Finally, THE story!

Jeremy Michael Ahlstrom

February 8, 2011 5:55 am

(7 lbs 7 0z 19.5 in long)
First Family Photo

It started with my first internal checkup. I had my doctor’s appointment where he did my first internal check at 37 weeks. Shane and I expected the doctor to say that I was not even dilated. After he checked me he said that I was already 3.5 cm and 70% effaced. He was surprised at a first time mom being that far along already without me feeling any contractions or labor pains. Shane and I were surprised as well! He told us to bring a hospital bag to the next appointment in case I was even farther along. It really hit us that this baby could be coming soon! Nothing really happened and the week went by.

Then on Monday February 7th I had my 38 week appointment. He did another internal check and I was 4 cm dilated and 80% effaced. The doctor said that he had never seen anyone that far along without actually being in labor. I went home and the day went on as usual. I told Shane what the doctor said and we just both laughed at how easy this pregnancy has been and how blessed we have been throughout the whole process. Shane kept joking during dinner that he may have to deliver the baby at home if I don’t feel anything and all of a sudden a baby decides to come out. He kept saying, “watch you are going to go into labor tonight” and I just kept saying, “oh be quiet.” We went to bed later that night around 11 pm.

I then woke up around 1:30 am and thought I had what was a contraction. I tried going back to sleep and rustled around until about 1:50 am when I felt the same pain but stronger and a gush of fluid came out that I couldn’t control. I thought maybe the pressure on my bladder had just caused me to pee in the bed but this was an uncontrollable gush of liquid that I couldn’t hold in no matter how hard I tried. My water had just broke! I went into the bathroom to see if it had stained my garments yellow because it was pee or if it was a clear liquid. Sure enough it didn’t smell like pee and it was definitely a clear color. I had accidentally turned the light on in the bedroom before I had gone into the bathroom and quickly turned it off again because I didn’t want to wake Shane up if it was a false alarm. When I came back into the bedroom Shane said, “Kim are you okay?” I told him that I thought my water had just broke and he asked if I was sure. I showed him the bed where it had happened and he thought I was right. I still hadn’t felt another contraction so we waited for me to have another one just to make sure. About 20 minutes after my water broke I had another one. Then they started coming about 10 minutes apart. Then about an hour after my water broke they were coming about every 2 or 3 minutes apart. And they were strong! Every time I had one I thought the baby’s head was going to come out. There was so much pressure pushing down. It felt like when you have to go to the bathroom really bad but have to hold it in to the point where it is painful but 1000X the pain.

So we packed a few more things since I already had a bag ready to go for my appointment earlier that day and then headed to the hospital around 3 am. Just our luck, we walked outside and it was snowing, just enough to make it slippery since the roads hadn’t been paved. Shane had to drive really slowly and we slid a couple of times and ran a couple of red lights! The whole way there I had contractions that were getting worse and closer together. I called my mom to tell her we were on our way to the hospital. We finally arrived at the hospital at around 3:30 am and the nurse didn’t check my cervix until around 4 am. They didn’t realize that before I came in I was at 4 cm so they were taking their time. Shane was so supportive throughout the whole contraction process! Luckily for him the pain only lasted a total of about two hours. But it was so nice to have him there by my side throughout the whole thing. He was great! Then the nurse checked to make sure it was my water that had broke and it was. She finally checked my cervix and said your about 7-8 cm dilated. She went out in the hallway and told the other nurses and boy did they start scrambling. I heard them say we need the anesthesiologist in here now! The anesthesiologist came in and gave me an epidural. The nurse checked me about 5 minutes after the epidural had kicked in and I was at 10 cm. The doctor was delivering another baby at the time so they had me wait while I was at a 10 for about 45 minutes. He finally came in and I started pushing. 40 minutes later we had our baby boy! So the total labor time was from about 2 am to 6 am. Only four hours long! The doctor said that he had seen about 5000 labors and never seen one go this smoothly, especially with a first time mom. They gave Jeremy (which wasn’t officially his name yet) to me right away and I held him for a minute or two. I cannot tell you the feelings I had when they handed me that sweet boy. I could not believe he was really here, that this was our baby! Shane cut the umbilical cord and then they weighed and measured him. They let Shane hold him next. It was so cute to see Jeremy with his Daddy for the first time! We are both still so excited and still think he is the cutest baby boy we have ever seen!