A Baby Story

So here goes.... warning, fairly detailed description of the birth story.
I spent the last several weeks "patiently" waiting for baby boy Livengood to make his appearance. Since Mia was 3 weeks early I was pretty anxious the last several weeks, and really uncomfortable. I had terrible nerve pains in my pelvic area to the point that I could barely walk on certain days, or get comfortable sitting or lying down.
I woke up Monday morning, Apr 5th, at about 7:30 and went to the bathroom. I felt like my water may have broken, but it was just a slow leak, so I wasn't sure. I didn't even say anything to Kris cause I didn't want him to get worked up if it was nothing. About 9am I decided to call the Dr office and they wanted me to come in right then. Mia was still in her pj's and I knew that if my water had broken then I would have to go to the hospital, so I called Randi and she came over so I could get the car all packed up and make sure everything was ready. I made it to the Dr in time for my regularly scheduled appt at 10:30 :) They checked me and said that yep my water had broken and they wanted me to head to the hospital for observation. The Dr also mentioned that it might be a long day since contractions hadn't really started yet. Knowing this, I decided not to rush to the hospital and take a little time to eat lunch and enjoy the beautiful weather. I called Kris and had him pick up Subway on his way to Aunt Lisa's, where Mia was. We met for lunch and then proceeded to the hospital about 12:30.
When we got to the hospital to check in they said they had been looking for me. The Dr office had called ahead that I was coming and the OB unit kept calling to see if I was there yet. They wheeled me up to the Labor and Delivery unit and started monitoring me. At that point I measured at 3 1/2 cm and was having contractions 4 mins apart. I guess being up and moving was enough distraction that I didn't realize that the contractions were coming regularly and they didn't really hurt, but when they had to monitor me in bed I started to notice them more. My mom arrived during this time and after they had a good read on me they let me up so I could walk the halls. Soon it was time for the nurse to monitor me again and I decided to us the birthing ball for a while (so comfy). About 4:00 they needed to monitor me a little longer but let me stay on the birthing ball. The contractions were coming about 2 mins apart now and some were strong enough that I had to use my breathing techniques. After about 15 mins of monitoring the nurses came back and said that they were not getting a good read on the baby and thought the monitor was slipping when I had a contraction. They also told me that Dr Whitesides would be coming after he was done in the office at about 6:30. They asked me to get in bed for just a couple contractions so they could get a good read on the baby's heart rate. The next contraction was a harder one and I felt a pop and then a gush of fluid. The following contraction I had another gush of fluid. I was thinking to myself that the contractions were going to get a lot more intense since my water had really broken. The next three contractions came fast and hard. I was using my breathing and still had to flex my hands and hope it was going to be over soon. I didn't think I could make it far if they kept coming like that. The second contraction my whole body tensed and the third contraction I couldn't help but push. I told my mom to have the nurse check me cause I felt I needed to push. When they came in to check the one nurse, Susan, checked me and said she saw head. The other nurse, Marsha, said, "Oh, she's fully dilated", and Susan said, "No, I see head." The baby's head was crowning. Things got a little crazy after that. They quickly called the Dr and he said he was on his way. I couldn't move myself so they had to roll me on my back and I hear the nurses yelling that the Dr's not there yet and someone says, "Is anyone here?", and someone else, "No!". So, Marsha got into catching position. They didn't have time to move me down the bed or drop the end or anything. I had to ask for Kris and mom to hold my legs. Another push and the baby's head came out, quick pause to remove the cord from around his neck and then another push and we had a baby. Since he was born so quickly it didn't push all the fluid out of his lungs so they had to suction him and then we heard the first sweet cries from our baby boy. The nurses even forgot to check the time that he was born and had to ask my mom and Kris, 4:35pm. I dismissed Kris and mom from holding my legs and told them to go take pictures. So, here I am, just gave birth and I'm holding up my own legs. I asked for the stirrups and that's when I realized that I hadn't even been moved down to the end of the bed. The stirrups are supposed to go under your knees and I was putting my feet on them. (It's funny the things you remember) The adrenaline buildup from delivering so fast made me shake for a while after the birth. Dr. Madura came in then and finished me up after the birth. About the time she was done, Dr Whitesides arrived. He said he was surprised he didn't get pulled over on his way to the hospital and he was still too late. Marsha said it was a good thing that I didn't want an epidural cause she would have felt really bad because I progressed so fast that they didn't even check me since I arrived at 3 1/2 cm.
So there we have it, baby Landon was born with no epidural and no doctor. Apparently, I was the most exciting thing that day cause my story preceded me to the postpartum unit and the nurses were mentioning it the next day too.
It took us another day to decide on a full name for Landon. I really didn't want him to have a really long name, or to go by his middle name, but for some reason it was the only thing that seemed right. So we officially have John Landon Kristopher Livengood. John, after my dad, Landon was a name I liked and it is my Uncle's middle name, and Kristopher, after his dad.

Now that you endured the birth story, here are a few pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Arriving at the hospital.
All smiles since the weather is beautiful and contractions hadn't really started yet.

Getting poked and prodded.

Mommy, Daddy and baby for the first time.

My wonderful labor nurses, Marsha, who did the catching, and Susan.
Marsha said that she delivers about 2 babies a year.

That's all for tonight. It's getting late and I'm sure the munchkin will want to eat again before bed. I have a ton more pictures to post.