1 week later.....

I finally am starting to feel well enough that I decided I should write about my version of the labor experience. Overall it was a good experience, I'm not saying the best ever, but it was one that I will remember for the rest of my life. I have to admit that it was better then I expected, but maybe its the mommy amnesia kicking in now and I don't remember all of the pain little Cruz put me through.
At 3am when I started having contractions I couldn't tell if they were the real deal, because they felt nothing like the braxton hicks contractions that I had earlier in my pregnancy (maybe they weren't braxton hicks then). To me they felt like the worst menstrual cramps that I had ever had. Did anyone else feel that way, because when I told my mom she sounded surprised at how I described them. Finally at about 4:30ish they were bad enough that Brendan and I decided that it was time to go.
When we got to the hospital I was already 4-5cm dilated, but I had also been 3cm dilated for the past two weeks. I told them that I was ready for my epidural and my nurse then tells me that they had three back-to-back emergency c-sections and it could be a few hours until I could have one. I thought I was going to die. Luckily the doctor came in a few minutes later and told me that an extra anastialogist had come in, whew!!!!! By that time I was already 7cm dilated and boy was I ready for some pain relief. The epidural felt like a warm blanket. It was really nice too, because I got to control how much pain relief I wanted. They gave me a button that I could push ever 15 minutes to give me an extra shot of relief. My labor was moving along really quickly, but after I had the epidural it slowed down, so I was finally given some drug to move my contractions along. I pushed for about an hour, but it went by so quickly. My mom was able to be in the room with me and Brendan did great. I was really expecting for him to get grossed out, but nothing really bugged him.
When Cruz came out I couldn't believe that I had carried him for 9 months and given birth to something that large. How is it possible? When they handed him to me it was all worth the pain that I went through.

Cruz on his way home from the hospital

Wow what a difference a week makes. We are trying really hard to get used to this parent thing. All of our friends have told us that we should really enjoy our pre-baby sleep, and we should have listened better. Cruz is not a bad sleeper he is just a confused little boy. He sleeps great from about 3 am to 7 pm. But the other hours of the day he feels is a great time to be awake, and for some reason he feels that he is really hungry that whole time. If he is not eating he will grunt and grunt and grunt........ and keep me awake wondering, is there something wrong, do I need to pick him up? But I think he just likes grunting.