How Manning Made His Grand Entrance

*this post includes some rather graphic pregnancy/birth type info. so you boys feel free to skip
*this post is also long, so please feel free to skip

I want to record Manning's birth story on this blog b/c I never wrote it down for Henry and regret that. It all began last Thursday March 25 around 8am. I was all ready to go to work and was just getting ready to leave. I sat down to pee for the 1 billionth time and realized that I had lost my mucus plug. There was a good amount of blood, so I decided to call the doctor to make sure this was normal. I knew at this point I would not be going to work that day so I called my boss to let her know. Dr. Hargrove had me come in for a check at 9:30am . I arrived and was checked and was told I had indeed lost the plug, was only 1 going on 2 cm's dilated, 60% effaced, and that labor could be 1 hour away or 3 days. Henry was at school and then to Ms. Brenda's so I went home to rest. Frankie came and got me at around 12:30 and we went to Bessinger's for my favorite cheeseburger at my request. I was having a few contractions at this point which I had been having on and off for a day or so, but no pattern and not really that strong. They were strong enough though to make Frankie nervous and she had me come back to her house for the afternoon to rest. The contractions continued to get a bit stronger, but still no pattern. I was convinced that it was just false labor pains, but Frankie believed we'd have Manning by the next afternoon. She was right. I picked Henry up from Ms. Brenda's at 5:00pm and we went home to grab a few things and then headed back over to Mimi's for dinner. Brad met us there and by the time he arrived at 7:45ish I was having strong contractions about 10 minutes apart. We began timing at this point and I had already alerted my parents and Hanna to be on standby. By 8:30 they were coming at 8 minutes apart so we decided to head home and leave Henry with Mimi and Pops for the night. I got home and got in the bathtub to help relieve some of the pain and now they were 4-5 minutes, so obviously they were beginning to pick up. Brad had out his little pad and was constructing some sort of graph to better explain the patterns to the doc. So cute! I called Dr. Hargrove at 9:00ish and she had me head to St. Francis to be checked out. I arrived, was checked, and was 80% effaced and still only 2-3 cm's dilated. I was terrified that they would send me home with false labor b/c at this point the contractions had slowed to 8 minutes again (of course), but my PRECIOUS nurse Susan thought I was good to go and admitted me along with Dr. Hargrove's permission. I could literally write a book about the nurses I had that night, mainly Susan, but I'll save that for another day. She was in her 50's, very motherly, country accent, and the most calming and reassuring nurse. We fell in love with each other as the night progressed and basically both cried when it was all over and I was transferred to the post partum unit. I feel so lucky to have had her take care of me!
So, I got all hooked up to the monitors and awaited the almighty epidural. Which I did not get until a good 7 cm's b/c the anesthesiologist was tied up in an emergency c-section with a girl who had had zero prenatal care and gestational diabetes. She delivered a 13 lb. baby! He finally got there and administered the epidural which took effect immediately and was heavenly! My epidural did not work with Henry and I had a really hard and intense labor. This time it was picture perfect and I couldn't feel a thing, literally. I was able to lay back and rest some. Manning's heart rate kept dropping while flat on my back, so she had me stay on my left side and he was fine. I kind of stalled at 8 cm's so they pushed a little pitosin to get things moving. It worked and soon I began to feel A LOT of pressure and the urge to push. Susan called Dr. Hargrove and by the time she arrived I was REALLY ready to push. I think I pushed about 7 or 8 times and out my little angel came. Brad had decided before that he couldn't handle cutting the cord, so they handed to scissors to Hanna and she took the honors. I don't think she had time to react, so she just did it and did a great job. They immediately put him on my chest and he was the most precious little tiny thing. Those moments after birth are so surreal. You just can't believe it's finally over. That this little person had been growing inside you for 10 months. We immediately thought he looked like Henry and he still does. And yes, he does have strawberry blond/red hair. It's not much, but definitely in the red family.
At 3:13 am on Friday March 26th, my heart made room for one more child. I couldn't imagine how that could be, but it did.
And I am so proud I could just burst!