at all. I remember them asking me if I could feel things and I could. It was literally the scariest thing I've ever experienced in my entire life. I was so worried about Landon and I was so worried about myself.

Come to find out later that they didn't even let Chad in there for about 45 minutes into the c-section. They had to re-do my epidural as well.

Then I hear crying. And I hear Chad telling me to look over and I couldn't move my head. I wanted to look at him but I couldn't. I still felt a lot better knowing Landon was okay but was still anxious about everything that happened. I couldn't stop shaking in recovery. And ever since the c-section when I start to anticipate a lot of pain or feel a lot of pain I start shaking and I can't catch my breath. The doctor thinks I'm having anxiety attacks. It's getting better but it's going to take a while to get over everything that happened. Here's a video my brother took of the first look at Landon. <--click on that link.

Landon was born at 2:04pm on Thursday October 22. He weighed 7lbs 8oz and was 20 and 1/4 inches long.

In the end, it was all worth it. Everything! We now have a healthy baby boy who is perfect in every way possible. He was really jaundice at first and had to spend the first few days of his life under lights and we couldn't hold him (except to feed him) or dress him up all warm like. It was hard. But he's officially recovered from that now and is totally healthy. He breast feeds well and I'm so pleased with that. Haley loves him! I'm so proud of our little girl. She has acted even better than I had imagined!

Go here to view some pictures of the little guy during the first few days of his life!

Go here to view how alert the little guy is!