Loving Life as a Family of Four: Alot to catch up on --Birth Story

It's been 10 days since Bridger was born and so much has changed/ happen that I want to get all caught up. Our life has changed so much since this little guy has been born and we feel so blessed to have him in our arms. It's hard to imagine what life was like before he came. It's so true when people say that the love you have for your child is so unconditional you can't even explain it. I look at Bridger daily and tears come to my eyes. He is the most beautiful human being ever. I can't believe what a miracle he his. Ben and I feel so loved by all of our family and friends and our thankful that Bridger will get to grow up knowing all these people.
Quick Birth Story-
I had a doctors appointment on Monday, February 27 (a day after my due date) and doctor said that since my blood pressure was up 160/ 100 we needed to schedule an induction for Thursday, March 1st at 7am. Ben was very nervous that we were going to have a leap year baby so it was a relief to him that Bridger would "hopefully" come after. I worked up till my 40 week appointment and doc said no more after that since the blood pressure kept raising, so I was home M, T, W. I had a chance to do a lot of relaxing and thinking about how we were only a few days away to meeting our baby boy.

On Wednesday night Ben and I went to WillowCreek Grill to have our last dinner as a family of two. I ordered a chipotle BLT. I heard that spicy food can help get contractions going (hehe). After dinner we rain to the grocery store to fill up on snacks for the hospital, magazines and redbox movies (5 to be exact). We went to bed that night with our bags backed, alarm set for 5am and our minds racing thinking that in a few short hours we were going to be on our way to the hospital for our 7am induction.

3:15am Thursday morning --- MY WATER BROKE. I was sleeping on the couch since having horrible heartburn throughout the last part of the pregnancy. When I went to turn over I felt this weird balloon sensation and I stood up and that's when my water broke. I went into the bedroom and woke Ben up. From then on it was a world wind of hussle up and go. Originally we planned to take showers and clean up but since water broke there was no time for that. We quickly got Gabby into her kennel and load up the truck. We were on our way at the hospital by 4am.

By the time we got there the nurse checked and confirmed that yes my water had broke, they started me on pitocin and told us to get some sleep.

7am Doctor came in to check on me and told me thing were looking great and that he would check back at noon to see how thing had progressed. The nurse continued to up my pitocin and I was able to manage my contractions by focusing on breathing. Ben and I did alot of walking around L&D. The weather was very snowy which made the day very peaceful for me. I used the labor balls, pressure points and rocker to help me get through the most intense pain I have ever felt. That pain started around 3pm. I labored for as long as I could with no medication.

4:45pm I asked/demanded that the nurse check me. I was at 4.5 cm. I knew then that I needed an epidural. Unfortunately the two other ladies that were also laboring in the other rooms asked for an epidural at the same time. I was second. I finally was comfortable and feeling great after the epidural set in around 6pm.

Ben and I were able to get a little shut eye, not much though because the nurses checked on me every 15 minutes and there were machines beeping all the time.

At this point things get alittle fuzzy for me since I was pretty drugged up. I had to rely on Ben to help me recall these events. By 9ish or so I was 9.5cm, doctor came and and so did the nurse and they wanted me to start pushing with contractions. I could feel nothing since my epidural was so strong, I kept asking if I was pushing right and Ben and the nurse said yes. I remember telling Ben that the last 10 second push made me want to throw up. So the nurse told Ben to grab the bucket, no sooner I grabbed it out of his hands and started throwing up. I felt so much better after that.

I pushed, and pushed and pushed but my contractions had stalled to 1 every 6 minutes. Ben said it was at that point he was getting very nervous because he could see baby's heart beat dropping/rising. The doctor came over to me and said, "Ok we are going to use a vacuum since baby keeps dropping back into the pelvis every time you push, he warned me of the complications that can happened but made me feel confident that we could get him out and not have to go for an emergency C-Section. At this point I was in labor for a long time, extremely tired and didn't care what needed to happen. Ben and I knew we would do anything to make sure our baby was okay.

At 12:54 and a few big push, and help from the vacuum baby boy Bridger Edward Parsons was born. He weighed 8lbs 3oz, 21 inches long. He scored an 8 and then 9 on his APGARumbilical cord was short so they couldn't get him all the way up to my chest, Ben however, did get to cut the cord. He was the proudest dad ever. He went right over to Bridger and check him and out to make sure everything was okay.

I have never felt such an immediate bond with someone like my own child. Ben and I are so blessed and we thank god everyday for such a beautiful baby boy. Here are some pictures enjoy.