May 3rd... Happy Birth Day!

Well Matthew Gianni has finally arrived! Here is the story... On Sunday morning at 12:00 I started having mild contractions. Which when I say mild it was still painful!... They started getting extremely strong and closer together. By 4:30ish we called the doctor and she said as soon as they started getting to 5 minutes apart in an hour then I could head on to the hospital. Well they definitely got stronger.. We headed to the hospital but first we dropped off Sadie at mom's and picked up mom and headed to the hospital. As soon as we got there they asked if I wanted to take the epidural and of course my answer was YES!! I was 3cm dilated when they took me inside the delivery room. Once I got the epidural and it took effect I was up to 4cm. I stayed that way for a while. Dr. Jaeger decided to give me petocin which speeded things up. My cervix was very thin and I started dilating a bit quicker. The baby did not like the contractions so they had to put me on oxygen and an IV of sugar. Eventually everything went back to normal and the baby's hearbeat stabilized once more. Once I was dilated to 9/10 centimeters we started the pushing.. Okay seriously it was one of those type of pains that you will maybe not remember vividly but definitely will not forget. I think the worst part of it all is that you think you are pushing with all your might.. which you are but still it does not seem like enough! But finally after much pushing and Dr. Jaeger coming in and letting me know the only option I had was to either push it out or he would vacuum it out... (and he was very firm so I knew I had to do it) I kept pushing...until Matthew finally came.. granted that it also helped when the Dr. gave me the episiotomy. When that took place Matthew just came out. The umbilical cord was wrapped around him twice but that did not seem to be a problem. Thank God! Matthew was born at 7:46pm. He was born with a fever, but he was precious. The cutest baby ever! I was numb from the episiotomy so David went with the baby as he got weighed and measured. I stayed behind to get my legs back to normal so I could get up by myself. I had to do this in order to get upstairs to our permanent room. David got to see the baby take his first bath! Once I was upstairs Matthew was supposed to come to the room with us but unfortunately he had some fluids in his lungs and his fever had not gone away so they had to keep him in the nursery until today. He came to our room around 5:30 this morning. He was perfectly fine and healthy but the nurse took him back with her so the doctor could check him one more time and do the last of the blood work. They brought him back to our room at around 9:30ish and has been here ever since. He really is a cutie and we love him very much. God has blessed us with a beautiful baby! As he sleeps right now I am amazed at the amazing gift God has bestowed upon us.