Birth of Grant William Gardiner

Baby Grant was born at 7:59 p.m. on January 23rd, 2010. 7lbs, 4 oz and 21 inches long! He was very wiggly and squirmy right from the first minute!

The previous friday night, James and I went to a nice dinner and movie together, figuring it might be one of the last times we would get to go out for a while. Little did we know! The doctor called Saturday morning with the results of my 24 hour urine test, and things were not good. Regularly, the protein levels should be around 200, and mine were at 2000. Since he was full term, the doctor said that it would be best to just go ahead and get him out of there. So she told us to come in right away to get induced! James was still sleeping, so after I got off the phone, I said, "Honey, we are going to the hospital!" What a way to get woken up, haha. Here is me right before we left for the hospital, at about 38 weeks.



I am pretty lucky at how everything went. Since I was already 2cm and 50% effaced, I was in a very good position to be induced. We got to the hospital at 11:45 a.m. At this point, I was very nervous and anxious. I had no idea what to expect and I was worried that if things didn't progress well that I might have to get a C-section which is something I really wanted to avoid.



So we get taken to our room and the nurse asks all kinds of questions and it takes seemingly forever. I don't know why they make you "pre-register" and then ask all the same questions all over again. It made me even more nervous and anxious with all the waiting and whenever we were alone in the labor & delivery room I started crying because I was just in shock that this was actually happening and I felt soooo not ready.

Finally I get the IV and they started giving me Pitocin. For the first two hours I was barely feeling anything but I could see that I was having contractions on the monitor. Then I started feeling what felt like mild period cramps. The contractions were about 4 minutes apart and lasted about a minute. I was still feeling pretty good at this point because the pain was something that I had felt before. I was about 3 cm at this point.

Then the contractions started getting intense. I was able to breathe through them without too much trouble, but it felt like very BAD period cramps (which I have had plenty of times, so although it hurt, it was managable. James was standing next to me holding my hand and rubbing me during them. They were about 3 minutes apart and I was at 4 cm. They were saying what good progress I was making and all I could think was, "That's IT?!?! 4 cm? I'm not even halfway there and the pain is only going to get worse!"

At that point I started thinking about asking for the epidural. It was about 4:10 p.m. and I requested the epidural, figuring that it would take at least 20 minutes before the anethesiologist would get there and get things going. Well, it turned out that he was in surgery and I had to wait over an hour just for him to get there. At this point the contractions got INCREDIBLY painful. When they would come, I would either 1) Cry, 2) Say, "I CAN'T DO THIS! I WANT AN EPIDURAL!" and/or 3)hyperventilate and moan. James was right there by my side every step of the way telling me how tough I was and how great I was doing. Surprisingly, I didn't yell at him, just asked him a few times to stop doing things because they bothered me...like sometimes I just did not want to be touched.

Everyone just kept telling me to "breathe," but honestly it is not that easy! Your body just naturally tenses up and it is so hard to relax how you are supposed to. I honestly felt like I was going to die! Worst pain ever.

The nurses gave me a narcotic to tide me over until I could get the epidural. It made me feel really out of it but I was able to relax and control my breathing. I still felt pain, but it wasn't to the degree as I had been feeling. It was a huge temporary relief. It was wearing off by the time the anesthiesiologist got there, so it was good timing. I laid on my side while I got the epidural and it went very smoothly. I started to feel relief almost immediately.

Once I got the epidural, life was good!



I just was continually amazed at how much BETTER I felt. I was having contractions and I couldn't feel them! Yay! I was still a bit out of it due to the other drugs but I just felt like I was in heaven. You don't realize how much you appreciate being pain free until you can compare it to the alternative! I started feeling a LOT of pressure and discomfort, and by the time it was 7:25 I was ready to start pushing. The nurse was awesome and so helpful. She and James were the only ones in the room and they were encouraging me every step of the way. I was worried that I wouldn't know how to push since this was my first time and because I was numb from the epidural, but surprisingly I felt completely in control of my body and with the great coaching the nurse gave, it went incredibly smooth. After about half an hour of pushing, Grant William Gardiner was born at 7:59 p.m.!



A pretty short labor & delivery and it couldn't have gone better! I am so grateful for that, and for our precious baby boy. When the doctor put him in my arms after he came out, the first thing the little guy did was grab my finger with his hand. It was an amazing moment.


Brand new baby


First family photo


Proud mom


Thanks Dr. Nowitzky!


Our precious boy

I am still in disbelief that he came from inside of me. It is such an incredible miracle. I can't stop looking at him and thinking how much I love him already.