The Pearson Family: Michael Drew Pearson: Born March 4th, 2010

If you have been reading this blog, you know that the last 2 months of my pregnancy were VERY uncomfortable for me. Michael was VERY active in the womb and my back hurt a lot. Everyone thought I was going to deliver early, but that wasn't the case, as much as I would have liked to. I was dialating, but very slowly. I had an appointment on March 3rd, and I was 2 centimeters. Since the 4th was my due date, and my doctor knew how uncomfortable I was, he asked if I wanted to be induced the next day. I jumped on the chance. Ethan was a couple of days late, and I hated it. This way, we were able to get all of our things we needed for the hospital and Ethan staying the night at my mom's, and we still had our heads on. We both got to take showers and just enjoy a slow pace to the hospital.

We drove up to my mom's to stay the night, since we had to wake up at 3am, and we didn't have to wake Ethan up. It was pouring rain when we left, but the day turned out to be beautiful.

When we got to the hospital and they hooked me up to the monitors, we discovered that I was already having contractions. They were about 15 minutes apart, but they were there. I guess the lower back pain and shortness of breath I had been having were contractions. Now I knew what they were, so I was able to tune into them. They started me on pitocin, but the lowest dose to help the contractions along. The never needed to up the dose, which was a good thing. I just needed a jump start.

Right about when the contractions were getting slightly uncomfortable, the doctor came to give me an epidural. I did not have one of these with Ethan either. I'm lucky and didn't have any complications, so my feelings on epidurals is why wouldn't anyone want to have this? I was so comfortable, and able to rest and enjoy the experience. This was giving to me at 11am.

Shortly after, Jason's mom got there and went with Jason to go get lunch. I was cool with this because I had no pain. At about 1pm, I started to feel things a little more, but still no pain. The nurse told me what I should be feeling when I was getting close to deliver. She said the doctor would probably call around 1:30 to see what my progress was. The nurse left and about 5 minutes later, it felt like Michael was moving down. So I called the nurse back in to check me and I was 9 cm. She said she could easily stretch me to 10. So, they started getting all the stuff ready for delivery, and paged the doctor. The nurse helped me start doing practice pushing. This is where the epidural was really nice. I was in so much pain with Ethan, that I couldn't pay attention to what the doctors and nurses were telling me. I just wanted him out so bad, that I pushed when there were no contractions and ended up tearing so bad, that it took me a long time to heal. This time with Michael, I was aware of my contractions, and I was able to let everyone know when I was ready to push and when I didn't feel it anymore and could take a break. Michael was born at 1:56pm, was 8 lbs and 19.5 inches. I tore very little and I've had a much better recovery time. Best of all, I enjoyed the experience and actually would have another child! Thanks to my mom for watching Ethan so I didn't have to worry about him, thanks to Jason's mom for being there with us, and helping Jason coach me through, and thank you to my wonderful husband for being a great support to me. (Am I giving an acceptance speech??) Enjoy the pictures!

Dr. Lee with Michael