a baby delivery story

beckett is here! he is pretty much perfect in every way and delivering him was easy peasy... kind of. matt was amazing in the room with me and beckett had a whole cheering team that sat in the waiting room all night long, BUT this post is about my delivery. more to come on all the magical support i had in later posts. 

on january 6th (my due date) i woke up early in the morning and felt weird. the constant pressure i had been feeling on my pelvic bone was gone and i couldn't feel the baby moving. i instantly started to stress out and push on my belly to try and get beckett to respond, but nothing. after about half an hour i woke up matt and started to tell him that something seemed not right. as soon as i said the words out loud, i threw myself into a total panic. we rushed to the doctor's office and she found his little heartbeat right away. she decided to monitor me just in case and after about an hour, was not totally happy with the results and decided it was baby time! yes, it was my due date and i knew that beckett's entrance into this world was quickly approaching, but hearing that i was not leaving the hospital without a baby was a little bit... um... terrifying. i was not in labor and still only 2cm dilated, so the doctor put a foley catheter in (a small balloon that forces your cervix to dilate to 4cm) as a way to try and naturally induce me. i checked into the hospital around 11am and then we waited. and waited. slowly i started having contractions and by 7pm they were getting a little intense. at 9pm my nurse checked me and my catheter fell out and my water broke. yea for my body going into labor without the use of drugs! i was 5.5cm dilated and was offered the epidural, but decided to labor as long as possible before having one. that lasted about two seconds. the contractions were so close together i could not get any relief and i wanted some help, like immediately! of course the anesthesiologist was busy with another patient and it was 11pm when he came to do the epidural... i was 7.5cm dilated. the epidural was magical and i was able to rest for a little bit until i started feeling seriously sick. as my hormones went kookoo bananas preparing me for labor, i started throwing up. at 3am i was fully dilated and i decided to "labor down" and rest before i started pushing. at 3:30am i was still sick, but tired of trying to rest and decided to start pushing. i pushed and pushed and pushed and pushed some more and by 6am i had made little progress and was exhausted. also, my epidural medication had worn off and the anesthesiologist was not able to get back to me. i'll just say going from feeling very little pain at 10cm to feeling everything was not my favorite... at all. the general ob doctor came in (my doctor was with another patient) and told me that my pelvis was just too small and the baby had been in the birth canal too long and it was time to prepare for a c-section. my nurse asked about a vacuum delivery and he said that he wouldn't do it. i was at a loss. i was tired and in pain and confused and i kept saying i didn't want the c-section and i was told i had no options. i signed the paperwork for the surgery and just then my doctor came in. she discussed things with the general doctor and came over and said as a last ditch effort, she would try the vacuum if it was really important to me. i said it was and she told me i had 3 tries to get him out. after my third push, i would be rushed immediately to the operating room for the c-section. ahh! too much pressure! i got my epidural refilled (thank goodness!!!) and pushed like i had never pushed before. after my third  push the doctor yelled, "cortney you are so close, i am giving you one more try... get him out!" and... drumroll... i did! WOO HOO! at 7:15am on january 7th, all 8 pounds, 4 ounces and 22 inches of beckett kol pennebaker was born! the doctor put him on my chest and matt cried while i stared in shock at the little person who had been inside me for 9 months. i still can't wrap my mind around it really. it is pretty cool though.