Daxton's Birth Story

Phil is such a great daddy. Here he is with Daxton before we left the hospital.

This is our first family photo.

Sweet little hands

Phil had to take a picture of me before the pain started to get really bad.

Our sweet baby Daxton!

Hey all-

Yes I am excited to announce that five days after my due date Daxton Douglas Alldredge decided to grace us with his presence!!! I have read many blogs similar to this and I have always found them to be very interesting and so I can remember better I am going to blog about the labor and delivery of our son. So if you choose to read on please know that you have been warned... On Tuesday I went to the doctors to find out that I was 50% effaced but only dialated to a one which did not seem very promising to me. So Thursday morning I was scheduled to be induced, I was very grateful that my doctor was not going to make me wait any longer because Phil started school on Monday. Well Daxton did not want to wait to be induced. Thursday morning around 5:30 I started timing my contractions and they were coming about five minutes apart. At 7:00 we left for the hospital. Once we arrived they hooked me up to the monitor and confirmed that I was in fact in labor. I was doing my best to stay clam through contractions but I was feeling very weak like I was going to pass out or throw up, all I wanted to do was sleep so when I was dialated to a five I decided I should get an epidural. The epidural was great to take away the pain of my contractions which made it easier for me to sleep, unfortunately their first attempt at giving me an epidural did not go well. They went to far into my back and hit my spine. This caused an instant headache due to spinal fluid leaking out. Luckily my headache went away for me to push but it came right back after he was born. At about 2:50pm (I think) I felt like I was ready to push. The nurse came in and told me how I was supposed to push and we started. Most of the time they go in three sets of ten and that is what we started at but I felt like my body could do more so when I felt like it I did four and sometimes five sets of ten second pushes. I never could have imagined what it would have felt like to give birth. It was scary and exciting and even though I could not feel the pain of my contractions I felt the pressure of them and I did feel pain as Daxton started coming out. It was not long before the nurse called the doctor in for the delivery. By this time I was done pushing. I felt like my body was not going to be able to finish. I could not slow my breathing down. Phil and the nurse kept telling me that I needed to slow my breathing down which seemed impossible to me. Phil and the nurse also kept telling me that he was almost there and yet I felt like he was never going to come out. They were telling me I was doing great but I felt like it was never going to end. After the workout of a life time Daxton finally made his way into the world. (For the majority of my pushing I kept my eyes closed and when he finally did come out the nurse had to tell me to open my eyes and look at my son. Labor was by far the hardest thing I have ever had to do, but seeing my son for the first time was the most amazing moment of my life. I couldn't believe that he was actually here and that he was actually mine (and Phil's of course:) The recovery would not have been so bad except for the fact that my head ache came back. It was the worst headache I have ever had. Every time I would sit up or stand up my head would just throb. Walking to the bath room was very hard and Phil pretty much had to accompany me every time. Phil was so great with helping me to the bathroom, getting me water, ice packs, and cleaning up after me. He was very understanding about my headache. Phil pretty much had to change all of Daxton's meconium diapers (which apparently they are the worst but the only one I did change was very small and really not that bad. I also helped Phil with the very first one but I did not start helping until he was almost finished.) As the day progressed my headache did not get any better so after 24 hours they told me I could get a blood patch which is where they take blood from my arm and put it into my back to try and get the blood to clot where the hole was. They made it sound like it was going to be a very fast simple procedure and even though it was for them it hurt extremely bad for me. A few hours later my headache started to subside and even though my back was very sore I started feeling much better. That night we headed home and we were able to enjoy the evening with my brother and some of his family before they had to head out.