9/11/09: Our little Anti-Terrorist is here

Braden Glenn Sundblom

7 lb 12 oz

21 inches long

So I got the phone call at 5:10 am on Friday to come to the hospital in a little over an hour to start being induced. When we got to the hospital though, the doctor noticed some possible signs of an infection that could hurt the baby during delivery, so he decided to send off some labwork to find out for sure and not induce until Monday. If the results came back positive they would do a c-section instead. I started having painful but irregular contractions while we were in the hospital, so they gave me morphine to try to stop the pain and the contractions again like they had on Wednesday. I was at a 3 and 80% effaced and not dilating any further at that point. The contractions started to go away, so we went home around 10 am to get some sleep.

I kept waking up with contractions, but they were not regular so I assumed they were from the irritation of the exam earlier. They kept getting worse and became extremely painful but I wasn't about to go to the hospital a THIRD time in 2 days without having a baby so I called my doctor. He gave me a few ideas for dealing with the pain and said I could come to his office if I wanted to be checked, or to go to the hospital if the contractions became more regular. He also said that the preliminary test results had come back negative, which was very good to hear. I tried to eat some toast so I could take pain meds but threw it up right away so we decided to go to the doctor to see if I was dilating. In hind sight, I should have known that I was in active labor at this point but after the stress of the morning's events I wasn't sure what to think!

Once we got to the doctor's office, the nurse took us back to an exam room right away. The contractions were still not very regular, but they were VERY painful and I was having to breathe and focus so hard to get through them. But before the doctor even came in, about 2 seconds into a particularly painful contraction, my water broke! We left and went straight to the hospital. I was checked at 4:45 pm and I was at a 5 1/2. I wanted an epidural so badly after having struggled through contractions most of the day, but had to wait for the anesthesiologist to get out of a c-section. I was in a lot of pain and the contractions were so close together (although STILL not always regular!) that I was very happy to see him when he arrived at about 6:00! While he was putting in the epidural I felt a very strong urge to push and said so. By 6:15 I was feeling great so they checked me again and I was already fully dilated!

Once the epidural kicked in, I didn't feel the urge to push anymore and was enjoying the excitement of the moment, calling family and such. Because of that, they let me rest for about an hour, gave me antibiotics through my IV because I had tested positive for group B strep a few weeks before, and tried to see if the other test results were available yet. They weren't yet, but because I was so far along and the preliminary results had been negative, they decided to go ahead with a vaginal delivery. Little Brady was born at 7:51 pm after about 40 minutes of pushing. He is so perfect and adorable!

They kept a close eye on him right at first, but everything seemed fine so they let me cuddle and nurse him. It was such an amazing experience! Scott and I were both very emotional when we got to meet our new son. Later on that night, the other test results came back negative which was a huge relief.

The last 4 days (and nights) have been exhausting but extremely blissful. We couldn't be any happier to be parents, and Brady brings such a wonderful spirit into our home. We couldn't ask for a greater gift than our son!

2 days - getting ready to go home from the hospital

3 days old

4 days, family photo!

5 days, sleeping in Grandma's arms