The birth story

It is hard to believe that it is only 1 year because it seems like much longer. But today marks the day when Matthew was born and entered our lives. He brings us so much joy.

I remember the story - he was 2 weeks late and I was so ready for him to be born. I went to the doctor on Thursday, March 27th 2008 and I was dilating but the baby was still too high. My parents, Andy, and I went out to eat at Pappadeaux's and then we went to bed somewhat early. The next morning I started feeling contractions and since I was dilated to a 5 we calmly took our time getting ready to go to the hospital. The contractions were getting more painful as we approached the hospital. When I showed up at 8:45am, I was dilated to a 7. This was unheard of for first time moms. They checked me into a room and I was in a lot of pain with the contractions until the anesthiologist showed up - Sweet Jesus, Thank the Lord for drugs. Matthew's head was transitional so it was turned and there was no way it could fit in the birth canal. All we needed was for him was to turn his head either face down (like normal) or sunny side up. We waited and waited and I twisted and turned in all different positions trying to get him to move around. One nurse came in while the other was on her lunch hour and said that I was probably going to have a C-section because Matthew was not turning his head and moving down. There were several times where his heart beat would stop from the embilical cord getting wrapped around his neck during a contraction. And they would give me oxygen and it would come back - it was very scary to hear the heart beat stop and the staff would rush in and try to revive it as quickly as possible. Finally, after several hours, his head turned and immediately I felt him drop. I started pushing and only pushed for 30 minutes (also unheard of for first time moms). At 2:55pm, Matthew arrived in this world. Compared to a few of my friends, I had a very short labor - Praise God! Matthew had the embilical cord wrapped around his body twice. It is amazing how he managed to make it through the delivery process.

He was 7 lbs and 13 ounces with very little hair. He was so precious and I was so happy to hold him after carrying him all that time. He had a temper and cried A LOT after he was born. I went through 6 weeks of serious sleep deprivation because he was so fussy in the early days. But it was all worth it because now he is a healthy baby/toddler and he is learning new things everyday. And I am especially thankful that he sleeps all night long now.