Welcome to the World!

What a long journey it was! After all the growing, aches, tiredness, and anxiety, the time for our sweet boy to arrive was finally here! We started by going to the hospital on Monday, May 30, at 5:00 p.m. We were misled to believe that we were just going in for a "check-up," and then it would be up to me with the recommendation of the doctor to be induced. We would begin the cervidil that night and be induced first thing Tuesday morning. Well, we get there and they go head and admit me, hook me up to IV's, and put me in a hospital gown all before being checked at all! Needless to say, I guess I was being induced whether I liked it or not! Apparently this had me in a tizzy. I had already had a slight mental breakdown that Monday morning- all the nervousness and anxiety had come to a head, and I was scared to death of the fact that I was ACTUALLY having a BABY! Me, a baby? WOW! So, being unexpectedly admitted to the hospital without even being checked to see if I needed to be had my nerves shot. Braylor could sense this and his heartrate shot up. It is normal for the baby to have a heartrate between 140-180 and his was at a steady 210. The nurses immediately put me on oxygen and put saline in my IV to try to calm me down. I didn't think I was nervous at this point, but I guess subconsciously I was. I was told if his heartrate didn't go down and soon I would have to have an emergency c-section. Yeah, that really helped me calm down to hear that! Finally, after about 30 minutes and alot of breathing and relaxtion exercises, his heartrate dropped. They removed the oxygen mask and then it dropped more! I had told the nurses I would feel more comfortable and relaxed if it was off, and sure enough I was.

Dr. Dozier finally came around 9:30 to check me. I was dilated 1 1/2 cm, the same as I was the weeks prior. He went ahead and inserted the cervidil and I tried to get a good nights rest. About 3:30 that morning, I woke up in pain. I knew this must be contractions. Around 6:30, I thought my water had broke. I called the nurse in there and she assured me it had not. Around 10, Dr. Mullins came to check me. I had dilated to 3 1/2 cm on my own and he was going to "break my water." Well, what do you know! When he went in to break my water, it had already broke! Dummy nurse! By this time I was hurting, so he called for my epidural. Dr. Wiggins did my epidural and I felt an immediate sensation of calmness and relaxation. However, I could still feel pain. I thought this was just normal. Dr. Mullins came in to insert the internal monitors and I about came off that bed! I had dilated to 5 cm at this point, and I told them something had to be done about the pain. I was having contractions that were peaking to 80 in intensity. This was the most pain I had ever experienced up to that point. Dr. Wiggins came to readminister the epidural and sure enough it was done wrong. It had been inserted into a vein which was why I was feeling the relaxing/calming sensation, but no pain relief. This time, however, it was done right! Oh, I felt so good! If I could've gone to sleep, it would've been the best sleep I would've ever gotten! With all this happening, my progressing stopped. I stayed at 5 cm even after I was given pitocin until around 7:45 that night. I had been told that if I had not progressed by 8:00 p.m., I was going to have to have a c-section. At 7:45, I started to feel pain even through my epidural. We told my wonderful nurse, Jenna, to please check me. She did and I was at 8 1/2 cm! Thank God! She immediately went to find Dr. Mullins. By the time he had gotten in there (probably about 10 minutes later), I had already gotten to 9 1/2 cm! They were waiting on me to thin out some more on one side and I was feeling pain at this point. I felt an urge to push and they told me to "hold it" if I could because if I would've started pushing then, it wouldv'e taken me 2 hours. I held and held until I just couldn't any more. I pushed for 30 minutes and at 8:53 p.m., after 17 hours of labor and 24 hours without food, Braylor Lauson Dunn took his first breath and entered this world. 

The doctor was surprised at how big he was! We were told by three different doctors that he would just be an average sized 7 pound baby! Boy, were they wrong! Braylor was 9 pounds 1 ounce and 22 inches! Dr. Mullins couldn't believe that it only took 30 minutes to push with him being so big and this being my first child! I was determined to give it my all and get him OUT!

Then came time for the placenta to be delivered! This was when I was in pain! Dr. Mullins had turned the epidural off and thought he would be done by the time it had worn off. He then discovered that I had a blood clot in my uterus that had to be removed. It was caused from him being so big. It took about 30 minutes for it to be removed and with NO pain medicine. Whoo, I was worn out when that was over! I was then able to hold my baby boy and let him practice latching on. He did so well!  I have never been more proud of something in my life.

I have never been so tired in my life! I could literally hardly hold my eyes open! We were so proud of our healthy baby boy. He had so many people who already loved him waiting for his arrival. Around 10:30, Braylor got to meet his family! Below are a few of the pictures taken...

Brady was smiling from ear to ear! He was such a proud daddy! In fact, he had WAY more energy than I had at this point. He did a wonderful job of updating EVERYONE and helping me along the way. He also cut the cord. I was very surprised and proud of how well he did. He surpassed everyone's expectations and did NOT pass out!

When thinking back on feelings and emotions that I felt, the only words that come to mind is relief and exhaustion. I was literally too tired to think, and I was relieved that this little blessing that I had been waiting on for so long was finally here. Nothing in life prepares you for this moment. Our family was now complete.