Welcome Little Dude

What an entrance Kasey Richard Pedraza has made into this world! He was determined to be on time in his appearance, waiting until the last few hours of his due date to join us.
I had progressed to 4 cm by Thursday at my doctor appointment, so the doctor suggested heading out to walk and then heading in that afternoon sometime to get things moving along. Being the diligent patient, I headed out for an afternoon of walking with Peter. After all that, I was having contractions, but they were staying at about 8-10 min apart. As bed time neared, we made the decision to stay at home and try to get some sleep instead of waiting out the night in a hospital bed.
Much to my frustration, I got a good nights' sleep. While I am thankful to get that, it was also frustrating to find that my contractions had seemed to quit once again over night. As we got our day started and Oma took the kids through what is normally my routine with them, contractions seemed to resume and this time with a greater frequency, although still at a moderate pain level. Nonetheless, I made the decision to go in and see where this would go.
Upon arriving at Labor and Delivery, we were told, "Oh, you were the one Dr. Munzer called about yesterday. We were waiting for you all day.". Oops. Busted...it turns out al is ok, though, as L&D had been busy that day. We were shown to a Labor and Delivery suite and started to get settled in a room with phenomenal views of the river, Bannerman Island, and West Point. When the doctor came in to check me. I was unpleasantly surprised to learn I was still at 4 cm. Time for more walking and waiting; except this time through the short L&D halls.
Just a short while later, it was time to be checked again, and I was already at 6 cm. Yahoo! They started getting me admitted and I was excited to keep things moving along. Contractions continued and my water hadn't broken so we continued to walk as the pain was more bearable that way.
And then...several hours later I was stuck between 6-7 cm and the contractions had slowed. What?! Oh man! The doctor then decided breaking my water and a slight dose of petocin were in order. I braced myself. The petocin made contractions so intense with Tomas and breaking water also makes everything intensify. Needless to say, this not so little guy was with us within 2 hours of that moment.
At first when the petocin started, the intensity increased but I was determined and declined the epidural (Pete was SO supportive in this and kept putting off the decision for me. We had talked about it before, and I wanted to be able to accomplish this naturally. Everything got really intense really fast and I was truly feeling like I couldn't handle more while waiting for my cervix to finish dilating. The doctor, however told me there was only a rim of cervix left. We were past the point of no return. I was doing this naturally.
And so I did. Kasey Richard Pedraza was born at 9:54 pm at St. Luke's Hospital in Newburgh, NY. He entered the world face up, which, according to my doctor, is about the equivalent of delivering an extra pound (ouch!!). He weighed 9 lbs 4 oz and was 22.5 inches long. He was my biggest baby by far. My most vivid memory of the whole labor was how incredibly warm he was when they placed him on my stomach after he was born. I completely bonded with my new little man at that exact moment.

Kasey Richard