It began on Saturday @ approximately 8pm. Addie started feeling "cramp" like pains that we would later discover were the first contractions. The pain made it very difficult to sleep on Saturday night and by Sunday morning they started to intensify. By 4pm on Sunday afternoon the contractions were getting really intense. We monitored the contractions, starting from 8 minutes apart then to 4 then they'd jump to 6 and so on... 6pm the mucus plug released and we thought it was just around the corner (little did we know!). By 11pm we had established a consistent 4 minute pattern of 1 minute long contractions for 2 solid hours (representing the the latest time our birthing class instructor recommend we go to the hospital). Upon arrival at triage we were very disappointed to find out that in lieu of all her hard work, she was only 1cm dilated and we were sent home!
Needless to say Sunday night was unbelievably difficult. No break of longer than 8 minutes between contractions and the pain continued to intensify. At 10:30am Monday morning, after too many contractions to count, dozens of walks around the block, and seemingly no end in sight - we went back to triage. This time, great news! Addie was 4 1/2 cm dilated and we were officially admitted. At 12:30pm (after 40 hours of contractions) exhaustion started to set in. The doctor strongly recommended an epidural and although Addie was confident she could get through the pain (I have no idea how), the threat of not having the physical strength to complete the final stage was a serious concern. The epidural slowed things down a bit and gave Addie a chance to regroup for the final push (pun intended). The pushing stage of labor was amazing for all. For Addie and Lucas it meant the introduction of our new offspring. For the nurses and Doctors it meant witnessing first hand one of the "strongest pushers" they had ever seen : ) And we were very fortunate to have some amazing friends create a room full of love!
At 6:43pm Graham Emerson Murdock entered the world! He weighed in at 7lbs 3oz, 20 1/2 inches with a full head of sandy blonde hair.
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