Sydney Olivia Keogan!

Here she is! The most beautiful, precious, most amazing little bundle of joy you and I have ever seen! I, and I'm sure Gabe as well, cannot express how much she has changed our lives in just a few days. The emotions we have been feeling, and me showing (bawling), are too great to even put into words. She is perfect and the most important thing in our lives, as well as eachother.

So, I was asked to share Sydney's birth story so here goes...

March 9th, I was dog tired. Seriously, I was sitting at the couch, totally zoned out, and Gabe can testify to this. He would ask me something and I would barely turn my head to acknowledge him. That night was a somewhat easy night to fall sleep. Again, I was tired.

The next morning, the 10th, around 7am, I started feeling minor contractions and they were fairly irregular with some mild achiness accompanying them. That went on for 4 hours, and I didn't want to be one of those people that calls their OB too early and they get sent home because they are not far enough along in labor. But, since it had been four hours and the contractions were becoming more consistant even when I switched sitting positions or walked, I decided to call. I was told to go on down to the hospital.

I called Gabe who had gone to work knowing that I probably would be calling him, and he was home in 15 minutes. We arrived at Labor and Delivery a little after noon and they got me hooked up on all the monitors and said that I indeed was in labor and was at 3 1/2 cm, 70%, and 0 station. After all the paperwork was filled out and the contractions increased in intensity over the next several hours, I was at 6 cm, 80% and still at 0 station. I had talked to Brigitte and Shelley about what they had decided to do, whether to get an epidural or not, and I couldn't decide. Shelley never had the time to get one, and Brig said "good luck" to me when I expressed my goal to not get anything. Brig said "if you do this without an epidural, I'll do the next one of mine without one". I thought, "alriiiight, a challenge! No problem." Yea riiiight. I got the epidural because those contractions just hurt like nothing else. I reasoned with myself before getting it, thinking "women 100 years ago did this without anything! ....but this isn't a 100 years ago! I DO have that choice!" And thank goodness I did. It was like night and day! Let me tell ya though, getting the epidural was no picnic, especially when a contraction came and I was all hunched over with him working on my back, but it was soo worth it. The next contraction was a piece of cake and the next hour and half I was loving life again. They checked again about 2 hours after the epidural, hoping the my water would break on its own. I was at 9cm, 100%, and 0 station. They finally had the OB that was on call at the hospital break my water since it was not breaking on its own and then an hour and a half later I was at 10cm and ready to push. The nurse had me do a couple practice pushes. She and Gabe were the only ones, other than me of course, in the room. I got Sydney to +2 station and then they called the OB. They could not get a hold of my OB all day, but luckily her practice partner was already at the hospital helping with another patient. They called her at 9:58pm saying that I was ready for the actually pushing part. While we waited for the Dr to come, the nurse had me do another practice push and I got her to +3 station. One more practice push and I got her to +4 station and the nurse told me to "stop! stop! stop!" the nurse yelled for another nurse and said to get the Dr. on call, saying that Sydney was coming and the other Dr would not make it. She was right. I didn't have to push anymore because the contractions did the rest. At 10:07pm Sydney came all on her own after that. I only had to push twice! Haha. And no pain! I had let the epidural wear off somewhat so I could at least feel the sensation to push. It was sooo much easier than I thought it was going to be. The nurses all said I was amazing for a first timer.

She was perfect shape and not in the least bit squished! Everyone that came in was just saying how beautiful she was! I couldn't agree more! I started bawling the moment I saw her.

She was born 7 lbs 6oz, 19 inches long.

Mom and Dad came at around 11:30pm and visited for a minute and then has to go. We were transfered to Post Partum about an hour later after mom and dad left and remained there for the next two days.

I can honestly say that I was soo happy with the experience. I would do it all over again!