Welcome Taizo Howard

After 5 days of waiting, Taizo Howard Ashihara has finally arrived!

It all started last night.  Contractions were about 10 minutes apart.  We called Brenda to have her come over because we just knew it was going to happen.  I was sure of it.  I called the doctor but they said 10 minutes was still to far away to come in.  She said to hang and try to get some sleep.  I took a shower and ended up falling asleep, waking up with every contraction.  In the morning they were still about 10 minutes apart but with the blizzard fast approaching we decided to head to the hospital anyway.  I had contractions the entire ride to the hospital (in rush hour traffic), including parking the car and heading to the delivery floor.  The nurses admitted me, hooked me up to the monitors, and for the next two hours I had NOT ONE contraction.  ZERO!  NOT ONE!! I couldn’t believe it.  And as we sat behind the curtain, other women came into the monitoring room.  I could hear them breathing through their contractions, which just got me more upset!  The nurses ended up sending us home.  I was so disappointed!

The minute we got home and I walked in the house, yup, you know it, the contractions started again.  I tried to work though them.  I picked up around the house, even washed the kitchen floor.  But they just kept getting worse.  Ichiro thought we should head back to the hospital but I didn’t want to, in fear that the same thing would happen.  Around 2pm I couldn’t stand it anymore and agreed to call my doctors office.  They told me to come in and they would monitor me.  I was at the doctors 15 minutes later and was so relieved when they said I was 5cm and should head right to the hospital.

This time at the hospital the nurse took us right into the delivery room.  It was nice to see some of the same nurses from the morning.  They were all pleased to see us back.  I ordered the epitdural right way and it wasn’t long till I was VERY comfortable!

Here I am sending texts to everyone…

Ichiro was taking pictures of my contractions… See that was a big one but I didn’t feel a thing!!

That actually ended up being a little problem  The epidural was working so well that even when I was 10cm, I couldn’t feel the contractions and therefor didn’t know when to push.  The doctor said if I didn’t start to feel things in about 15 minutes they would just tell me when to push.  Well it worked and by 9:30 started to feel something.  And after 2 sets of 3 pushes, Taizo Howard Ashihara was born.

Not a happy camper…

He wasn’t very impressed with me, already giving me the fingers…

So perfect…