Paxton Joseph Steiner!!!

For some reason this video came up here and at the bottom..sorry. My mom taught him to suck his thumb, and the video shows him a little better than the pictures. Pictures of newborns never turn out very well and kind of skew their faces and eyes...

Welp, we had him. On October 13th, I was induced, and finally had Paxton on October 14th at 8:39 am.
Since I am a detail oriented person, it takes me forever to tell stories, so I figure if I just do a bullet list of facts about my labor and delivery, then people won't get bored, it won't be as long, and it won't take as long for me to blog about it....so here we go.

-Went to the hospital at 11:30 on Thursday morning and had my water broken at 12. I was at 2 cm.
-Watched movies with Trevor as they progressively cranked up the pitocin and my contractions got stronger and stronger and more painful and closer together. At about 5 I was dying and they checked me...still at a two. Kill me. So I had to keep enduring. By 7:45 I was maybe crying and wanted an epidural more than anything, but had to wait until the Dr. came to check at 8:30. I luckily was a 3 by then and got that miracle put into my back. I have never been SO grateful for medical professionals and technology. They read me the little precautionary thing about how it could cause paralysis, brain damage, death, etc and asked if I was okay with that. normally that would bother me, but I told them confidently that I was going to die without it and so I was willing to risk it. They finally got it going.
-Baby's heart started to do crazy things at 11 on the monitor, so the nurse as calmly as possible put oxygen mask on me and tried frantically to find the baby's heartbeat with the monitor. They couldn't get it and so they put a scalp monitor in Paxton's head so they would know EXACTLY what his heart rate was at all times. I was up most of the night watching his heart rate on the computer monitor. It kept dipping with contractions after they got it more stable. So all night they progressively cranked the pitocin all the way down until it was off in hopes of getting his heartbeat to regulate again and quit dipping. Oxygen mask went back on everytime it wasn't regular.
-At 4 I was at an 8. Woot!
-At 5 I was having pushing pains (yes, I could feel them, so I started having to push the button for more epidural) quite consistently. They checked and I was at a 10, but still about 95% effaced. So they waited and at 6 I was just about ready to start pushing.
-6:20 am. Trevor was woken up and we started the pushing phase. This was definitely the worst experience of my life. Why don't they show this part on movies? Because it's the worst. Why has no one ever mentioned it? Because it's the worst. The end.
-For 2 1/2 HOURS I had to push. They said with first babies it usually takes 1-2 hours. It was the worst. My epidural had run out and I was feeling a lot of pain. Do I regret it and wish I had had it for the pushing over the contractions? No. I would rather have not felt pain all night like I had it, and feel the baby slowly coming out and then all the way out. But it was the most discomfort and pain I've ever felt probably. The problem is that with pushing, once you start you can't stop. You also don't get a break, at all. Because even if you don't push with every contraction, your body still tries and it's worse than actually pushing. I had to use oxygen in between each pushing time because I was so tired and couldn't breathe very well. Plus, it was very calming for me.
-My dr. got off and a new dr. came in. I met him in all my sweat and glory, and my baby half way down the birth canal. I wanted to kill someone, or at least cry, but held it in. It was awful.
-I FINALLY got the baby crowing and ready to come out. By this time prayer had become my best friend and I was barely sticking it out. By this time my silent suffering was over. This happened on Tuesday during the catheter thing too. There comes a time when I can't keep my thoughts and angry feelings inside any longer and I start letting everyone know exactly how I feel. So this is when my thoughts of killing people, how bad my pain was and where it was, how uncomfortable and tired I was, etc all started spilling out of my mouth. I probably looked AWFUL and delirious. I was.
-The dr. gave me my episiotomy, which I luckily didn't feel thanks to the numbing shots I did feel. Then the baby started to make his debut. He came out very slowly it seemed. I didn't think his head would ever come all the way out, and felt every milimeter of that movement as he slowly came. It was awful. BUT, like I said, I'd rather have done that pain then all night every other minute contractions. His head finally came out and the dr. started saying stupid things like shake his hand and feel his head. I told him no and kept pushing. Then when his shoulders finally made it out, the dr. instructed me to pull the baby out. I was in the most pain and exhaustion I have EVER been in and told him to just pull him out. He wouldn't. Geez louise. So finally I just grabbed Paxton, pulled him out, and up onto my chest where they'd put a towel. Now that I'm done with that awful time, I am glad I got to hold him right then even though he was disgusting and I couldn't keep my eyes open, but it was still weird. I looked at Trev staring at Paxton and he had tears in his eyes. It was SO cute. He's the cutest. But then they took the baby and went to get him a bit cleaned up after Trev cut his cord.
-The dr. then stitched me up. That was gross and not so fun. I felt about half of them because he hadn't numbed the whole area. As he was stitching me up they kept trying to give me the baby. I told them no because I was in so much pain and I was exhausted and wanted to enjoy when I actually got to hold him and look at him. So they asked Trev to come hold him and he told them no thanks. I laughed and told them he is nervous around newborns, so they made him. :)
-I finally got cleaned up and was done with the whole procedure and got to hold the baby. :)

Anyways, there is my first birth experience. It definitely was not fun, but VERY worth it. I didn't think it really was going to be while going through it, but it is. The great thing about our bodies is we can experience BAD pain, but not remember what it felt like afterward. I remember that it was awful, but not the actual pain. I'm grateful for that. So I have pretty much forgotten about it and we just love and adore Paxton! He's a cutie!

SO..here are pictures. Sorry that was STILL so long. Oops.

My friend asked to see a picture of me pregnant. So here I am just before heading to the hospital. I was measuring at 34 weeks.

Me and Paxton the night he was born

Our family!!!

The hospital did a "stork" meal for us with breaded shrimp, steak, a baked potato, little martinelli's, a roll, salad, and cheesecake. It was yummy!

Trev's dad got him a stuffed husky when he was born, so Trev decided to pass on the tradition and went and got this dog for Paxton. And Paxton at one day old!

My last night in the hospital we did a family date night on my bed and watched a movie together. It was fun!

Paxton at home with his jaundice face. :) He had a mild case of it.

Going home from the hospital!

He's just super cute!

I captured a picture of him half smiling. :)

After his first bath at home and in his new pajamas.

Trevor is basically the cutest dad on earth. He LOVES Pax and is SUPER cute with him. Here he is brushing his hair after his bath with so much care.

Just cute...again. And awake.

My mom taught him to suck on his thumb. He LOVED it. He already loves his pacifier too.