Birth Day

So I have been a new mom for 4 weeks now.
Some days its so hard to believe it has been 4 weeks already, and at other times I think "only 4 weeks?! It feels like months"

The first few days at home were anything but easy.

I will back up a bit and give a history of the day he was born.


I woke up at around 2am Monday morning (oct 18) as I had a really sore tummy.
It just felt like menstrual cramps, nothing like the 'contractions' I was expecting, so I had NO clue I was in the early stages of labour. I was a week early and I didn't really have any Braxton Hicks, and, and most first time moms go overdue, and all my first time mom friends were being induced, so I thought that would happen to me too!
Mark left for work at 6am, and told me I was probably in labour, and I told him he was crazy.
He called me around 8 to check in, and to my surprise I was still feeling crampy, and it was getting worse, but was still in denial about being in labour.
I would email him every hour reporting the time the sore tummy started and stopped and how long in between they were.
I sent my close friends a message saying I thought I was in labour, and emailed my Mom.
Finally at 11am, after 3 hrs of sending emails to Mark, I convinced myself that since they were 20 mins apart, and starting to hurt, that I was indeed in labour.

Mark finished work and came home at 2:30pm, I had a good cry because I was scared, and we watched Friends, ironically the one where Anna Ferris is in labour with Chandler and Monica's kid!
My mom came over at 4pm when she was done work, and her and Mark watched me moan in pain, walk around and relax on my giant exercise ball.

Finally around 6:30, I had a really painful contraction, and we headed out to the hospital.
I wanted to stay at home as long as possible, and I was going to be so angry if I got to the hospital and they were going to send me home.

I went to the Labour and Delivery floor to get checked out by a nurse.

I was only 3cm's. Usually if you are less than 4 they will send you home for a couple hrs and tell you to come back.

UGH, just what I didn't want!
They asked me how I felt about going home, and I told them I wasn't comfortable with that.
Luckily for me, my OB was doing her rounds in the hospital that night, so she was sitting at the nursing desk and came in to see me. She checked me and said I was 4cm's and asked if I wanted her to break my water to get the show on the road. I guess the rest is history!

I was admitted around 7pm, and they put me into a shower, as the hot water helps with contractions and speeds up labour.
Both my mom and Mark were in my delivery room, but you just kind of enter the 'zone', so I don't really remember talking to either of them.
Mark was in the shower with me, and my mom was observing and patiently waiting, and giving progress updates to my Dad and Marks family who were growing more and more impatient as the time ticked on.
Mark was a great coach, and I couldn't have done it without him!

I remember getting checked a couple time and went from 6cms to 7cms in about 10 mins, then kind of seemed to hover at 7cm for what seemed like forever. I remember saying if they checked me again and I was only 7cms I was going to ask for an epidural, cuz I just couldn't keep going with that kind of pain for much longer.

To everyone's surprise, I was ready to go!
The nurses kind of went into panic mode trying to get my Dr there in time.
Luckily she made it and after 15 mins of pushing, Mr Carter Logan Burris made his way into this world at 10:19pm.

The only thing that I didn't expect was how little he was.
I was a big baby- 8lbs 10oz. Mark was 8lbs 9oz.
He felt like a 10 pounder in my stomach, yet he was a teeny tiny 7lbs even.

I wasn't shocked he was a boy, since we decided not to find out the gender.
I wasn't shocked he had red hair, I was a red head until I was 1, and Mark is a red head.

It was midnight before they wheeled me to the Maternity Ward, and we made a pit stop at the waiting area to introduce him to the antsy, bored and hungry family members waiting to meet him.

We did good in the hospital.
He slept good, we were good at nursing and we couldn't wait to go home!

We were discharged on Wednesday, and had a rough first night and day.
I had a visit from a public health nurse and a lactation consultant.

I would rather give birth again than do the first 7-10 days.
They were the hardest, but as I look back now, we have overcome many road blocks and he was totally worth it!