Peyton Michael Johnson

I started having contractions Tuesday night at 6:30. They were pretty strong, and when Shawn and I started timing them, they were about 15 minutes apart. We sat there for several hours timing them and they started getting closer together. Just after midnight, the contractions were about six minutes apart so we decided to head to the hospital. We went in and they measured and said I was only about 1 1/2 centimeters dilated. Within an hour my contractions were about 3-4 minutes apart, but I still hadn't dilated any more than I was already at. So, they decided I was in very early labor, gave me a morphine shot and sent me home. (I was so out of it, that I barely even remember the drive home that night).

The morphine helped me to get some sleep even with the contractions going on that night. The morphine shot helped slow them down and made it so that there really wasn't the sharpness in them. I woke up the yesterday morning and the contractions were getting stronger. They continued to get stronger and stronger throughout the day. By about 3:00 they were about 20 minutes apart. We kept timing them until they were five minutes apart and then headed back to the hospital just after 6 p.m. last night.

When we got here, they checked and I was only dilated two centimeters. The contractions were incredibly strong at this point and I could barely breathe through them and was crying when they hit their peaks. They said that if I didn't have any change in dilation within an hour, that I was still in early labor and that I should head home. After an hour I still hadn't changed. They decided to give us another hour and I still hadn't changed. They said they wanted to send me home. Shawn told the nurse that he wanted to talk to the OB doctor before they sent us home, but he was in a C-section. We decided to wait for him to get done to talk to him before we went home. Meanwhile they gave me more morphine and Percocet to help with the pain (FYI, it doesn't help :)

We waited for two hours for the doctor. When he got in, they decided to check me one more time. I was at 3 1/2!! They said that they could finally admit me. Shortly after eleven I got my epidural, which was the best feeling in the world.

At 12:30 my water broke on it's own, which was a strange feeling since I already had my epidural and didn't realize that it had happened.

At 1:00 they checked me again and I was dilated to a seven. Then at 2:30 I was at nine.

At  3:30 I was finally dilated to a ten. They decided to let me rest for an hour at a ten, letting the baby come down a little on his own before I started to push.

At 4:25, they had me start pushing. I pushed three times with the nurse before they called the doctor in. The doctor came in and I was ready to push again. He was just putting on his gloves when I pushed and Peyton was born. He came so fast that the doctor was still putting his gloves on. He tried to push him to stop him from coming out while he finished putting his gloves on and getting ready. Shawn joked with him that he made the best one-handed catch ever.

Peyton was born at 4:48 a.m. on Feb. 3, 2011. He weighed 7 lbs. 1 oz. and was 19 inches long. He really is the most beautiful baby I've ever seen, but I may be a little biased :)

After he was born, they called in the respiratory team because they were concerned with his heart-rate and breathing which were a little slow. They said it was probably just a result of the Morphine they gave me earlier in the night. Turns out he was fine and everything looked good.

He has hair, which was a surprise to both Shawn and I. We were so sure that he would be bald. I was able to feed him four times today and he did so good. Shawn has been so good with him all day. He really loves to be held by his dad.

I think he is absolutely perfect in every way, but again that may be my bias coming through! 34 1/2 hours of labor and he was worth every second.

I was going to upload several photos, but when I went to pull them off my camera I realized that I had packed the wrong chord several weeks ago when I put my bag together. I have a few that were taken by my friend Ashley from work and one that I took with my phone that I will upload now. I will post a bunch more tomorrow!

Peyton Michael Johnson

Born Feb. 3, 2011, 4:48 a.m.

7 lbs. 1 oz, 19 inches