The McClendons: December 2013

40 weeks

{last preggo pic, taken 12/13/13 the day we went to hospital}

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Okay so lets begin at the beginning.

my doctor wanted me to go in for a ultrasound on monday {12/9/13} to get measurements on our little one to see how big he is. well the measurements were at 7'13, also i hadn't progressed. still 2cm dilated and 80% effaced. So she wanted to schedule me to come to the hospital to get gels to help soften my cervix on Friday, 12/13/14.

so we went to the hospital at 8am. got registered, they had hooked me up to monitors to make sure i was good to get the gels and the baby was doing good. we got to see that i was already having realllllly small contractions which made me excited. so they checked me first and i was still at 2cm and 80% effaced, then they gave me the gels. they had me stay a little while longer to see how the little one and me took to the gels, she then checked me and i was dilated to 3cm. At 11am they let me go and said to come back at 3pm to get a second round of gels.

30 minutes later i started having contractions 10 minutes apart!

so they advised to us to walk as much as possible and so we went to costco, walmart, frys grocery store. the entire time having contractions!!! boy did they hurt! finally 2:45 came and they were 5 minutes apart so i told kris we should head to the hospital because they were getting pretty intense! they wanted to put the monitors back on me and the baby to see how we are doing and everything was good.

they said i was having contractions too close together to do a second round of gels.

by 5pm i was dilated to 4 1/2 and 90% effaced and they decided to admit me!

by 6pm i was 5cm dilated, still 90% effaced.

my contractions were on TOP of each other to where they were so big and lasting so long that i literally had 10 seconds to breath and then another contraction would come along! i finally asked to get the epidural at 9pm. it was amazing how much relief it brought to me especially for being in labor at that point for 13 hours. i was finally able to sleep. they also had started me on pitocin to help me dilate quicker. by 6:30am on saturday they checked me and i was dilated to a 6. i was so bummed. then comes 10am and i was dilated to a 7!! i was so happy about that. then they finally decide to break my water at 1pm. of course when the water breaks your cervix shrinks a little so i went back down to 5cm dilated but by 3pm i was back up to 7cm dilated and 90% effaced. Around 5pm hits and i start feeling my contractions again like i did the first day. the epidural was wearing off. so they came in and pumped me with more epidural and i got relief for about 15 minutes and then i started feeling them again. so they pumped me with more epidural. then 6:15 comes around and i STILL feel the contractions. they said since i was 9cm dilated and 100% effaced that it was too late to RE-DO the epidural and that the nerves down there are not being numbed for some reason. i was in sooooo much pain. to feel every contraction was so bad. The nurse wanted me to do a couple practice pushes with her to make sure the baby was good to go and he was. At 6:30pm i started to push with the doctor and all the nurses. I had to push EVERY time i had a contraction which means every time i was maxed out in PAIN they wanted me to amplify it by having me push! i have never in my life experienced pain like that.

finally the moment came after 32 hours of labor. i pushed like no other, an i finally saw my sons head an body and then THE CRY at 7:41pm!! i immediately started crying my eyes out and within seconds of them pulling him out, they placed him on my stomach and i have never experienced anything like that before. the feeling of finally holding this sweet precious boy after months of anticipating when we meet.. there is nothing like it. I got to hold him for a couple minutes, untill Kristopher got to cut the umbilical cord!!!{another special moment} they took him away to do the measurements and all that and it seemed like forever. they finished up and i got to hold him again for a little bit until i finally passed him over to his daddy!! seeing kristopher with him was incredible. we are parents now and are going to adore this little one forever.

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so now that you know the whole story here are the pics to go along with the whole

32 hour experience!

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here i lay before anything was done/before the whole process started!!

i did ALOT of walking in the hospital.

Every step i took kristopher took it with me, he was my biggest support!

once we got admitted to the hospital, kristopher started to fill out the paperwork!!

finally my feet swelled. my entire pregnancy my feet or any part of my body never got swollen but now they did from all the IV's i received{i ended up getting about 7 IV's in my stay}

right before i got my epidural.

yes that white line is my contractions!

my contractions were going off the chart!! At this point i believe i was 9cm dilated.

he is here!!!!!!!

this picture is worth a thousand words. this moment was worth the 32 hours of labor. this moment i had waited 9 months and 1 day for. to get to hold my son in my arms and finally have one of the greatest joys in the world i will never forget the emotions that came over me. i immediately started BALLING my eyes out and repeatedly saying i love him and he is beautiful.

my family.

the two most important men in my life sleeping after a crazy long couple days.

now remember, i got my epidural at 9pm on saturday and all they let me eat was ice chips until i gave birth, so you better believe after 24 hours of eating nothing i was h-u-n-g-r-y so i ordered a rather large breakfast.