I'm so sorry!

I really, really, really didn't want to be one of THOSE people who had a baby and didn't update their blog with pictures until a week later. But, in my defense, I did update facebook with pictures and most people have that so I felt okay about waiting. Anyway, I'll go ahead and post a modified birth story for those interested and some pictures of our new little Brody!

Okay. This induction didn't go exactly according to plan, but what birth actually does? The morning started off pretty good. My mom came in the night before to stay with Zack. I was so worried about leaving him with someone else, but he has taken to my mom like I never even existed! He is officially in love with Grandma. And she has been so helpful this whole week. But back to the story. Todd and I woke up on time and got to the hospital a little early. Here is a picture we took before take off:

So, after we got there at 6:00 we did the normal check in stuff. They hooked my IV up around 7, and the doctor broke my water around 8. After that, they kept telling me I could get my epidural anytime and that it would take about 30 minutes for the guy to get up there to give it to me. I didn't ask for it until around 9:30 because I wanted my contractions to be more regular and a little more painful so I wouldn't be so freaked about the epidural.

Big mistake.

After asking for it at 9:30, I didn't end up getting it until around 10:45. By this time I was ready to KILL someone. Or myself. Not sure which. About ten minutes after getting it, I noticed only my legs were still numb. I could still feel everything, including the horrible back labor. I told the nurse and she went to get someone to get me a higher dose to hopefully numb me. Before this, she did check me and I was only dilated to a 4, so we thought I had plenty of time to get more medicine and take a nap before pushing.

Then the anesthesiologist came in and gave me some drugs that REALLY numbed my legs. Like, I couldn't even move them. But I could still feel everything! She told me it was because I was tall and the epidural was too low. Scream. Didn't they learn about this kind of stuff in school? Anyway, I told her to go get my nurse so I could pee (sorry if TMI) and maybe this would help ease my contractions.

11:30ish the nurse comes in to do a catheter and for some reason it won't go in. After checking me she says "Oh my gosh! You're ready to push!" And then two pushes later, Brody was born!

So the bad news, epidurals don't always work. Never plan on having a pain-free birth, because while it is possible it won't always happen. We were so unprepared to do it this way. Poor Todd had to try to talk me through it all and did a wonderful job! The good news: I got him out in TWO pushes!!! It took me over two hours to get Zack out. And I went from a 4 to a 10 in like 45 min, which is awesome since I was in so much pain.

Okay, now for the pictures! Enjoy! And I have tons of pictures of Zack and Brody together, but they are all on my phone. I'll post them once Todd uploads them on the computer.

And one of Zack. He just looks so big in this picture!