What a difference a day makes!!

I have no doubt that this will be my longest written blog post ever...but to cover the most exciting day of our lives thus far I figure it is necessary. For those of you that don't want the whole story feel free to scroll through and look at the pictures!

DURING THE DAY...

As you'll remember I was posting about how the birth countdown widget was mocking me on our blog on the 13th. Well to add to the fact that my blog was now counting back up I really didn't feel well all day. I had a headache and my back really hurt and I was tired...but figured it was just another day of not feeling so great. I stopped working around 3:30 figuring I'd work again later that night as I often do. I went to lay down and ended up taking a nap for about an hour and a half. In the meantime Sam had come home and started dinner for the 2 of us. He made some great pasta but I just didn't feel like eating much (which turned out to be a good thing but I'll get there).

HERE WE GO...

We decided we'd then go for a walk around the park across the street because it would be easy to walk for as long or as short as I wanted. We started walking and about 20 minutes in I was having what I thought were mild contractions, however I wasn't sure. But heck if the walking was bringing on contractions let's keep going...so we did. By the end of the walk I was having to stop when the contraction started because they had gotten quite a bit stronger. When we got back to the house I sent a quick message to our doula letting her know I thought I was in labor but we'd see how it was going. She called back shortly after that and the contractions had already started getting longer and were still consistently at about 5 minutes apart and suggested I walk up and down our stairs and also that when the contractions came to keep moving instead of stopping. She was right it helped move them along. After one trip up the stairs as the contractions came I felt a little pop and had some water trickle down my leg...I told Sam I am pretty sure my water just broke (this was about 10:45 now). Well that trickle turned into a whole lot more as soon as I moved...and kept coming out for the next hour and a half. We decided based on the timing and length of the contractions and my water breaking that it was time to call the doctor. She said to go ahead and head to the hospital.

OFF TO THE HOSPITAL...

We arrived at the hospital around 11:30 and had to get checked in and make our way to the birthing room. We lucked out as there were 22 people before us that had checked in that night to deliver and we got the LAST birthing room! We met our labor and delivery nurse Tania who was EXCELLENT and called our doula Ariana letting her know we were moving along and she could go ahead and come in. The contractions since the water breaking had gotten very strong and after about half and hour I decided it was time to do the epidural, which is good that I did because it took another hour until it had finally kicked in. We are now at about 1am and they checked to see where I was at. Well the reason the contractions were so strong was that I was already at 9cm and close to 10. It wasn't long before I hit 10 and it was time to push. It went ok but the little man just didn't want to come out but eventually, 3 1/2 hours later, with the help of a great husband, a very supportive doula and nurse and a doc that really knows how to use forcepts...Cohen von Troge entered this world!

Here we are looking at our little boy for the very first time

dad's favorite skeptical look

our first family photo

Sam held him first and estimated the weight accurately at 6 10. Impressive.

Cohen von Troge

born 8/14/2009

4:25am

6 lb 10 oz

19 1/4 in