He's here!

Sorry on the late post--it's been such a crazy week! Baby Michael has finally arrived-a week early which is fine by me (This last month of being pregnant has been miserable). He was 6 lbs. 8 oz. at 19 1/2 inches long..not too bad since they thought he'd be a tiny little baby. Let me tell you he didn't feel like a tiny little one!! I went completely natural with no drugs!! I also had no tears or stitches! I was accompanied by DJ and my sister Regina in the delivery room; yes Regina got her wish to be in with me. It took about an hour or so to deliver and out came Michael James at 1:04 a.m. on October 27th.

Here's the labor story. I started feeling super back pain as well as leg cramps late Saturday night that kept me up pretty much the whole night. I woke up around 9:30 Sunday and went downstairs to my pregnancy photo shoot(perfect timing huh?) Around 10 I began to feel little mini contractions which I thought were just those Braxton-Hicks. I told Gina about it and we began to wonder if today was the day. After a few more hours of going through the mini contractions, DJ and I decided to go for a walk to see if it would speed things up or if it was just a false alarm. After a mile-long walk around Cooperstown, we returned home around 7 pm that night. My contractions had dwindled down by then so I assumed it was just false labor. Boy was I wrong.

At around 9 p.m. they started up again. This time they were more intense and closer together. By then I knew I was going to go to the hospital that night. I decided to count my contractions which seemed to be irregular so I figured I still had some time. I got into the shower for the 3rd time that day around 10 pm. Regina gave me the birth ball to sit on which probably wasn't such a good idea being my bathroom was going to fall through the ceiling at any moment! But that's a whole different story now. Anyway, I called the Birthing Center and informed them of my contractions. They told me I'm in early labor and still had a few hours yet, so stay at home as long as I could. That lasted only so long. I think it was around 11 pm when I decided we needed to go! My contractions were really painful now that I was on all fours trying to relieve them.

It was around 11:30 when we arrived(Correct me if I'm wrong Regina). They put me in a gown and put the belly wrap on me(super uncomfortable) and off to the room I went to get checked. They put me in the room where patients are just checked to see if they're even dilated or not. Guess who was 9 cm? Yep, I was ready.

I wanted to use the tub but the mid-wife wouldn't let me because I was ready to pop. Good thing I got the shower at home! The last few moments of being pregnant were rough. I screamed out that I wanted drugs a few times, but my coaches, Dj and Regina were there to help me through the painful pushes! 1:04 arrived, and so did Michael!

I'd give pics but it looks like Gina already did the honors! Thanks G!