The Kasparbauer Family: Wes's Birth Story

As many of you know, Wes's due date was September 26th, 2011. Our little punkin decided to grace us with his presence two days early, just in time to share his daddy's birthday!

I had gone to the doctor the Wednesday before Wes was born, and he was ready to schedule me for an induction when I came back on my due date. I didn't mind being induced with Quinn; it was easy, allowed me to plan and organize ahead of time, and there were no surprises. However, I've always said that I wanted to go into labor on my own at least once in my life, and this was my chance!

After leaving the doctor on Wednesday, I had unbearable back pain each night for the rest of the week. Thursday night I didn't sleep much at all, and I had a sneaking suspicion that Baby might be making his arrival soon. I sat through a long meeting in relative discomfort all day Friday with continued back pain and mild nausea. I switched into high gear Friday night, picking up as much as I could around the house, getting stuff organized, getting the car seat base installed (well, that was Randy) and more.

On Saturday morning, I got up to get Quinn fed and dressed, and I noticed that my water broke! It was not nearly as dramatic as they make it look on t.v. :-) We decided to take our time getting ready because I wasn't having any contractions yet. Quinn's baby-sitter, Chrissy, came to pick up Quinn for the day. I threw in some laundry and we left for downtown about 8:30. We somehow managed to forget the baby's diaper bag, but knew that we had lots of time. I got admitted to the hospital, and they had us just hang out until noon while monitoring the baby and me. It turned out I was having contractions all along and probably had been since Wednesday, when my back pain really started to escalate. At about 1:00 they decided to start me on a Pitocin drip to make my contractions closer together. I napped until about 3:30, until the contractions were so bad I couldn't sleep through them. I got an epidural....which didn't work. I started having really bad anxiety and stress at this point, so I got some different pain meds while I waited for epidural #2. The anesthesiologist was swamped for some reason, so he didn't come back my way for what seemed like forever. Finally, though, I got my second epidural and life was good again. We relaxed for a little while longer, and then it was time to push. Wesley Randall Kasparbauer was born at 5:45 p.m.! My regular doctors weren't on call that weekend, so I had a different doctor, but he was amazing and made the whole experience great. There was a car accident right outside of Mercy that afternoon, so he had to get out of his car and ask to have some cars moved. I am so glad he was able to make it in time!

Both Randy's and my parents made it to town that same day (Saturday). We had nonstop visitors all day Sunday, and went home Monday. What a crazy, amazing weekend!