The Birth Story

Grady's birth story was short and pretty darn sweet in terms of giving birth goes.  Here it is...from beginning to end, mostly written here in case it all becomes fuzzy in the near future. 

Last pregnant picture, taken right before leaving for the hospital

I made the decision to be induced at 39 weeks.  My doctor gave me the option and said with the amount my body was progressed, it would be a good idea given the 35 minute ride we had to endure to get to the hospital.  I scheduled the induction but in all honesty, I never thought I would make it that far.  Well, I did make it that far....and I was really regretting my decision on Sunday.  I was starting to worry about the pitocin and the pain and the fact that I knew exactly when the pitoicin and pain were going to hit....6 a.m., Monday morning. 

We arrived at the hospital bright and early and discovered that I would have the same labor and delivery nurse that I had with Layla.  I instantly felt relieved and in good hands. 

Anyway, upon arrival we discovered I was contracting about every 4-5 minutes on my own.   After the doctor came in and consulted with me, a light dose of pitocin was administered at 8:45 a.m. (And yes, the time was right so I did watch one of the last episodes of Oprah while I was in labor!  I told Ryan that Oprah makes pitocin a little more tolerable).  My body reacted really well and progress was happening fairly quickly.  The doctor came in and broke my water around 10:30 a.m. and the contractions went from tolerable to out of control immediately.  I received an epidural a little before 11 and was ready to start pushing at about 11:55 a.m.  The nurse said the doctor wanted to be in the room for the entire pushing process so we waited for him until about 12:10 p.m.  After the doctor arrived, I pushed for about 15 minutes and Grady entered the world screaming and peeing all over the doctor :)

I am so grateful for the smooth delivery and of course so very thankful that Grady came out screaming and healthy.