The Reed Family: Harrison's Big Day

I wanted to do a quick recap of Harrison's birthday. We'll see how quick it actually turns out to be!

Saturday was a BEAUTIFUL fall day here. I woke up feeling great, better than I had felt in the few days leading up to Saturday. The Auburn game started at 2:30, so we decided we would get up and get outside for the morning. We decided to take Hudson to feed the ducks at Star Lake, which was really fun (another post on that soon). We walked around the lake and then decided to go do a hike at the Moss Rock Preserve since we were in Hoover already and had the dogs with us, and hey, I didn't hurt for me to WALK a lot!

We ate lunch out and then headed home to watch the game. The game was a doozy! We beat South Carolina, but it was the ugliest game. I'm not sure either team really wanted to win. Anyway, we stayed in for dinner and watched half of the Alabama game before calling it a night at 9 (I know, early for a Saturday night, but we're so glad we ended up going to bed early!). We had talked about skipping church on Sunday and getting everything else ready that we needed to get ready. For some reason Saturday night, I had this feeling that I needed to get some things ready that night, but of course, I just tossed that thought aside and went to bed!

Well, at 11:30 (in the middle of having a dream about having Harrison and at the point where they had just handed him to me!), my water broke. I calmly told Joel that my water had just broken and he jumped out of bed so fast saying, "What do we do? What do we do?" It was SO funny. I said, I don't know what you're going to do, but I'm taking a shower! Ha! I didn't know when the next time would be that I could take a shower. My parents were out of town, so we called Joel's parents to come stay at our house until morning. I was not having contractions that I could feel, so the getting ready process was very calm and we took our time. I had packed some things a couple of nights before, but we still had a lot to get together!

We got to the hospital around 1 am and I got checked and I was only at 1.5 cm dilated, but I was having contractions every 5 minutes (that I absolutely could not feel!). By the time the nurse got done with all she needed to do and admitting came in, it was probably close to 3 am. We tried to get some sleep, but that was pretty difficult! My doctor came in around 6:30 and checked me again and I was at a 3, so things were moving along. He said they were going to go ahead and give me some pitocin to get it moving a little faster (which I didn't want and didn't have with Hudson, but oh well--I think the doctor didn't want to work Sunday afternoon!). He said I could have the epidural whenever, but I really wasn't in any pain so I held off a little while on that. The whole labor this time was easy! I started getting a little uncomfortable around 8, so I went ahead and got the epidural, but I really wasn't ever in a ton of pain so I'm thankful for that! The morning went on without any issues. We had visitors and Hudson even came to see me, although with all the grandparents and family there, he was not interested in Joel and I in the least! He did not want to be in the labor and delivery room at all, which was fine with me. He was happy, but I think also a little confused.

At 11 am, I was at 8 cm and my doctor still thought it would be another couple of hours. However, I started feeling a lot of pressure and by 11:30, I was ready to push. We had to wait on the doctor to come in (all the while the nurse telling me not to push--do you know how hard that is?!?!). He finally got there and after only 10 minutes of pushing, Harrison was here at 11:49 am. It was nothing this time! Although, I will say I felt it a whole lot more than I did with Hudson and it HURT. I would not want to do that with no drugs! But hey, for 10 minutes, you can do anything!

Harrison was immediately put on my chest and I loved it. I didn't have that experience with Hudson. He was whisked away so fast and I didn't get to hold him until we got to our room upstairs. This time, I got a whole hour with him to myself doing skin to skin (which the hospital now requires--a change from 2 years ago). It was so nice to have that bonding time with him! Although, I will say that Daddy was pretty ready to hold his new little guy too!

So, that's pretty much it for Harrison's big day! It was such a calm and easy experience this time and we are so thankful for a healthy baby! Here are some pictures from his birthday!