Tanner's Birth Story

Tanner's due date was August 30th but I had hoped he might come early since Preston was 9 days early. I worried that this thinking would make the last weeks unbearable but I couldn't help it. I knew for sure that I didn't want my mom to miss the birth and she was going to be gone August 18-24th. That meant any time after the 24th I was good to go. I decided to start doing some things that might help me progress on Friday the 24th so I pumped up the yoga ball and bounced on it for a couple minutes and decided that night after Aaron got home we could go to the mall and do some walking. We had a great time at the mall with Preston, he absolutely loves the Carousel, so we did that, ate some dinner, let Preston play in the kids area, and walked.
After the mall we got Preston home and in bed and we sat down to watch some TV. We were watching an episode of Restaurant Impossible and at about 10:30pm I thought I had a contraction. I told Aaron and he said, "Please no. I at least want my Saturday to relax." It wasn't to be though. I continued having contractions every 15-20 minutes but still didn't know whether or not I was in labor. I sent out a text to give my sister in law Lani a heads up that "tonight might be the night" and sent one to my mom about 11:30. Aaron and I decided to get some sleep so we got in bed but I just couldn't sleep knowing that I might be in labor and I still needed to pack some things and get ready for the hospital. I planned on getting an epidural this time since I did natural with Preston and vividly remember saying to Aaron after, "Don't let me ever do this again!". Things progressed quickly with Preston and so I wanted to make sure to get to the hospital in time to have an epidural. After laying in bed for about 10 minutes I decided I should get up and get things ready. I started writing down contractions at 12:22am and they were already coming 4-6 minutes apart but were only about 30 seconds long. They began getting longer by 1am so we decided to head to the hospital and called Lani to come stay with Preston.
I was quite emotional during this time, trying to figure out what the right thing to do was, so I called my doctor's office and when they told me Dr. Shiu was on call I felt so much better. She was the Dr I had met with most of my pregnancy and she would be at the hospital til 7am. I was also scared because I remember how painful it was and I was most dreading actually pushing the baby out. I felt sad about leaving Preston too, knowing he would wake up and we'd be gone.
We got to the hospital about 1:30am and they put me in triage and sent Aaron to sign in. This felt very similar to getting stuck in triage alone when I was in labor with Preston and I didn't like it. After about 15 minutes Aaron still wasn't back and had been waiting at the desk for someone to come so they told him forget it and he was able to come to me. We had told my mom to head up even though I hadn't been checked yet knowing I was most likely in labor. When they checked me I was between a 5 and 6 and I asked for the epidural right away.  I didn't want to be in pain any longer than I had to.
It took a little while for the anesthesiologist to come because they were so busy that night. In fact, they told me a delivery room wouldn't be availably for a few hours so hold off if I could! I was extremely nervous about the epidural. I didn't want anything to go wrong or to slow down labor. When the Dr first put the catheter in my back the medicine was coming back out and she told me "You are not a text book case". I guess my vertebrae are very close together so she had to try again. I was super scared thinking I might have to do this naturally if she can't get it in! Luckily she did it the second time although I felt a little pain on the right side of my spine and was worried something was wrong. Luckily it started kicking in about 15 minutes later and there was no better feeling than watching my contractions on the screen and not feeling a thing!
My mom arrived about 3:30 and they came in to check me. I thought I would for sure be at a 10 based on my contractions but I was an 8. They came back shortly after and broke my water. They said they'd come check me in about an hour and by then I was a 10 but a zero station. They said I could start pushing now or wait for the contractions to bring him down. I decided to let the contractions do the work since I was afraid of pushing and they said they'd check on me in another hour but to let them know if I felt like I needed to push sooner. About 15 minutes later I made Aaron go get them because I could feel that I needed to push. I couldn't believe how uncomfortable the pressure was. I thought for sure I had to pee and so I was kind of holding it in. When I told my mom that she said to let go, it's the baby! As soon as I did I felt like he was going to come out. The nurse came in and I told her I HAD to push so she said go ahead. I started pushing and she yelled, "stop!" She told me not to push while she called the Dr. In the meantime she was putting on gloves in case the baby came before the Dr got there. Trying not to push was the worst feeling ever. I was so relieved when Dr Shiu got there and when they said to push I pushed once and out he came!
Tanner Aaron was born at 5:21am and weighed 7lbs 12oz and was 20 1/2 inches long. They immediately put him on my chest and didn't take him away. I was so happy and excited to meet my little Tanner. My absolute favorite moment was when I talked to him and he looked me in the eyes and I knew he knew that I was his mother. It was the same when Aaron talked to him. I could tell that he already knew and loved us and that was so special. I got to feed him pretty quickly after and just have that skin-to-skin bonding for about an hour and a half. I felt bad that Aaron had to wait so long to hold him but it was so special for me.
At about 7:30am they moved me from triage (where I delivered!) to a shared room. Luckily my roommate was checking out at 11am and I didn't get another roommate til about 8:30pm. My mom left to take care of Preston and Aaron was able to go home a little later and take a little nap and then bring Preston to meet his little brother. Preston had been so excited about a baby since the beginning and it was so fun to see him meet his brother for the first time. Tanner brought him a present, a motorcycle with a little track, and Preston loves playing with it. We always ask him who got it for him and he proudly says, "Tanner!"
We had other visitors throughout the day and it was so much fun. My Aunt Kathy, Aaron's whole family (besides Hillary who was in Utah), my Aunt Janet and cousins Erika and Briana, and our friends the Barnett's. I felt so good all day and loved being able to visit with everyone.
The roommate situation wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I got practically no sleep that night because Tanner was awake a lot and we were right across from the nurses station and they were so loud! They would also bring babies to the station to weigh them and the babies cried so much. I was relieved to only have to stay one night and came home on Sunday the 26th.
Tanner's birth really could not have gone any better. I am so glad that it went so quickly and that he is happy and healthy. I absolutely adore my little boy and it feels so right to have him in our family at this time. Aaron said it perfectly one night when we were sitting in the family room with our boys, "This feels so right."