Well, today was my due date, and Griffin is 1 week old, so I thought this was an appropriate time to finally type my version of his birth.
On the night of New Years Day, I felt like I had gas pains (great way to start a story, huh?!?) :) Anyway, I went to bed with this feeling, but after an hour of laying there and not being able to fall asleep, I decided that maybe these were contractions I was feeling and I should time them. They didn't really hurt, just felt like uncomfortable gas. So anyway, I got Cory's laptop, brought it to bed and went to contractionmaster.com (great website). I timed what I was feeling and after an hour, looked to see what the duration and frequency was. I was having these gas type pains every 2.5-5 minutes, lasting for around a minute. The doctor kept saying that if I was having contractions every 4-5 minutes, lasting for one minute, for one hour, then I should go to the hospital. I was hesitant to do so, because I wasn't really sure if they were contractions that I was feeling. Anyway, I woke Cory up and said that I thought maybe it was time. We got things together, I took a short shower, and we were on our way. I kept saying that I was hoping that this was really labor because I would feel bad if the doctor got called and it was just gas or something. I was pretty certain that it was probably a false alarm because it didn't seem so bad.
We got to the hospital about 4 am and they hooked me up to the machines to track the contractions. They also did an internal exam. They said that I was 3-4 cm dilated and 80% effaced...only 1 cm further than I had been at my doctors appointment a few days before. They said that they spoke with my doctor and he said to walk around for about an hour and they would check me again to see if they would admit me. I was so happy to hear that the doctor that I had been seeing all along was on call. That was always one of my biggest worries...that he wouldn't be there when I delivered. After an hour of walking, they checked me again and I had progressed slightly. They said that they would be admitting me and that my doctor was going off call and the other doctor would be in shortly to check me out. I was so upset! I guess I gave the nurse a real upset look, because she tried to reassure me that this doctor was "really nice". At the time, that didn't matter...I was really hoping for my doctor who I had been really happy with. A short time later, he came in and checked me out and said that I would be moving out of triage and into a labor and delivery room. At 9 am I was in the room getting hooked up to IVs. The contractions were getting more painful, closer together, and lasting longer. I had a lot of back pain. Cory was wonderful...he was very supportive and rubbed my back to try to ease the pain. A little before 11am, the doctor came in and checked me again. He said that I was progressing really well and was going to break my water since it hadn't broken on its own. He said that I should probably be ready to start pushing in a few hours. Following this, I had the worst contraction ever. I felt completely out of control and was throwing up and crying...it was NOT fun. I was hoping that this wouldn't last a few more hours...I was hoping for minutes or even seconds!
After a little over a hour of extremely painful contractions and the nurse asking me if I wanted an epidural and me not being sure if I should say yes or no, I REALLY wanted it to be over. I really really wanted to start pushing, but the nurses were saying that I couldn't. The doctor wasn't there, but they were going to get him from the cafeteria because I had progressed quicker than they expected. As soon as he came in, they were still telling me not to push, because my body wasn't ready...well it felt like it was ready! Then all of a sudden they said I could. Pushing was the greatest feeling ever. It took all the pain and craziness away and focused me. The doctor ended up giving me an episiotomy and after a couple pushes, the baby's head was crowning. After a couple more he was out. It was such an amazing feeling to see the baby for the first time and have the doctor lay him on me. Seeing Cory look at him was beautiful! Griffin Porter Zimmerman was born at 12:08 on 1/2/09, weighing 7 lbs 9 oz, and measuring 19.5 inches long.
Oh, and it turns out the doctor was really nice. I really liked him and was extremely happy with him. He was a lot nicer and more laid back than I expected. I felt bad for being upset about him being there. About 20-30 minutes after Griffin's birth, my regular doctor called me in the labor and delivery room and said that he had heard from his colleague about the delivery and how well it went. It was very nice of him to call. The next day the doctor that delivered Griffin came to see me and said that that was one of the fastest deliveries he had seen and how rare it is that people don't get epidurals. Glad I could be a good deliverer. :)
So that's it, that's the story of the birth of Griffin Porter Zimmerman. Hope I didn't bore you too much.
In case I did though, here are a couple cute pictures of Cory and Griffin to make it all better...
