Zander McLeese Bergner Arrives

The day we had been waiting for was finally here! We headed to the hospital at about 7AM on February 12th and checked in. We didn't really know what to expect but we were as ready as we were going to be! Bryan was in charge of pictures and did a great job of capturing it all...

At about 8:30 I got my first dose of a prostaglandin, and for the next 4 hours we did a lot of waiting....we watched some TV, played some Scrabble, played some Yahtzee, and tried to entertain one another. I had a few, what I called, "fake contractions" but nothing too exciting...the nurse laughed at my description of contractions but I explained until they got worse than what I had taught through the last 3 weeks, they weren't real! Kristi, Mom and Dad came but it was pretty boring!

At 4 hours they came to check again and I was at 3 cm, I had started at 1 cm so this was something! They gave me another dose of hormones and the "real contractions" started almost immediately! I had told Bryan if it was as boring as the first 4 hours, he could go grab a beer...now we were in for the long haul. Bryan did dose for a while, at least he thought he was dosing! Since I had to stay in bed for 2 hours after the next round of hormones to induce and I had to go to the bathroom, I knew exactly how long he had been asleep! The nurse came in to unhook me from the monitors at the two hour mark, Bryan woke up and said, "it's not time yet, she has another hour!" I quickly told him he had slept for the past hour and went to the bathroom. At this point the contractions were working up to full force and were much better when I was standing. Bryan was awesome and gave great massages through the contractions. They continued to ramp up and I began to throw up. After 2 hours of fairly intense contractions and many rounds of throwing up...I decided it was time for an epideral. I was now at 5 cm and the doctor said usually took about 1 hour per cm at this point! 5 more hours of this??? And then time to push??? I definitely needed some help!

At 8pm I got the epideral. Bryan assures me it was no small needle but I didn't care, it brought instant relief! I was exhausted from contractions and throwing up and almost immediately fell asleep. Bryan watched TV and got out the computer, he was very disappointed to discover YouTube was blocked and he couldn't watch car wrecks but he managed. The doctor came in around 9:45 to talk about next steps in moving along labor. We decided she would break my water and see if Potocin would be needed. She quickly discovered, my water had already broke and I was at 10 cm! He hadn't dropped enough but she felt after another hour, I would be ready to push.

The labor nurse (who was awesome!) came in an hour later and we began to push. She let me know that most first time moms usually took between 1 1/2 hours and 3 hours...it was about 10:45 and I told her we were working for a 2/12 birthday! She didn't think this was going to happen but was willing to give it a try!

I pushed for the next hour and just before midnight, the troops (doctors and baby nurses) were called in and Zander came at 11 seconds after midnight! He weighed in at 8lbs 1oz and was 20 in long. Bryan was immediately given his first lesson in diapers and swaddling and quickly became an expert! In the next few hours, Zander was given his first bath and we all got ready to head to recovery. Bryan went down to the grill before it closed at 2 am and I enjoyed the best grilled cheese I have tasted in a long time. Overall, the doctors and nurses were great and it is true, you almost immediately forget all of the pain when you hold him.


We still can't believe we created such an amazing little boy!