Tyler is here!

     The day has finally arrived, and the contractions begin! I felt my first contraction at 12:47am, but I thought I just had to go to the bathroom. Then I went to the bathroom again at 1:00am, and again at 1:10 before I realized these were not bathroom cramps, they were contractions! I went out into the living room and heated up the rice pack and started timing them. I wanted to be sure before I woke up Chris. They came again at 1:25am and it was so strong I rolled off the couch onto the floor so I could be on my hands and knees. THIS was my sign to wake up the soon to be Daddy. I opened the door loudly and Chris sat up in bed. I told him I was pretty sure I was having contractions and he said "wahoo" and looked at the clock and asked me when they started. When I told him 12:47 he asked me why I waited so long to wake him up! He took over timing the contractions, but he didn't have to wait long. At 1:32 another one came, followed by another at 1:37, 1:40, and at 1:52. I decided to try to take a bath to help with the pain, and at 2:02 Chris called the doctor who told us to make our way to the hospital. Chris jumped in the fastest shower ever, loaded up the car, and tried to make me comfortable anyway he could. I jumped in the shower after a 2:13 contraction and managed to get out before the next one came at 2:21. Chris helped me get dressed and the last contraction recorded by us was at 2:32. Chris got me in the car, but the dogs knew something was going on and both started circling around the car (all while I was having contractions in the car!) and Chris was trying to get them out of the garage and into the house. On the way to the hospital Chris let the soon to be grandparents know what was going on, while I was yelling at him to drive faster because I was going to make it to the hospital in time for the epidural! Chris had the contractions down to every 2 1/2 minutes and would give me a 30 second warning when the next one would come.
     We made it to the hospital we went in through the emergency room entrance around 3am and they wheeled us to a waiting area until labor and delivery could come get us. The ER doctor told me not to have the baby down there because he does not like to catch babies. I laughed, and he said no I am serious...I had about 2 more contractions. 2 more contractions and the nurse came to wheel us upstairs but I got a strong contraction on the way and jumped out of the wheel chair and onto my hands and knees in the hallway. Once we were in the triage area she checked to see how far along I was (5cm) and then asked me to pee in a cup. SERIOUSLY? There was no way that was happening so she made me sign some paper work (who comes up with these things to make laboring woman do??) and wheeled me to my room. I had to have an IV before I could get my epidural and I felt like I was going to puke all over the bed. Then the most amazing thing ever happened, I got my epidural! Chris held me up for about half of the epidural before he tapped the nurse on the shoulder and needed to sit down. He was pale and sweating and I thought he was going to pass out for a minute. Everything was great for about 15 minutes until Tyler's heart rate dropped to the low 100's. The nurses were flipping me left, right, on my hands and knees until they finally got his heart rate up a little. The doctor came in and decided to do an internal monitor on Tyler's head (it took him 2 times!) and he still was not happy with his heart rate. He gave me a shot to reduce the contractions to see if giving Tyler more time to recover in between contractions would help and it did. After that scare they left us alone (and I mean that literally) for about 2 hours. One of the machines started to beep that was recording his heart rate in time with the contractions and Chris figured out it was out of paper. He looked into the hallway for a nurse but there was none in sight. At this point I started feeling the contractions again and was getting very uncomfortable. Chris went back out and hunted down a nurse to change the paper. When she did it started to spit out Tyler's heart rate which was dipping down into the low 90's and called for 2 nurses and the doctor. Nobody came and she was trying to flip me around again, all while I am having intense contractions. The doctor finally comes in and talks to me in between contractions that he thinks we need to do a vacuum assist birth. At this time the room floods with people and Tyler's heart rate is now in the upper 70's when my contractions are strong. Dr. Newman says I have 1 shot to get him out or we will have to go downstairs (there were already 2 c-sections going on) for an emergency c-section. I am only 9 cm dilated when he tells me this, and he has the anesthesiologist come in and top me off and prepare me for the c-section. He numbs me and cuts an episiotomy and at 7:55am he said it was time to push. He tried 3 times to use the vacuum but it kept popping off (and splashing all that fluid) his head. Every time it popped off Tyler slid back up. I was pushing so hard it felt like my eyes were going to pop out of my head, and I made a grunting noise. The nurse yelled at me to stop wasting energy on noises and to hold my breath and push. Chris was holding my leg and supporting my neck and telling me to push. At 8:05am I pushed Tyler out, and no emergency c-section was needed! When they put him on me I had been crying and pushing so hard I couldn't see him. The sound of his cry filled the room and all was well in the world. All that worrying was behind us, as I held him skin to skin on my chest and just stared in amazement with Chris by my side telling me how strong I was.