Hi all! I just wanted to check in. I haven't been on since Monday (I think, I'm not sure what day it is!!
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Zander James was born on Tuesday at 5:04 pm, exactly 10 days before my due date-same as his big sister did! He weighed in at 7 lbs. 3 oz. and was 20 1/2 inches long. It was quite an adventurous birthstory. I started havinghttp://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1269116789&ref=mf contractions on Monday but they were pretty erratic but definitely more painful. I had planned a surprise baby shower for my friend that day at Chuck E Cheese so I was at Chuck E Cheese for 3 hours Monday having irregular labor contractions. (Quite fun!) Then Tuesday wee hours of the morning (1:30ish) I started having them five minutes apart. After about an hour and a half we got ready and left for the hospital. When we got to the hospital and got in the first elevator going up to L&D, the elevator got stuck!
We used the call button and the guy came on and said "Okay, well then I will come get you out". Well, DUH!!! But after five minutes of waiting, DH decided to just open teh doors himself!! We only had to step down about a foot to get out. Then went on another elevator. Got in L&D and was only dilated 2 cms and was at 50% so my doc told the nurses to have me walk for 2 hours down the halls. Talk about tiring!! But it helped-I dilated to 4 and was at 80%. They moved me to a room and the doc came in to break my water and they set me up with an epi. My doc thought I might go pretty quickly but she said they would call her and let her know when I got ready to push and she would come back. It wasn't long after that the baby's heartbeat would drop down to 70's during my contractions and I had to move quickly to different positions (which is very hard to do with numb limbs!) to get his heartbeat back up. They had to give me the "T" shot to slow down my contractions so that he could take a rest and stabilize his heart rate. This of course prolonged the labor. It was about 3 pm when I started feeling more pressure so they checked me and the nurse had me push some. They went ahead and called back the doc but when she got there she was a little upset that they called her so early saying that he was still pretty far up there. Told me to let him labor down some more. And she left. About 45 minutes later I was really feeling the urge to push so the nurse checked me again. She told me to go ahead and start pushing. After a few pushes she called the head nurse down to the room and had her look to see if we could call the doc. The head nurse still felt it was too soon. I told them I would rather them call her but she assured me that Dr. Long wouldn't want to be called yet.
Everytime I would push he would come down but go back up again. But after a few more, they went ahead and called the doc. So after a few more pushes with my good nurse, the baby decided to stay down. At that point the nurse told me to not push anymore and try to relax. Yeah, NOT!! I told her that I wasn't pushing but that my body was doing it anyway because he was coming right then! She quickly called the head nurse and asked them to call the doc, to get the residents and for teh had nurse to come in NOW!! Needless to say, the doc didn't make it in time (they should've listened to me although I think it was more the docs fault than theirs!) and the nurses delivered Zander James!
We finally got home Thursday night after some delays with the circumcision and other small issues but we are here. He's a great eater, a little too good. He wants to stay bellied up to the bar almost all the time!!
And he is still confused on when to sleep and when to stay awake. But that will take time and I am just very thankful that everything went well after all and that my mom has been here to help, because she has definitely been a life-saver!
Ann, I'm sending positive vibes your way today!!! I will catch up with the thread later on but I wanted to make sure I posted my update on his birth.
I hope everyone is having a terrific day today!
My tummy know?? 
My skin is all shriveled looking...They go all the way around my waist, down my legs, my upper arms.. my b00bs. Ugh.
My husband didn't know what to say, but we had to laugh about it. A friend of mine was in the hospital with pre-term labor at 7 1/2 months and was complaining of her first stretch mark in a very low visible place on her side. When I showed her what she could look like (I was at 5 months) her and my mother's eyes almost popped out of their heads. My mom said, " You need to be putting cocoa butter on your belly". I explained it obviously didn't work! 
mmkk ... Welcome Zander James - June 23rd - 7 lbs. 3oz. 20.5 in!
I'm so sorry. We did that for most of my son's first year. (He was, at least, here for the birth.) It seems like a lifetime ago now, but I remember it well. We're here for you!
You picked a good place to make ome time go bye. We are here for you!!!
