Rhett was due April 29, and I knew that if he wasn't born by May 2, I would be induced. Well, after a few false alarms, we went to bed on May 1st knowing our baby boy would be born the next day. My pregnancy was pretty uneventful except for the Braxton Hicks contractions I started having around 19 weeks. I knew he would be a big boy, but I didn't know just how big.
On the morning of May 2nd, 2011, we checked into INOVA Fairfax at 7:00 am. We got to our room at about 7:30. They broke my water 8 and started the pitocin at 8:30.
Contractions started right away and I was feeling pretty good. After awhile, the contractions got to be so frequent and intense that I was having trouble breathing through them and I was starting to shake. I decided to get the epidural (I wasn't against it from the beginning). I was 4 cm dilated at that point. About an hour and a half later, I was up to 6 cm.
By 4:00, I was up to 9 cm! Everyone thought I would be having this baby by dinnertime...
At 6:00 they decided that I was fully dilated and ready to begin pushing. I was already so tired and hadn't even begun to push!
So, I pushed, and I pushed, and I pushed...for 3 and a half hours...
The doctor told me that I had to get this baby out and I needed to do it in the next 2 contractions. I had had nothing to eat except a couple popcicles and some ice chips in 13 1/2 hours and was completely exhausted. I just wanted everything to be over, but I was very sure I didn't want a c-section. The doctor said that the best thing would be to use the vacuum to assist.
With her help and a strong contraction, Rhett was born at 9:28 pm. He was 9 lbs. 6 oz. and 21 inches long. He surprised everyone with his size!
He was a beautiful, healthy, big boy!
I was instantly in love!
And so was his daddy.
Our sweet Rhett.
