Our Ginther Gang: Easton's Arrival

      I could not have been more ready for Easton's arrival. I had worked the Sunday of that week and was scheduled to work that Thursday and Friday but was really hoping I didn't have to. Wednesday morning I had a Chick-Fil-A date with some of the girls from work so I got up at about 830 to start getting ready for that and when I did I was pretty sure that my water broke. I think if I didn't work where I do I would have been 100% sure that it had broke, but we have people that come into the L&D triage all the time who are just so sure that their water is broken when really they just peed themselves or something like that. I did NOT want to be THAT person, Lol. I know it sounds ridiculous but I really didn't want to get to triage and have them send me back home for any reason, especially not because I had peed myself and thought it was my fluid rupturing. So I called Blake and told him that I had got up and felt a gush and that I was going to lay down for a little bit and get up and see if it kept leaking... his response was "wait, what??" I said "I felt a gush" and he said "so...... what does that mean?" I said "I think my water broke." and he said "OH! Oh, Ok. Um do I need to come home?" I told him I was going to call the doctor's office in a little while and that I would let him know what they said. So about 5 minutes later Blake is calling me back asking me what the office said. I told him that I hadn't called yet that I was finishing blow drying my hair and that then I would call. He was convinced that I needed to stop everything and call them right that minute. So I indulged him, Lol. I called the doctor's office and told them and they said that I should go into L&D. So I told Blake whose response was "I'm on my way." I finished packing everything up and we headed to the hospital hoping that we would meet our little man soon!
     After we got to triage they decided that my water had indeed broken and that my cervix was still closed and only 30% effaced. I wanted to cry. I was pretty sure that I was going to end up having a c-section because my cervix was barely changed at all and my water was already broken. They started the Pitocin at about 1pm and we just waited for something to happen. At that point I was having contractions but wasn't feeling them at all.
    After a few hours of the pitocin I was starting to feel the contractions more so they decided to check and see if I had made any progress. At that point I was 1cm and 80% effaced. This, to me, was devastating. I was pretty much sure at this point that I was going to be sectioned. The nurses were very reassuring that that much progress in that amount of time was great and that I was doing really well. I was not convinced.
     I started to feel my contractions get stronger and closer together (thank you pitocin) and was getting pretty uncomfortable around 9pm. I decided to try some pain medicine and see what that did for me. Policy is before any pain meds or epidurals are administered your cervix has to be checked. At this point I was a "loose 1cm" and even more disappointed. The pain medicine helped in taking the edge off of the contractions for a little while but it also made me really nauseated. After a few more hours I decided to get an epidural. They checked me at that point and I was at 3cm. Around midnight I got the epidural and had minimal relief... on my right side. I was having no relief at all on my left side and after about an hour I had no relief at all. Sometimes when they put the epidurals in there's something about the placement and they just don't work. I opted to try again for another one. I got checked again at around 3am and I was 6cm at that point. We tried for the second epidural at that time........ I FINALLY got some relief with that epidural. I was so happy and was finally able to relax a little bit. Blake even got to sleep for a little over an hour! He had been up since 5am and I'd been up since 830 the morning before. Needless to say we were both exhausted.
    About an hour after getting my epidural I got checked again and I was complete! 10 cm! 100% effaced! I was shocked and thrilled! We did a practice push and then decided not to push anymore until the midwife was there. My nurse asked me if she should wake Blake up and I said yes. So she said "Blake, are you ready to have a baby?" He shot up off of his cot all disoriented and said "Yeah!" It was pretty funny.
   Just before 5am I started pushing with the contractions and 19 minutes later... Easton was finally here! 5:08am! No one could believe how big he seemed to be! The midwife told me that I could easily deliver a 10lb baby and I told her that if she could not say that again that would be great. At my 37 week ultrasound Easton was measured to be 7lbs 12oz. At 39 weeks and 3 days he was born at 9lbs 9.3 oz! Everyone was shocked! No idea where that came from... 21 inches of perfection! I love every bit of him!