Max's birth story

Max was due 6-17-07. We had his name picked out before we even started having kids because we wanted our first boy to be named after Tony's grandfather who is a hero of his. A first pregnancy is always exciting and LONG because you are so anxious to meet the little one. Mine was no different. I had nausea but not too bad and swelling but I can't complain. I wanted to work as long as possible so I could have all of my leave to use after he was born so I worked up through the 22nd of June. Then I was just "done". I had an ultrasound on the 19th which projected his weight to be 10 lbs (give or take 2 lbs). That give or take thing is really quite significant if you think about where that baby is and where he's going to go. We wanted to have the baby naturally but decided that since he wasn't coming on his own, he was big and I was still only at a 3, that we would be induced. We went to Tacoma General early on the 26th and I was hooked to an IV. They started the pitocin around 8 or so. Everything was good. Both grandmas were there to support us and J came by in the beginning since he worked at the hospital. Then I got to see what labor is all about. Oh did I mention that I hadn't really had real contractions before this? They started coming and wow was I in for an awakening. It is not easy to relax even with the best of intentions through that kind of chemically induced pain. Tony was the best labor coach ever. Seriously, he was my rock and was the only reason I think I got through that (besides the fact that there isn't any choice :) Max was born after one hour and 8 minutes of pushing at 5:48 pm. The hardest part of labor was the pushing because everyone had told me that you get to relax during pushes and it's the easiest part. For some reason I was never able to relax so it was constant pain. Also, I knew they would call my doctor at the very end when the baby was close to coming out (his office is 5 minutes away). I kept asking the nurses if they were going to call him (because that would mean I was almost done). Then he finally did come and we had the most beautiful cone-headed squishy that there ever was. He weighed 9 lbs. 12 oz. and was 20 inches long. Max is a sweet, fun little guy. He truly makes my heart melt everyday.