Aiden Thomas

For the past nine (well, ten) months we have been anxiously waiting, preparing and anticipating the arrival of our first child. Ok, our first human child. I have four other friends who were also due in May (due the 9th, 11th, 20th, and 23rd), and we had been sharing our pregnancy adventures together. And as I was waiting for my due date (the 19th) to arrive, all four of them had their babies over the span of 3 days starting on the 12th. And I kept waiting...

I had painted my toes blue. And I waited. I made blueberry muffins. And I waited. I filled the freezer with food. And I waited. I meticulously cleaned bathrooms, did laundry and dusted. And I waited. Then I succumbed to the very likely fact that I was going to see my due date and still be pregnant. Heck, I'd been holding strong at 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced for the past month. Even my doctor said our Chicken Nugget was getting a little too comfy in there.

On May 18th, around 2:40 pm, my water broke. At least I thought it did. Either that, or I had lost all bladder control. I nervously and excitedly called out to Jeff, then called the hospital, then our families. The nurse at the hospital told me not to rush since I wasn't having any contractions yet, so I took one more shower at home, tried to eat a protein bar but was too nervous, and we headed to the hospital.

We got checked in to the hospital, confirmed that my water had broke, and then waited some more. We walked laps around the hallway trying to trigger some contractions, but nothing was happening. Well, I was having contractions, but couldn't feel them. They would give me until around 9 pm until they would give me some medication to help progress things along. While we were waiting, my parents and Mike made it to the hospital. The nurse finally checked to see where I was at...2.5 cm, but still not fully effaced. They decided to give me a cervical ripening agent, and would check again in 4 hours to see if they should start Pitocin. We hung out for a while, and then eventually told our parents to head to the house, promising to call them if anything changed.

Jeff and I tried to get some sleep knowing that it was going to be a long night. I started to feel the contractions more and more, and tried different positions. The problem was every time I moved it triggered another contraction. Not to mention they were coming about a minute and a half apart. It was time for the epidural. Jeff was actually the one who told the nurse it was time...maybe I was so consumed by the pain I wasn't thinking clearly. All I know is that by the time the anesthesiologist came, I was more than ready for the epidural. I even told him I loved him after the drugs kicked in. Sorry, Jeff. I had also developed a fever of 101.9, so on top of my raging hormones, I was hotter than Hades. No amount of ice packs was cooling me off.

The nurse decided to check my progress again after I got the epidural and I was at 9 cm! All in 2 1/2 hours! Good thing they didn't check before I got the epidural! They told us to rest up and to let them know if I started feeling pressure or more pain. It wasn't very long before I started to feel a ton of pressure and called the nurse back in. And so the pushing began...Jeff called my mom back to the hospital and told her to hurry. If I had progressed so fast, we figured this part would be quick as well. WRONG.

I pushed, and I pushed, and I pushed. I tried different positions. The nurse (my 3rd since arriving at the hospital...whose name was ironically Tori) tried different cueing and encouragement. Turns out the baby's head kept turning, and at one point he was trying to come out like Superman with one arm raised overhead. Please note, that does not work. I ended up pushing for 5 1/2 hours...a new hospital record! All the doctors and nurses were talking about me the rest of the time we were there and were calling me Superwoman!

But push come to shove (pun intended), our sweet baby boy finally entered the world. Our Aiden Thomas was born on 05.19.14 at 10:19 am. He weighed 8 lbs, 7 oz and was 21 inches long. And we were immediately in love with him.

We ended up staying 2 nights in the hospital. They only require 1 but you are allowed (and are strongly encouraged) to stay 2 nights. By the time we were discharged, Aiden's weight had dropped to 7 pounds, 12 ounces and they were concerned about him losing too much weight. They get concerned when the baby loses 10% and he was at 8.2%. We were to follow up with the pediatrician 2 days later to make sure his weight was going back up, or we might have to start him on formula.

I would like to give a massive shout out to all the wonderful nurses at Twin Cities Hospital, especially Jenni (who got me through the contractions), Tori (who got me through all the pushing and delivery), and Erin (who helped us survive the recovery process until we were discharged...especially for taking Aiden the 1st night for 3 hours so Jeff and I could sleep!). They were amazing and I don't know what we would have done without them!

Welcome to the world, baby boy! We love you and are so excited that you are finally here!