Welcome Baby Oliver

It all started at midnight on Saturday, April 12th... We headed up to the hospital to start the induction process. We, of course, were super excited and anxious of the journey ahead and had no idea what to expect. We expected to get everything started, take a nap, and just hang out. I brought coloring books with me to help with boredom or distraction from early contractions but little did I know haha. 2-2 1/2 hours after checking in I finally was started on pitocin. It took 7!!! tries for an IV, they finally called in the rapid response team to come in and put a line in and low and behold he was able to do it on the 1st try... so after finally starting the pitocin it was about 2-2:30 in the morning and they started me at a level of 4. They came in every 10-30 min to bump up the level but my butt and lower back were not feeling that bed. I had to get up constantly and move around because they kept falling asleep and burning. Finally around 6 am I called for a birthing ball to try and alleviate the pain and it sure worked. It was very low to the ground so once I was on it I did not move often. I rolled back and forth, side to side and did small bouncing movements for the next 2 hrs. Both your grandparents decided to come up around 8 that morning to hang out with us which at that point my contractions had finally become consistent but tolerable. My pitocin level was somewhere in the 30s at this point. So the Dr. came in and checked my progress and sadly I was only about a 3 1/2 cm dilated, but I was still pretty comfortable. I continued bouncing on the ball and playing tetris on Daniel's Ipad. not but 30 minutes later I feel (and hear) this huge pop followed by a huge amount of fluids... MY WATER BROKE. everyone laughed at my reaction because it actually kind of hurt and I never expected my water to break on its own. Instantly though my contractions became so much harder to handle and to relax thru so we kicked everyone out of our room and I got back into bed. Dr. came and checked my progress and I was a 4... A 4!! At that point I was moaning quite loudly and was barely handling the contractions, they were coming strong with little to no break in between so I decided to order the epidural. Sadly it took a while for the nurse to come down and start the epidural procedure but we finally got there and the did the first line. Wow let me tell you that is one uncomfortable procedure especially when you have strong contractions. So the first (yes I said first) epidural half way worked and about 15-20 minutes in it was already fading and the contractions were coming back with a vengeance so they decided that the line may have slipped into a blood vessel and they were going to pull it out slightly to see if that would fix the problem. It actually made it worse so they had to completely take the line out and redo it. They used the same hole and started the procedure all over again.... This time it went straight into a blood vessel no doubt so the pulled it once again and said they would have to move to a new location. At this point I am beginning to worry that I would not be a good candidate for an epidural and was not confident at all that I could make it thru labor naturally. (Also by this point I had the catheter put in and was at least dilated to a 6)So the nurse starts the 3rd line and was having other issues but thankfully we got it and it worked amazingly!! I am all for the amazing feelings that come from having an epidural, I didn't feel the contractions at all and it was pure bliss and utter relaxation, except of course the pressure you are supposed to feel. So at this point we are all thinking that I can take a short nap since I have been up for 24 hours (its about 12:30/1 pm after all that. Epidural fiasco took over 2 hrs from beginning to end. I get nice and comfortable, close my eyes and begin to relax. 30 min into this the Dr's come in to check my progress and guess what?! I was ready to push, we could not believe our ears and she had to tell us several times it baby time lol. so its 2 pm and they are bringing in all the tools and accessories needed for this precious baby boy to enter the world. Overall the pushing took about 2 hours and out he came screaming and all. They laid him on my chest and every few minutes he would calm down and look at us then start his screaming all over again haha. He probably cried for about an hour or more while they fixed Mommy up. He came out at 7 lbs 10 oz and 21 inches long with a very pronounced cone head :) Finally we were all fixed up and family was ready to come see him. He was nice and calm by this point and was just taking in his surroundings. My first meal after delivery was a nice big, huge bacon cheeseburger with french fries :)