He's Here! He's Here! He's Finally Here!

After waiting what seemed like the longest nine months of my life, September 4th, aka my due date, finally arrived. What was missing? Oh ya, the baby that was supposed to come with it! 

I grew very restless during that last home stretch of pregnancy. I had been mentally hoping to go into labor early, as had my mother. *Disappointment* The closer I got to my due date the farther labor seemed away. I began to look into self-inducing techniques. Here is a list of the options I encountered:

• Pressure Points
• Message
• Spicy Foods
• Walking
• Squats/lunges
• Physio ball
• Nipple stimulation
• Some 'birds and the bees' action 
• Raspberry Tea
• Blue and Black Cohosh
• Castor Oil
• Driving on bumping roads
• Eating a large Yeasty Beasty pizza (Thank you Tom and Carmen!)

After a little research I eliminated Castor oil, and Blue or Black Cohosh due to the possible side effects they could have on the baby. I wasn't impatient enough to start taking risks. 

The rest I tried, multiple times. I substituted bumpy roads for stop and go traffic in Portland, went through an entire box of raspberry tea, ate Picante Pace salsa for breakfast and a #3 Yangs for lunch each day, walked to my sister-in-laws house and back, busted out the physio ball, youtubed every pressure point video, got a massage at Joint Chiropractic, lunged for four blocks, seduced the hubby and well.. he took care of stimulating the nipples. (sorry, too far) 

Results? Yes, but never enough to actually put me in labor. Everything we tried worked to an extent, I would feel very minor cramps or discomfort in my lower back, but they would soon petter out, rarely lasting long and never regular. The techniques that gave the strongest results were:

1. Going all the way with the Mr. 
2. Raspberry Tea
3. Walking fast
4. Spicy Food
5. Pressure Points

What I learned, was that after my efforts to induce labor, the end result was exhaustion! At the end of the week the only pains I felt were the digestive repercussions of the Hot Yangs and a swollen knee from lunging one too many times.

My mom, sensing my distress and feeling eager herself, came to my rescue. We spent a week trying out a new strategy-relaxing and icing. 

Now the odd part came with my check ups. On my due date, my obstetrician, (whom I adored!) Dr. Brooke Renard in Silverton, informed me that I was 7 cm dilated and 90% effaced. She was surprised I hadn't already had the baby. Yet still no contractions?! And still no baby. She expressed concern that when the baby did come, it would be coming quickly! Yikes!

Cody and I talked it over the next day and decided that we would stay at a hotel in Salem for the night. We could enjoy the pool, since floating is really all you can do with a bum knee, and be that much closer to Silverton if my water broke. 

The next morning we gave our most effective inducing technique one last try. *wink wink* This led to minor lower back pain, so we decided what the heck, we'd go to the hospital. If you ever want to receive funny looks, just walk into a birthing center with a smile and tell the lady at the desk you think you may be in labor. She gave me the, 'Oh honey, you have no clue' look. They hooked me up to the monitor regardless, either to humor me or just following protocol. 

Bam! I WAS having contractions! Every three minutes at that. When they checked me I was 8cm dilated. It was an odd situation since I wasn't feeling much if any pain. 

They admitted me at 2:30 pm, Sept 6th. Cody enjoyed the free meals and my amazing labor team arrived (our moms and Codys sisters). During the day we all walked, laughed and rented movies. Rachel and Jessica halfway laughed while rolling their eyes when the monitor would show I was contracting every minute, yet I couldn't feel it. Dr. Renard checked me and said I had dilated to 9 cm. I could either continue sitting there and let it slowly do its thing, go home and let it slowly do its thing, or we could break my water and get the ball rolling. What a choice!!!! 

I admit, I am impatient, I hate being hungry and I am horrible with pain. So, none of those options seemed appealing. If I went home I was at square one, worrying about getting back to the hospital in time. If I stayed there I couldn't eat and was getting more and more tired. If they broke my water, and the gig was up. You see, labor was pretty gracious up to this point, pain wise, and I wasn't sure I liked the idea of ruining a good thing.

Impatience won. I was scared as all get out, but I had them break my water around midnight. Sure enough, my minor back pain started packing a slightly stronger punch soon after. 

I cant imagine doing the labor thing without my team. They used tennis balls to rub my lower back, held a fan on my face, cheered me on the whole way and filmed the experience. 

Cody, poor guy, found that he is a nervous eater. That kid went through so many meals that the kitchen staff made our nurse start approving his orders. 

Labor hurt.

but...

Our baby arrived at 3:41 am on Sept. 7th, 2013. He was 8 lbs. 21'', with long eyelashes, a head of dark curly hair, long fingernails and big blue eyes that kept blinking up at me. I couldn't believe how heavy he felt on my chest! Cody was in love from that moment on. 

Our son, Easton Alden Prescott had finally arrived! The first thing he did was turn his head and latch on the boob. Takes after his Dad in the eating department! Cody cut the cord and took the baby so I could get some sleep. I was beat!! The next morning, being sore, I decided that either we would never have more children or next time I'd use drugs. Today, only 12 days later, I have already started to forget that pain. Fool.

This little guy has us both wrapped around his finger. He is a talker already, making little murmurers all the while he is awake. His eyes are already becoming a slightly lighter blue and his hair is lightening up. He only cries if he is pushin' out a surprise, or hungry and sleeps three hours at a time, most nights. He looks like a small replica of his father, but seems to enjoy listening to Shania Twain like Mommy. Each day he smiles more often, which melts me instantly. 

I have loved having people come visit! Don't hesitate to call and set up a time to meet Easton!