The Story of Landon's Birthday!

"Every good and perfect gift comes from above...." James 1:17

Landon is almost 2 weeks old, and we've been loving every minute of it! Tough finding time to blog (or do anything non-baby related) - but I wanted to get his Birth Story down before I forgot all the little details!

It all started Thursday night (May 26th)... 

My mom had been in town since Monday - I became super emotional the weekend before Landon was born and just was at the point of really needing my mom. :) I think it was a mix of excitement and anxiety about him coming and our life completely changing. Wondering if I was 'cut out' for the job and if I'd be able to do it. Nervous about labor and delivery, and at the same time feeling 'overdone' (even though we hadn't hit his due date yet) and feeling like I was going to be pregnant forever and that he'd never come! As you can see it was a wide was a wide range of emotions. 

Well all week I had had many false alarms. Sunday night Ryan and I were timing contractions... 5 minutes apart, but fizzled out and nothing intense enough to bring on more labor. Tuesday at school I thought my water had broken... yeah when you've never been pregnant before you really just don't know!!! This might be TMI but there was definitely fluid there..just not amniotic. And NO it wasn't pee either. The Dr had me come in and they couldn't really identify what it was and just said, "Toward the end...your body just has more fluid.." hmm. Bummer... I was embarrassed because I left work early (split my class up between my other teammates) and then it wasn't really it. I hate inconveniencing other people. Thursday night comes and Ry and I go to bed - both of us still wondering when Landon would decide to greet the world. I started saying we were going to have a June baby because it just didn't seem like he was ready and his due date (May 28) was so close to June - plus they say most first time moms come late. At 12:30am I'm woken up out of my sleep with contractions. They were different ... they were stronger and not going away.  

This was early in the week...love my main squeeze!

Ryan had an interview in the morning and I didn't want to wake him up. Plus with all the false alarms all week -I felt like the 'girl who cried labor' and was just thinking I'll ignore everything I'm feeling until I KNOW 'this is it!' Well of course I shouldn't and couldn't ignore these...so I woke my mom up and we camped out on the couch and timed contractions. She could definitely tell they were more painful than before but still 4-5 minutes apart. I tried to sleep it off for a while and couldn't so once it was about 5:00am my mom told me to get a sub for the day and call my Dr. I was like "Are you sure? I've been wrong this whole time" and then I thought about it and there was no way I could teach/go to school feeling like this. So I called the OB and they told me to go into the hospital to get monitored. I have Group B Strep - I think I read about 25% of pregnant women carry it. It's no big deal, but it's a bacteria that could affect the baby during delivery...so the fact that I was positive for that made the Dr want me to come in to check how everything was going. With GBS you have to get antibiotics every 4 hours during labor- so if this really was it, they needed to get meds in me asap!

It was pretty exciting to get the 'go ahead' from the Dr and go wake up Ryan - "Hey hun...we're going to the hospital! ...Yes really...the Dr. told me to!" It was so sweet - he gave me a kiss and said "We're gunna have a baby!" (It's sort of an inside joke - Lamaze class..the instructor said for the husband to NEVER say that while their wife was in labor..cause she'd probably give them a dirty look - haha) This was an appropriate time to say it though. He can always make me laugh. Ryan packed - I showered (and yes I shaved my legs)... and we packed up my mom's car. Ryan took Moose to get boarded at the Vet's office and mom and I got into the car to go to the hospital. It was a very surreal feeling on that drive to the hospital - I thought maybe next time I'd come home with a baby! 

We were seen at 8am and a sweet nurse Stacy got me all situated with monitors and an IV. The nurse working from my OB's office came and saw me and just said from talking to me it didn't look like I was in labor. :( Crushed me! I knew what I was feeling... Dr. Schmitz (on call dr since mine was out of town) came and checked in on me as well. She said I was at a little over 3 cm and wanted to give me time to walk around.  If I progressed in that amount of time they would keep me...if not I was going to be sent home.  Normally they would've given me only an hour to walk, but she decided to give me two. And believe me...I did not sit down at all during those 2 hours except when they wanted to check me again. At 10am Dr. Schmitz checked me and I had progressed to 4cm and was 'very thin'...so she admitted me. Before she checked she talked about giving me something to help me sleep at home -yada yada..she didn't think I was staying, but because I progressed I did! 

