Baby T's Arrival

I left off at week 38 and the time since then has gone by so quickly. Here is the final weekly picture that we got for week 39 since I didn't make it to week 40.

If you are just looking for baby pictures, you will want to scroll to the bottom and skip this whole birth story part.

Oct. 1 - I had my final prenatal check-up in the morning and I was dilated to a 3 and 80%. This was a pretty good jump from just being a 1 the week before. But even with that progress, there was no guarantee that things were on the move. In fact, at that appointment we even made contingency appointments for induction at 41 weeks if I had not already delivered. Leaving that appointment I was a bit pessimistic and thinking that my due date (Oct. 2) was going to come and go with no baby. Much to my surprise though, it was not a few hours after we got home from the doctor that contractions started about 11:30. Not terrible at first and fairly spread out, so again nothing too alarming since that stage could continue for a long while. I decided to take a shower just in case and Jake got the bags ready to pick up and go. By 2:30 that afternoon we started timing as it seemed the contractions were lasting longer and coming more frequently. At about 5:30 we called the hospital as we were meeting the 5-1-1 rule. Unfortunately, the hospital we were planning on using had no open labor rooms, so we were told to go to a different hospital. It turned out that we should have listened to the advice and toured more than one hospital! There was no time to worry about going to a hospital we had never been to because it was either that or have the baby at home and that was not an option! We arrived at Sunnyside Medical Center in Clackamas at about 7. By this time I was now dilated to 4.5 and 90%. Yay! We were being admitted! They moved me into a labor and delivery room and got my IV all set up. I labored in the room until about 10 PM, then I went down the hall to the tub room. This was awesome! I loved being in the water. By this point I was also cut off of food, but I could have a popsicle and it was delicious. After about an hour and a half in the tub it was time to head back to the room as I had made it to a 6. I went into the whole labor process with the intention of doing it natural. I was not totally against an epidural, but wanted to hold out as long as I could. When I came out of the tub I had reached the end of my natural labor journey. The contractions were getting way more intense and I was not convinced that I would be able to keep up my energy long enough. So they called in the anesthesiologist and I received the epidural at 12:15 AM on October 2nd. When the medication started kicking in it was like a switch was flipped. Suddenly I went from a sort of brown out state where nurses were asking me questions and I had no recollection of answering; to cracking jokes and being a bit sassy. The wonder of modern medicine! The epidural also meant that I could actually get some rest. They came back in to check me at 3:25 AM and I had made it to a 10!! Sadly though baby was still not ready to come out and was sitting up high, so I didn't start pushing until about 5:30. I was not one of the lucky ones to get the baby out in a few pushes. Three and a half hours later and still no baby! The doctor came in and said that if baby wasn't out soon then we were going to have to move on to the vacuum and possibly C-section. The only thought that crossed my mind was "Oh hell no! I did not go through all of this labor to end up in surgery!". I told the nurse that I wanted to change back to a position that had been working earlier before we called it quits. A few pushes later baby Teagan Grace finally made her grand entrance at 9:20! They put her right up onto my chest and it was a feeling I can't describe. Instantly I was filled with love for her. I just kept saying over and over "She is finally here". At 8.5 pounds and 20.5 inches long she was certainly not a petite baby! I got to hold her for a little while until it was time for a few shots and her first bath. Those first moments with her were so sweet.

We stayed in the hospital until the 4th and then it was time to go home and officially start our new life together as a family of three.