I had been so tired of being in bed, that I decided enough was enough and got up, cleaned the house and made a nice dinner. Then I invited our friends Dru and Jodie over for dinner to have a nice evening. They had seen me having contractions for the prior two and a half weeks, so they weren't too thrown off by it, I dont think. However they began getting particularly painful that evening, and particularly regular. I didnt get too excited about it, especially after being sent home from the hospital several times with regular contractions. Around 330pm that day I decided I was in a lot of pain and went and laid down in bed. It didnt help. Through out the evening they got even more painful. Kevin started getting anxious and told me we were going to go in. I refused. I said I knew it wasnt time. After a little while our friends and Kevin banded together and told me it was time to go in. They left, and as they were walking out the door, Dru says "You're baby will be born at 7:31 am in the morning" I told him "yeah right! This baby is never coming!". I got my shoes on, and told Alisha "See ya in an hour, we'll be right back" and headed off to the hospital. We got there at 8:45pm, and I was checked. They said I was 4cm and 70-80% effaced. However my blood pressure (which had been pretty low lately) was elevated. They decided to draw labs and keep me for at least a couple of hours to monitor that. I was contracting on the monitor every 2-3 minutes. They came in a little while later and said my labs came back good. My blood pressure was 140/85-155/85. At 10:45pm they came in and checked me again. They said if I wasn't progressed any more than they would send me home. My blood pressure wasnt enough to stay since my labs were good. In my head I was mentally getting ready to go home "my shoes are by the door, dont forget the phone charger..." Even though my contractions were consistant at 2 minutes apart since we had arrived, and so painful they brought tears to my eyes and I could barely breathe, I knew it wasnt enough either. They had sent me home twice like that before. The nurse checked me and it seemed to take forever. Then she said the magical words "Well, you've made progress, we're going to keep you." To understand the emotions that hit me like a semi truck at that exact moment, let me remind you of a few things. I had been told that I would not make it to 30 weeks, and I was laying in that bed pregnant at 38. I was told to expect a sick, tiny baby in the NICU. I had spent 16 weeks laying in my bed. 16 weeks of worry that my blood pressure was going to spike and I would deliver a premature baby. 16 weeks of blood work, peeing in jugs, and taking my blood pressure at home several times a day wondering what the numbers meant. Thats four months of my childrens lives I felt like I missed. Four MONTHS. Then the prior two and a half weeks I had got little to no sleep, and had intense, horribly painful contractions. To the point of being unable to eat or sleep and losing weight. So when the nurse said that, the relief and joy that I would be meeting my healthy son soon, and the bed rest and the pain were over... That was a lot to handle. I grabbed the nurse and hugged her tightly and sobbed. Yes, I probably looked crazy. We're going to blame hormones. I said "What?? I'm getting admitted??" she said yes. I broke down bawling saying "Really?! Its really over?!" She laughed. Embarassing in retrospect but I was so grateful and tired. By 11:30 pm I was in a birthing suite. At 11:40 the doctor came in and asked a bunch of questions about my medical history and such. He was concerned about my history of shoulder dystocia and that Aiden was so big. He went over all the risks and concerns and offered me a c-section. I reiterated my want for a vaginal delivery. He then offered an ultrasound to see how big the baby was. I agreed, knowing that it didnt really matter, I was going to deliver vaginally. Then the doctor offered me an epidural. That surprised me because it seemed so quick. It felt really early to get one. I said "I'm not in enough pain yet, it feels too early". I knew that it would help my blood pressure, so I agreed. At this point Kevin had ran home to grab our hospital bag and I was concerned he wouldn't be here for the epidural. That was important to me because my last two epidurals were incredibly painful and I was scared. After a few short minutes, the anesthesiologist came in and just as he was about to start, Kevin walked in. Phew! I got my epidural at exactly midnight. It was amazing. The anesthesiologist only took a moment and then I could barely feel it. It didn't hurt at all! It took five or six contractions until it helped. It took all of my pain away. He gave us a comment card to rate his service, which I thought was cute. The only bad part of the epidural was that it made my blood pressure go TOO low. What an awful feeling! It made me dizzy and felt like I was going to pass out. Thankfully it only lasted a few minutes. After my epidural I made more phone calls, and then the ultrasound tech came in. She was nice, and I asked for yet another reaffirmation of Aidens "goods" which he was proudly displaying that evening. We learned he was laying on his side looking toward my right hip. His estimated weight was 8lbs3oz give or take a pound. At 3:15am the doctor came in and checked me. He said I was still 5cm and 50-60% effaced (which is less than before, so that was confusing). He broke my water and put an internal monitor on Aiden. By 4 am, my pulse was racing and my blood pressure started rising. I called my mom and Jennifer at that point at told them what was happening. Both decided to come then. Jennifer showed up around 415 am. At 430am I was checked again and was 7cm and very thin, and his head had come down a lot. At this point the contractions were becoming quite painful again, so the anesthesiologist came back in and gave me a bolus of the epidural. At that point I rested for a little while. at around 650am I was checked again and told that I was complete and could start pushing. I felt proud that I did it all without pitocin for the first time. Kevin and I laughed when I began pushing, and told the nurses what our friend had said about Aiden being born at 731am. I only pushed a few times, and Aiden was born. 732am. He weighed 7lbs10oz and was 19 3/4 inches long. Absolutely perfect with tons of nearly white hair. He went straight to my chest and it was pure perfection and I instantly loved this little boy with the entirety of my being.
The girls didnt come to meet him until after Kailyn got out of school, because I wanted them all to meet him together. We had bought each girl a necklace from Aiden, and gave them to them at that time. All of the girls instantly loved him. The feeling of love in the room was incredible.
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