At that point we let our families know we were staying and went to our L&D room. The Dr. told me to order lunch - "You're having this baby today...but it will be probably around midnight. So get something to eat cause once we start you can't eat anything but ice!" Oh boy - that was crazy to hear. Midnight? I was going to see my little miracle?! Wow. 

Finishing up lunch... 

They hooked me up to a fetal monitor and a contraction monitor - they kept saying I had a 'pumpkin' belly cause it was so OUT THERE and the monitor would not stay in place - made it hard to see Landon's heart rate and when contractions were happening. Like I said earlier...I am a carrier of Group B Strep - no big deal but I needed antibiotics (penicillin) every 4 hrs.  So in between doses Ryan and I were doing lots of walking around the halls and contractions started picking up. Doubled me over and took my breath away! Crazy what your body can do. Fast forward a few hours and I had finally progressed to 5 cm. It was about 6pm...been a long day already. Dr. Schmitz had told me earlier she was either going to go ahead and break my water or start me on pitocin. I didn't know which I really wanted to do - I was nervous about her breaking my water because I knew contractions would quickly become more intense and things would start moving along faster. However, it had been about 8 hours and we were ready to get a move on. At 6:40 she broke my water, and killer contractions followed right after. I thought I knew what contractions were - but I was wrong! Now I know what the REAL thing is. At this point all of our family was in the waiting room and figured they'd meet Landon around midnight. Once she broke my water I really only wanted to be with Ryan and not bombarded with family - especially since things were getting tough! Ryan was such an incredible support and 'coach' through this entire day and I let him know I was about to need his help even more than ever now!

Landon's heartbeat on top...my contractions on the bottom. They watch to see that his heart rate raises when I have contractions...

It was getting to the point where the contractions were so painful I needed to either walk through them or get an epidural. The nurse told me before I got the epidural I'd need a bag of fluids - and it would take about 30 minutes to finish the bag. Eek! I said, "Ok..lets start it now." Dr. Schmitz told me to hop in the shower with the IV - she could tell I was in extreme pain and needed some sort of relief before the epidural came. Never, ever thought I'd actually use that shower, but it was about the only thing helping me through my  pain. Ryan helped me get into the shower and I told him I wanted my mom back with me. It was probably the last time I was going to see her before I had the baby, and he was getting anxious seeing me in pain and wanting to go talk to his mom and dad (he knew his dad had just arrived and hadn't seen him yet). I told him when the epidural came I'd want him there and then to not leave! Mom came back and it was the toughest my labor had been. Contractions were 'rapid fire' - 1 1/2 long with 1 minute between. Could barely catch my breath! I had the hotttttest water beating down my back in the shower and I was leaning against a chair they had in there. Mom was worried I was going to hyperventilate because of how quickly the contractions were coming and how hard I was breathing... not only that I was in a steaming shower! She kept the bathroom door open and encouraged me through the toughest part of my labor. I kept my eyes closed to focus and was breathing like crazy! I was trying to focus/pray during that time. It was like so many thoughts in my head along with this pain, but I tried to quiet my mind and visualize Jesus on the cross and think about all of the suffering He did for me/us. He endured more pain than what I was going through. I was always encouraged to offer up pain and join in Christ's suffering. Join in his Passion. Also, thinking about this little boy we were responsible for and all his life ahead of us. The good times, bad time and everything in between - I started imaging our life with him. Deep stuff before this baby came!

