Daze of Our Lives: Our newest addition!

On February 10th I woke up at 1 a.m. and had a feeling that it was not going to be a normal day! I started feeling some discomfort and quickly realized that real contractions had started. I had been having braxton hicks contractions for about 2 months now, but these were definitely different. I had made it to 38 weeks in the pregnancy. I knew I was going to go early, but not that early. My mom had come into town 2 days prior to be around in case I went in to labor, and thank God that she did! We had hoped to use her while she was in town to have a date night and get some chores done, but instead she had to get right to work taking care of Noel for us!

I paced around the house for a while. Mom hung out with me while we let Jason get a few more hours of sleep. Mom and I watched a movie and some television and watched the hours pass! I wasn't feeling terribly uncomfortable. I mean don't get me wrong, contractions are no fun, but I could talk through them and walk around fine!

Here is my last picture of the belly! Around 11:45 a.m. we decided to head to the hospital. I had one pretty painful contraction before getting to the car, but the car ride wasn't terrible. I remember it being much more painful and uncomfortable when we are on the way to the hospital with Noel. That morning we had a lot of ice on the roads, so we wanted to head to the hospital with plenty of time to spare just in case we hit traffic.

While driving to the hospital, Jason and I were trying to guess how many centimeters dilated I was. I guessed 4 and that they would want to send me home or tell me to walk around some. Jason guessed 6 cm. Jason parked the car and I paced around the hospital a bit waiting for him. Still feeling uncomfortable, but I was pretty sure I had hours to go. We finally made our way up to the maternity ward and they admitted me and had me get all set in a gown and checked me out.

By this point I was starting to feel a lot more pressure and discomfort. The nurse checked me out and told me I was 9 cm dilated and the baby's head was VERY low. They took me right into a room and within a few minutes we were starting to push! No time for drugs again, but I didn't want them anyways! I knew I could do labor without pain meds, I was ready for the challenge!

I pushed for about 30ish minutes. Things got a little rocky during that time when the baby started to have some trouble getting air. They gave me some oxygen and told me that we had to get this baby out. Push, push, push!

And at 12:56 p.m. out came our newest addition! Welcome to the family Joseph Thomas Matusiak! Our little 7 lb. 15 oz bundle of joy!

When he came out he had his hand up near his head and the umbilical cord wrapped around his head and arm. That made for some difficultly getting him out and a lot of pain! But with some pulling by the midwife and some hard pushes all was good! The nurses were joking with us because he started peeing as soon as he got out and did several times before being weighed. They said I could have had an 8 pounder if he wouldn't have peed so much!