M&Msartori: September 2009

Thursday, September 17th at 9:03, our boy Milo Jon Sartori was born. Weighing in at 7 lbs. 4 oz. and measuring 20 inches long, he is a beautiful little guy.

It all started at work Wednesday afternoon. Mel was getting really uncomfortable and having bad pains in her stomach and lower areas. We didn't really know what contractions felt like so we were reading online trying to figure out if they were real labor pains or if they were the Braxton Hicks fake ones. We decided they were real contractions, but they weren't lasting very long, or weren't very strong. They were pretty consistent at 2-3 mins apart. We just decided to watch and see as the evening progressed. I went to scouts and then came back to Mel telling me the timing of the contractions were staying consistent but had gotten stronger. I hurried and got my bag together since I wasn't even prepared at all. After getting some advice from Melissa, we decided to take a walk around the block at 10pm just to maybe get it going, or at least stretch stuff out. After the walk Mel was getting really uncomfortable so we just laid down and tried to sleep as I tried to rub her back. Well I woke up to Mel telling me we needed to go at around 1:45 or so. I quickly grabbed our bags, threw them in the car and we raced to the hospital. All I could think on the drive was "holy cow, I'm not ready. I am going to have to be a dad".

Well we came in to the hospital, and they checked Mel. Not dilated at all. So here I was thinking great, they are going to send us home like some first time parents who jumped the gun too quickly. But I was sure we were waiting long enough because the contractions were by then a minute long, strong, and spaced three minutes apart. So we got situated into our room and just kind of waited. I could tell Mel was nervous, in pain, and getting tired. The nurse was a little concerned Mel could be dehydrated or have a urinary tract infection, since both of these can cause contractions. So Mel drank a bunch of water, and we continued waiting. They took a urine sample for tests, and we just waited. Checked again and still not dilated. More painful contractions, and some more waiting. Then we thought the water broke. Nope, just some leaking. But now Mel was dilated to a 2. They decided to give her some Pitocin to see if they could speed up the process. Then more painful contractions, and within 40-60 mins she was at a 6.5. So things started going really fast. They rushed in the anesthesiologist and got the epidural. Which Mel appreciated so much. After the epidural, Mel was able to take a short nap, as we waited for her to get fully ready. Luckily when it was time to actually deliver, it only took 4 sets of pushes, and we had our little boy. I guess that's more than enough talking. Here are some pictures.

Long night, but a wonderful morning.