Chad, Holly, Tyler & Landon: Welcome Landon James!!

My Birth Story:

I had my weekly OB appointment on Monday, Jan. 11. I woke up feeling more achy and sore than normal that morning but didn't think a whole lot about it. The past 3 weeks I had been just barely dialated and I really wasn't expecting much more out of this appointment other than maybe being at a 1 or something. Well I have my appointment, Dr. Izsak comes in and checks me and I was at a 3!! He tells me he wants to send me over to the hospital and I freaked out a little. Mostly because I hadn't packed my bags yet (I know, I should've - especially being that I was 39 weeks 2 days pregnant!) and had a list of last minute things to get done before the baby came. He said to go over to JFK and have them monitor me to see if contractions were consistent or not. If they were, he'd keep me there. If they weren't, he'd schedule me to come in early the next morning to start induction. That way it would be more controlled and we could plan and have Tyler set up to be away from us for a couple of days. Well I went, Chad met me there from work, and sure enough... not consistent! Woohoo!! I was able to get the last minute things done with Chad and spend one last day together as a family of 3! I went to Dwelling Place that night, had amazing women pray over me and went home at the end of the day finally feeling much more "ready" than I have my entire pregnancy. Just after getting home I started feeling SUPER achy with a lot of pressure down there and it killed to walk. I decided to go in - better to be safe than sorry - especially since we were going to be going in in just a few hours. We stayed Monday night in the hospital and they started pitocin at 6am - I was at a 4 - progress!! Already going MUCH quicker than Tyler's delivery!! At 8 am I was at a 6 and I got my first epidural. Yes... first. The first one didn't take!!! Let me tell you - I don't know how women have children naturally!! I just have no pain tolerance at all. It was awful!! The nurse just thought that I didn't understand what an epidural did and said that I should still feel pressure. Uh.... no... I'm feeling PAIN!! Not just the pressure thing... I could feel it all. By the time I got the epidural re-done, It was 9:50 and I was at a 7. When the nurse was checking me that time my water broke and I quickly went to an 8, 9 and then 10!! With just a couple of small pushes, Landon James Priest was born at 10:20 am on January 12th. He weighed a healthy 7 pounds, 4 ounces and was 19 inches long. He is absolutely perfect and we're enjoying every second of him right now. His brother, on the other hand, has had quite the time adjusting to the new little guy. The first week was rough to say the least. Each day seems to get a little better but overall I think we've got a bit of a long road ahead of us. The combination of this adjustment and being in the "terrible 2's" is definitely clashing...

* after the 2nd epidural - big smile on my face! *