He's here!!!

Grayson Emmit Bledsoe made his entrance into the world on Thursday, August 12, 2010 at 8:27pm.  It was a looooooooooooooooooong day for Mommy and Daddy, and things didn't go exactly as planned.  Thankfully, we are learning that, as parents, things rarely go exactly as planned.  :)

We arrived at the hospital at 3:45am to fill out paperwork.  The nurse came and took David and I back to the labor and delivery room, where I answered a bunch of health questions and got hooked up to the IV and blood pressure machine.  They started the pitocin drip at 5:00am, and I was feeling great!  I was having contractions, but nothing too major, and I was beginning to dilate just a little.  At 8:30am, Doc came in and broke my water.  At that point, I was just over 2cm dilated.  I was starting to get uncomfortable, and I knew that I had a long day ahead of me, so I decided to go ahead and get the epidural process over with so I could get some more sleep.  After all, I had only gotten about 10 hours of sleep in the past 3 days! :)  Shortly after the epidural, I felt great.

My family came, and we laughed and visited and watched tv.  I was able to sleep for a little while, and it seemed like everything was progressing along fabulously!  Around lunch time, I started feeling some contractions on my left side.  The nurse came in and rolled me off my back so that the epidural could have more of a chance to get to my left side.  I laid that way for over an hour, and the pain just kept getting worse.  Also, my right side and back kept getting number and number.  I was literally at the point of not being able to move my right leg or sit up on my own because I was so numb.  They gave me about 5 "updoses" of pain medicine into the epidural throughout the afternoon, but the pain on my right side just kept getting worse and worse.  The doctor came in and checked me around 3:00pm, and I was at 5cm.  I was so relieved to be making progress, and everyone seemed to think that it would all move along so much more quickly now!

By this time, I was feeling every strong contraction in my left side, but absolutely nothing in my right side.  (And, it turned out that I had NO medicine on my left side at all...no wonder it hurt so bad!).  The nurse came in, and they decided that they would adjust the epidural a little bit, to see if that would help the left side get some of the meds.  They adjusted the epidural, gave me another updose of medication, and waited an hour.  I was only feeling worse and worse.  Finally, they said that my only other option was to get another epidural or to have a c-section.  Around 7:00pm, Doc came in, and told me that I was only 6cm dilated.  I was so disappointed and discouraged.  We decided, though, to try the second epidural.  I didn't really want anymore medication in me, but I also wanted to be able to have Grayson naturally since I had already been trying for almost 15 hours.  They redid the epidural AND gave me a dose of morphine.  I laid in bed and tried to relax, but the contractions were coming every 2 minutes...it was just impossible.  Doc came back to check on me at 7:45pm, and I didn't even let him in the door before I screamed we were doing the surgery....I just knew that I was so exhausted that there was NO WAY I could make it through 4 more cm of dilation AND push.  I just couldn't.

So, they literally whisked me off to surgery.  I had to sit in the operating room while they removed the second epidural and gave me a spinal block.  I laid on the table for about 10 minutes.  Then Doc started to check to make sure I was numb.  He poked all over my abdomen, and then he got to my left side.  I STILL was not numb!!!  Doc mentioned that he would give me 5 more minutes to get numb, or I was going to have to be put to sleep for the csection.  I immediately started praying--I didn't want to be asleep when Grayson came!!  (Not to mention that he would be in the nursery for 6 hours if I was put to sleep!) Thankfully, thankfully, thankfully, I was able to get numb, and Grayson was born!!!  He weighed 6lbs 12oz, and was 20.5 inches long.  (And, yes, he has lungs like his momma!)

The doctors and nurses aren't exactly sure why I had so much trouble with my left side.  However, they think that Grayson was laying on a nerve in my cervix that caused it to swell (hence my slow dilation)...that swollen nerve then completely blocked my left side from getting any of the medication that they were pumping in to me.  I am just so glad that Grayson is healthy.  I would go through all the pain and crying and being scared all over again just to have him.

I was in recovery for just over an hour while Grayson spent some time in the nursery.  FINALLY, they rolled me up to my room, and I got to hold my little boy for the first time:

David and I are pretty partial, but we think that Grayson is pretty darn cute.  

And, I honestly can't imagine my life without!  He is an amazing boy.  We were able to bring him home on Saturday afternoon, and have not taken our eyes off of him since...we are so in love!!!

We love you all, and I promise to update again soon!!!