The baby!

With my first two children, my water broke one and two weeks before my due date, so with my third pregnancy, my Doctor wasn't taking any chances with me getting to the hospital in time. He scheduled me to be induced. I was not happy with this. While I had Pitocin with my second child, I was already having some little contractions. With my third, I wasn't having contractions, and it felt wrong to check in to the hospital, get an IV, and have a drug pumped into me just to make things more convenient. Reluctantly I agreed to schedule the induction. I remember going for an uncomfortable walk the night before I was scheduled. I had been having a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions with this last pregnancy and I thought that was what I was having during the walk. I was fully effaced, the head was down, and I had dropped. (I carried all my kids real low, and they were head down through most of the pregnancy. ) The actual length of "hard" labor I had with each of them was about three hours. So In other words, I was all ready to go. In the morning we took off for the hospital, me in denial all the way, and got all settled in my room. As before, I had my music and my focus thought, (swinging with my kids in the blue canvas swing, sunlight peeking through the leaves of the tree we were swinging from). The Doctor came in and checked me out, asking if I had been having contractions. I told him just Braxton Hicks, and he said well they were more than that, because you're already dilated to 4 cm. Whoa! So, without warning, he takes something that looks like a long crochet hook, and breaks my water. Had I known he was going to do this, I would have taken OFF my only pair of socks so they wouldn't get ALL WET. Geez, how disgusting...now I was sitting in a huge wet spot. So they started an IV, hooked up the Pitocin and we waited, and waited, until finally the contractions started. Once more,my focus thought along with my husband telling me when the contractions peaked worked like a charm. Once my contractions actually start, my labors are a breeze. With every contraction, especially at the very end, it seemed like the baby was pushing his feet into my zyphoid process. That hurt worse than the contractions. I didn't hyperventilate this time (at least I don't think I did, I'll have to ask my hubby...though I doubt that he would remember), and when I said I had to push, they did a quick check, pushed the cervix open a titch and then I had to try and relax (NOT push) while they got everything situated. It was like "Come on already!!!" After an agonizing few minutes of panting, I was told to go ahead an push. I added a couple more with this one (probably cuz he was bigger), maybe five total and out he came 8 lbs, 20 in., strawberry blond hair and RED. He looked huge compared to the other two. He's stayed big too. He looked so sweet and soft and perfect.