Landon is Here!!

Landon Patrick Heise is here!! He was born on 1/19/09 at 7:41 p.m. He weighed in at 8 pounds 13.6 ounces, yeup that's right he's a tank, and is 21 inches long.

Labor was alot better than I expected it. Now don't get me wrong there were some points in which I was thought to myself "OMG what have I got myself into." It was definately worth it and I had hyped it up alot to myself to try and prepare for the worse. I do have to say though the Epidural is worth it. I am a major needle phobe, and it was definately worth the 3-5 minutes of pain for the relief. I would have paid cash for one if I had too, it was amazing. I had no porblems pushing b/c I could still feel the pressure in my bum that tells you when you need to push.

Short Version Birth Story:

We arrived at the hospital at 7:45 a.m. We checked in, I was able to change into the ever so fashionable hospital gown, they asked a billion questions, checked my vitals, etc. Next came the IV (the worst part for me...needles generally make me pass out) and the drew blood for labs. I also found out around this time that my Group B Strep Test came back positive, no big deal I just had to have at least 2 rounds of antibiotics before he was born...I was able to get 3. The labor nurses then started the Pitocin and the wait began. Around 9:00-9:30 a.m. my Doctor came in and broke my water. Let me tell you, that was quite a weird feeling. I felt like someone popping a water balloon inside you, and then all of the sudden you felt like you were peeing yourself. The peeing yourself feeling last all day, big contractions especially b/c my amniotic fluid would gush when it was a large one.

So we hung out for awhile chatting with the nurses (I had 2 L&D nurses all to myself for the entire day). They would up my Pitocin as needed, and the contractions started mild and gradually became much more painful. They felt like the worst period cramps of your life w/ pain rising, peaking, and then falling again. Not exactly what I call a great time, but worth it to get my son. Around 11:00-11:30 I decided I best get in line for my Epidural since there were 2 ER C-Sections and another lady in front me. I am very glad I decided to get on the "list" at this point b/c by 1:30 when it was finally my turn to get the Epidural my contractions were no longer bearable to me. A few were stacked on top of each other and they were very painful. Well Scott had left and gone to lunch with his mom and Zach, and they got back right as they were prepping me, which was great since the whole scared of needles thing. So I sat still, they painted my back in Iodine, put some sheet thing over it and started the process. They numb your back first with Lidacaine which is a nice thought until you remember that Lidacaine stings like a bad bing sting for the first minute when they inject you with it. I got 2 shots of Lidacaine one shallow into my spinal column, and one deeper. By this time my contractions were stacking on top of each other, I was bent over forwards putting more pressure on my Uterus, and slightly nervous about the whole needles in my spinal column thing. So needless to say Scott was holding my hand, I had my face buried into one of the L&D nurses chest, needlessly chanting "ow, ow, ow" b/c of the pain and had tears streaming down my face. But I tell you what I would do it all over again for the relief and relaxation I was able to achieve from getting the Epidural. The medicine worked right away except it worked WAY better on my left side than my right side so they had to flip me around a few times between my left and right sides to get the medicince to distribute evenly.

I had been 3 cm, 80% effaced, and -2 station since my last appt the week before. I was still at this point before the Epidural and come 2:30 p.m. I was not checked again until 4:00 p.m. and I was amazed that I was then 5-6 cm, 90% effaced, and he was a -1 station. I was checked again at 5:00 p.m. and we were 7-8 cm, 90% effaced, and between -1 and 0 station. At 5:15 the Doctor came to check on us and we hadn't changed from 5:00. Around 6:00 I sarted feeling more pressure in my butt and birth canal so they checked me again. I was 9 cm, 100% effaced, and 0 station. We waited until right before 7:00 p.m. to be checked again. I joked around with Scott that Landon was waiting for his Great Grandma to show up before he decided to be completely ready for us to start pushing. Well at 7:00 p.m. when they checked I was 10 cm dialated, 100% effaced, and they could barely fit their fingers up to their 1st knuckles in the birth canal, so we knew it was time.

I started pushing at 7:00 p.m. Again I was super thankful for my Epidural, it truly was a gift from God and a blessing for me. I pushed 3X to a count of 10 for every contraction. I could feel pressure in my butt like I really had to poop during the contractions and that helped alot. After only 41 minutes of pushing Landon was here! Zach, Scott's mom and Grandma were able to be in the room when he was born, which they thought was very neat. There was an area of the room with a couch and a chair that with Scott standing next to the bed helping hold one of my legs (b/c they were both numb) they were not able to see anything, but could hear and witness it all.

Scott cut the cord while he was on my chest. They then took him to weigh him, do his Apgar scores (both 9's), and warm him up. When they weighed him they showed us the scale reading and both Scott and I asked her if she was waiting for it to reset. Keep in mind they told us he would weigh no more than 7 lbs at birth...ha ha wrong he weighed in at 8 lbs 13.6 oz and earned his nick name tank.

I suffered a 2nd degree tear (not too bad) so I have some stitches and a few other minor things to take care of. Landon is a sweet little guy who loves to snuggle up on your chest. Breast Feeding is off to a slow start, we have had a bit of difficulty but things seem to be turning around now. We are expected to go home tomorrow afternoon after a few more checks and Landon's circumsicion. I am exhausted and have only had maybe 5 hours of sleep since Induction was started. Below are a few pictures Scott took so you can see Landon...can't tell who he looks like or if his hair will be red...it does have red in it though. The nurses say it will mostly fall out and be replaced w/ his real hair color in the next week.