Finally the bag is done, and they're walking me to my bed. Dr. Schmitz checked me again - still at 5cm. Disappointing! After all that pain ... no progress?!?! They felt like I was 'fighting my contractions' and not working with them to help me dilate. At that point the epidural was finally on it's way, and so was Ryan. Mom left when he got there and my sweet nurse Imelda got me ready for the anesthesiologist. She said he would be there any minute... haha right! He was about another 20 minutes. So they just stood there fanning me... I got put on oxygen to help me breath better and we waited. Thinking back on this day - I asked Ryan if I had started kicking the bed with my foot during contractions while I waited and he said I did. I was so delirious I didn't remember until I thought about it later! Crazy! When that sweet old man walked in the room I was so excited! haha... he gets all set up and then tells me he has to go through all the side affects of getting an epi... at that point I was like "Yes yes...ok...yes I know. Yes that's fine...ok" I could barely talk and I was shaking all over. Honestly, I don't know how people do it without drugs and I'm not placing judgement. I just know that with my labor there was no way I would've made it. (He wasn't born until 6 hrs later) Everyone's body and Labor is different and everyone has to just make the best choice for themselves. 

Almost instantly I felt relief...still in pain but not as strong. They encouraged me to sleep to let the medicine do it's job. They also started me on a 'drip of pit' so that my cervix would start dialating more. I slept the best I could... but how could I knowing I was about to meet our little miracle! Every 30 minutes the nurse and Ryan would come help flip me on my other side...apparently it makes the epidural meds not stay on one side or the other. I remember my contacts started getting really dried out from me sleeping and being awake for over 24 hours - so I asked Ryan if he could have my parents bring my suitcase with my glasses. I was still on oxygen and laying on my side...at this point I knew things were getting close because another nurse came in and set up a table for the doctor - it has all these tools and things for delivery. Both of my parents came back just to say hey one last time before the baby and bring my glasses. As soon as I saw them I started crying... so many emotions. My dad came over to hug me and I just LOST it - he got pretty emotional too. I told my dad how scared and how tired I was before the 'real action' had even begun! All he could say was, "It'll be ok" and they both left. I had to keep my composure and energy for what I was about to do! All my life they both have been there to witness those big moments... and they were there (in the waiting room) but it was such a big bonding experience for Ryan and I to 'get through' labor/delivery together.  I love my husband...he is amazing.  

Being funny with the baby beanie!

Turns out I was fighting my contractions and within 2-3 hours I went from 5cm to 10cm and Dr. Schmitz said I was ready to have this baby! It was 1am and she said we were ready to push. Ok... there wasn't a lot of pain - but the pressure I felt was UNREAL! It was amazing how I got in the zone and just listened to the nurse/Dr/Ryan for coaching.  All I could think about was getting to the end of the hardest part of labor and meet my little boy! I think the Dr. was trying to motivate me toward the end (which is a great thing for her to do..) but she decided to say things that really got my blood boiling! 

"Come on Sara, if you push just a little harder this will all be over & you'll have your baby."  

"Come on..that was nothin! Push harder..." 

I really think she was purposely trying to piss me off to get me to work even harder and it definitely worked. I started crying through my last contractions: 1. because the Dr. was making me crazy! with her 'motivational speeches' and 2. I knew we were about to meet little Landon and our lives would be changed forever (for the better!) 

She asked if I wanted to touch his head and I said, 'NO!!! Let's get him OUT!" I almost asked her to grab him and take him out...but that was outta the question. Finally, Landon was born @ 4:10am! (Yes if you did the math that is 3 hours of pushing!) The moment I saw his face, I was his. Ryan was crying, I was crying and our hearts grew about 10 times bigger. Filled with love and overjoyed! I wish I had a picture of Ryan's face as Landon was born because it was so sweet how emotional and in awe he was of his little boy!

Welcome to the world sweet boy!

He wasn't too happy... he was stuck for quite a while..

Coneee head! Yikes!

Big, healthy boy!

After he was born and was getting cleaned up...Ryan texted the family to let them know he was born! This was the scene in the waiting room...

Dad popping champagne!

Toasting to Landon's birthday!

Picture of him on the iPad...everyone was so tired. We appreciate them being there for us and waiting for so long!

New parents! So happy and thankful for our healthy baby boy. :) Such a gift we've been given!

Landon Lee Corl

This was quite a long post (and thanks for reading if you made it this far!), but I didn't want to forget any details of most memorable day of our lives (besides our wedding day :) ) I have many more thoughts and reflections to record and more posts to come about Landon, mommyhood/parenthood, and other adventures since we've been home. The best is yet to be...

 God is so good.

It's a wonderful life!