I'm a mommy :)

On September 15, 2011, at 7:20 AM I gave birth to the most gorgeous baby to ever grace this planet--my son, Tristan.  I have had him for just over a week and already, I can't imagine my life without him.

One of the first pictures we took of him, besides the ones we took right after he was delivered

My sweet angel, just one day old

Home from the hospital!

Earlier today, my little cuddle bug :)

I went into labor while working the day before, but since my contractions weren't super close together, I stayed home and finished my shift (if I hadn't shared before, I now work from home).  By the time my shift finished, my contractions  were closer together, and I also had a TMI indication that baby boy was on his way.  I contacted my OB's nurse, who confirmed that she thought it was time and to head to the hospital when my contractions were regularly five minutes apart.

So I started cleaning.  I scrubbed my kitchen from head to toe, and completely overhauled the living room, which sucked with the contractions I was having but it really helped push them closer together.  When they were about  five minutes apart, I was officially unable to walk or talk while having one, so we decided to head to the hospital.

We checked in at 9 PM, and I was 4 cm dilated when they checked me upon admission.  After 2 hours, I hadn't progressed much further than 4 cm, so they suggested I take a walk around the labor and delivery floor for about half an hour.  After my walk, they re-checked me, and I had progressed to 6 1/2 cm, so they contacted my OB to advise and hooked me up to an IV.

I labored for another few hours, but wasn't making much progress at that point, but the contractions themselves were getting stronger and stronger.  The doctor then broke my water, which made the tolerable contractions turn into monsters, so I asked for the epidural.

Getting the epidural itself was extremely painful--I had two contractions while they were putting the tube in my back, both of which I had to deal with sitting up.  Once the medicine kicked in, I was unable to feel my legs and the pain from the contractions were gone.  I went to sleep.

A couple hours later, the doctors awoke me to check me again, and I had finally made it to 10 cm.  They let me know it was time to begin pushing.  I pushed for an hour and a half, until finally my little boy arrived sunny side up--which means that he came out face up rather than face down, how newborns are usually born.  Because of this, I ended up tearing in the worst possible way-- a 4th degree tear.  Basically, (taken from Babycenter.com):

"A third-degree laceration is a tear in the vaginal tissue, perineal skin, and perineal muscles that extends into the anal sphincter (the muscle that surrounds your anus). A fourth-degree tear goes through the anal sphincter and the tissue underneath it."

Yeah.  Not very fun.  Going to the bathroom is more or less pretty difficult for me, but its getting better.  I read a lot of scary things about my new condition, but I'm confident that someday things will get back to normal.

But all of that is worth it, because I have Tristan, and he's the single best thing to happen to me in my entire life.  I love him more than I ever thought I could love anyone.  I can't possibly imagine my life without him, and every thought I have, decision I make, my entire world revolves around him, my Tristan-Boo.

Hopefully I will manage to update soon, but with a newborn, well, we know how that gets.  But, I have the quarter off from school, and two months off from work, so who knows?  Maybe I'll have some good stories.