Isaac Omar is here!

During labor. I was very relaxed and felt nothing.

After Isaac was born.

We welcomed Isaac Omar into the world on February 22, 2010 at 4:50 pm. He weighed a whopping 8 lbs 11 oz and was 21.25 inches long. I had been having contractions on and off on Saturday and Sunday. They weren't regular or hurting all that much. The weather was so nice on Sunday we decided to take a walk around Furman's lake and visit the park. I tried to be on my feet as much as possible hoping that the baby would fall out! :-)

At around 11:30 pm/midnight on Sunday I started having contractions again, but this time they seemed to be more regular. I tried sleeping some and changing my position but they kept coming. I didn't want to wake Omar up yet because I wasn't sure if this really was the real deal. I worked on the computer, watched TV, and tried to sleep. At around 4:00 am in the morning I woke Omar up and told him I thought we should go to the hospital. My contractions were varying from 5-8 minutes apart. We called our friend Sarah and she came and stayed with Maya until she woke up and then took her to her own house. We had planned for her to watch Maya while we were at the hospital.

We were checked into triage and I was checked by the nurse (who was also 39 weeks pregnant) and was told that I was only 2 cm dilated and that they would probably just send me home. I was so upset! I knew that my contractions were real and had really hoped they would keep me. She hooked me up to the monitor and we watched the contractions stay at 5 minutes apart. By then it was 7am and it was a change of shifts and the nurse never came back. At around 7:30 am the doctor came in and said she would see what she could do to help me along. She checked me and told me I was at 4 cm! I was shocked! I don't know if the nurse had measured me wrong or I had actually progressed in the hour I was there. The doctor said she would admit me and be back later to break my water. When a different nurse came to transfer me to the labor and delivery room she told us that my nurse had actually gone into labor as well. The entire nursing staff was really excited for her!

Thankfully my parents were staying at my grandparent's house (which is 2.5 hours away) and they arrived shortly after we were checked in. At around 9:30 am the doctor came in and broke my water and told the nurse to start me on pitocin. My labor had stalled out with Maya so I was put on pitocin to keep things moving. I had been worried the same thing would happen again, so I welcomed the pitocin and placed an order for an epidural.

About an hour later, the anesthesiologist came in to give me the epidural. I tend to have Vasovagal (fainting) episodes when I have procedures done and sure enough I felt one coming on. Omar said he was looking at me, blinked, and then saw my face as white as the sheet. Thank goodness the nurse was there to catch my upper body, as I was reeling all over the place. The doctor took a break and helped get my blood pressure back up and then finished the epidural. It took affect immediately and I wasn't feeling anything. Ahh the joys of modern medicine! :-)

It took awhile for my body to get back into labor after the Vasovagal spell, but once it did the contractions were very consistent and picking up intensity. My mom was watching the monitor and mentioned she thought I was probably dilated to 7 cm and was sure that I would deliver by 5:00 pm. Immediately after she said that the doctor walked in and sure enough I was 7 cm and she said she expected me to deliver by 5 pm. Mom was very proud of her "contraction interpreting".

Around 4:15 pm Mom and I noticed the baby's heart rate was dropping pretty low during each contraction. The nurse also noticed and decided to check me. She was shocked to find me at 10 cm and told me to try and push. Once I pushed she got all excited and said that we were going to have the baby right then. Omar and I were in shock!! They got the room set up and by 4:30 we were pushing the baby out. His heart rate was still dropping and the doctor decided to use the vacuum to help get him out quicker. He came out face up looking at everyone! They laid him right onto my chest and I couldn't believe he was actually here!

They cleaned the room up and left us alone for about an hour. During that time he nursed like a champ and we were able to take in what had just happened. It was an amazing experience and completely different than Maya's birth. We are so happy to have him in our life and look forward to adding him to our family.