Birth Story
**Disclaimer** Very long and detailed so I'll have it for the baby book. You probably don't want to read this.

Tuesday May, 13th
That morning I asked Matthew what to do to get him at work since we were getting closer to the due date. We made our little plan.... My car decided to quit working on Sunday so I would be without it that day. We planned on taking it to the shop at 3:00 that afternoon.

11:30am I planned to meet some friends from church for lunch at J. Alexanders, Amy had to come get me because of my poor car. I ate the most awesome blue cheese and grilled salmon salad ever.

1:00pm Amy dropped me off at home. I climbed the stairs and had a strange feeling. I called Mom and asked if it really could be my water. I was still 13 days away?

1:30pm At this point I was sure that was what happened. I called the Dr. office, they told me to come in and get checked as soon as possible. I texted (is that a word) Matthew Call ASAP. This was not the plan by the way. He was in a meeting, but stepped out. I told him we were in no hurry.

2:00pm Matthew walked in the door. I was folding clothes and packing, since I had not planned on having him anytime soon. We made the bed and started the dishwasher. We prayed and hugged at the door for the last time as a family of two.

2:30pm We checked in at the Dr. office. I had lost a pound and my blood pressure was great. I was 1 cm dilated and 40% effaced. Sure enough my water had broken and this put me on a timetable of 24 hours, from fear of infection. I asked the doctor if we could go to Wendy's for Matthew to get something to eat I promised I wouldn't eat. He told me, "Do not pass go, do not collect $200." "I'll get you a wheelchair to ride over to the hospital." I was not having any contractions that I knew of and I would walk myself, I told him. (in a nice way)

3:30pm Admitted to labor and delivery. They didn't have any beds ready so they told us to wait in the waiting room. I sat cross legged on the hard floor hoping his head would come down further and progress naturally before they pumped me full of Pitocin.

5:00pm They started Pit and upped it 2 units every thirty minutes. Contractions were coming every 3 minutes and were in the 50 to 70 intensity range.

Midnight They checked me, I was 5 cm and 80% effaced. The last thirty minutes had been extremely intense. Matthew was doing an amazing job talking me through them. He had very strict orders, from me, to not let me give in to the epidural. I started begging and at 12:20am I finally made the decision that this was under different circumstances and I could live with a medicated birth.

12:20 to 1:30am Started the epidural which was horrible sitting still through the toughest contractions.

1:30 to 2:10am Napped on and off but was feeling a ton of pressure. I thought I can't really be ready to push.

2:10am The nurse checked me again and I was fully dilated and complete, so she let me give a practice push.

2:59am Sweet baby boy was born!!!! 6 lbs 2 oz, 19 inches long, blonde hair and blue eyes.

4:00am Nursed for the first time!

6:30am First bath

9:00am Named the sweet boy Graham Edward

It ended up being the best birth under the circumstances! We love our sweet boy and praise God for his safe arrival. We are so glad that God blessed us with Graham and trusts us to raise him to know Him!