Thread: Sept 2007 Sprouts: Birth Stories

Please post your birth stories here with pictures and other info you'd like to share so we can keep track of our new babies!

23 babies as of 8/31/2007!

Congratulations to:

Aussiesmum
Richard Thomas Jr. (baby Dickie)
6/12/07 at 6:59 pm.
1 lb. 1 oz.
10 1/2 inches



Foxymama
Rachel Evangeline
7/6/07 at 11:10 p.m.
3 lbs, 6 oz
17 1/2 inches
at 30 weeks, 2 days


Jmommy
Nicolas Dimitri
7/24/07 at 8:54 am
4 lbs. 2 oz.
17 inches
at ____ weeks



Tyhawkins
Gabriella Ava
8/14/07 at 11:46pm
5 pounds 13 oz
19 1/2 inches


starrje
Tatum is here!!!
_______ @ 6:55pm
6lbs 7oz
18 3/4" inches


HollyL
William Kenneth
8/15/2007 at 7:48am
8lb 8oz
19 inches long


Honeybee1983
Liliana Marie
8/17/07 at 1:34pm
7lbs 6oz
20 1/4 inches


Klub07
Amaya Rose
8/19/07 at 5:40 am
6 lbs. 5 oz.
19 inches long


starrje
Tatum Brooke
8/20/07 at 6:55 pm
6 lbs 7 oz
18 3/4 inches long



MAR_7660
Michael David Robinson
8/21/07.
7lbs 2oz
20 1/2 in long>>



JulesinOregon
Reef Thomas G.
8/22/07 at 11:37pm
7lbs 13oz
20 inches long


Mollykay
Alivia Katherine
8/23/07 at 4:56pm
7lbs 3oz
19 1/2 in long


Shee_Na
Myles Jashaun
8/24/07 at 3:09pm
6lbs 13oz
19 1/2 inches long


xxxdragonflyxxx
Caleb Franklin Nicholas
8/24/07 at 11:08am
8lbs 8oz
21inches long


tperras
Theodore Mason-Lee (Teddy)
8/25/07 at 2:41 am
6lbs 7ozs
19 1/2 inches


brandons_favoritegirl
Za'Riya Elyse
8/26/07 at 7:41pm
7 pounds 5oz
20 inches long



Leenoodle
Alyssa Emily
8/27/07 at 1:37pm
6 lbs 1 oz
19.5 inches


Emkat
Ava Kate
8/27/2007 at 4:30pm
7lbs 4 oz
20 inches


Midnite_butterfly42
Brayden Riley Ross
8/27/07 at 6:15 pm.
7lbs 15oz
21 inches


Leenoodle
Alyssa Emily
8/28/2007 at 1:37pm
6lb 1oz
19 1/2 oz


Sr1d3r
Cashion Michael
8/28/07 at 6:49 p.m
8lbs 7oz
19 3/4 inches


Luckystarrs
Evan
8/29/07 at 12:39AM
8 lbs. 2 oz.
20 1/2 inches long


Lilcrazyrn
Lyla Grace
8/30/07 at 12:21 p.m
7 lbs and 11 oz
20 inches long


2grl1by1otw
Jace Matthew
8/31/2007 at 1:28a.m.
7lbs. 14oz.
20 1/4 inches long


Tiaca
Travis jr
9/01/07 at 2:29am
7lbs 14oz
21 1/2 inches long


LunaJ
Coltan James
9/02/2007 at 5:50 pm
8lbs 9 oz
20 inches long


tokidokikashikoi
Ryann Mei
9/3/07 at 1:16 pm
8 lbs 8 oz
20 inches long


MesaL
Marshall Faulks
9/03/2007 at 1:26 pm
5 lbs, 11 ozs
19 inches long


&

Tobias Hawke
9/03/2007 at 1:28 pm
5 lbs, 4 ozs
18 3/4 inches long


tigerlily8045
Mallory Hope
9/04/2007 at 2:34 am
7lbs 8 oz



Swissbaby
Isabelle Rose
9/06/2007 at 756am
8lbs
20 inches long


daisy.jb
Thomas John
9/06/2007 at 12:46 PM
8 pounds, 9 ounces
20 inches long


Stephs86
Parker
9/07/2007 at 7:48am
7lb 3oz
18 inches long


ananar23
Montgomery (Monte) Richard
9/7/2007 at 8:24am
7lbs 13oz
21 inches long


Bibiboo
Molly Katherine
9/07/2007 at 1 p.m.
8 lbs 6 ozs
21 inches long


kkreations01
Miley Kay
09/09/07 at 9:15 am
7 lb 15 oz
21 inches long


Melly14
Heidi
9/9/2007 at 10:32pm
7lbs 13oz
21 inches long



Scotty620
Luca Stephen
9/12/2007 at 2.24 A.M.
8 lbs 3 oz
22 inches long


indianajones
Abigail Elise
9/12/2007 at 7:35 am
8lbs 11oz
20 3/4 inches long


Jenepicam
Louisa
9/12/2007 at 12:34PM
7 lbs 15 oz
19 inches long


sometime
Katherine Elizabeth (Katie)
9/12/2007 at 12:59 pm
7lbs 3ozs
19 1/2 inches long


sissiefunk
Joshua Ryan
9/12/2007 at 6:38 pm
8 lbs 2 ozs
20 1/2 inches long


hunnygirl
Isabella
9/13/2007 at 2:21 am
9 lbs, 4 oz
21 1/2 inches long


Tyrantoftheweek
Dorothy Hope
9/13/07 at 7:43pm
5lb 12oz
19 inches long



Bkc1203>>
Ashlynn Nicole and Jadynn Leeann.
Ashlynn weighed 6lbs 9oz and Jadyn weighed 6lbs 9oz.
???? Birthday?
&

Fishlady








*This is a no comments thread

Originally Posted by aussiesmum

Wanted to let everyone know that after a Friday hospital visit due to extreme BP issues - I delivered my son Richard Thomas , Jr. Tuesday night June 12, 2007 at 6:59 pm. He was born at 1 lb. 1 oz. and 10.5
inches long. He has been holding his own since and has had a couple of very good days. I got to come home from the hospital today which was so hard leaving without him. He is on the vent but seems to be a strong little guy. PLEASE PRAY for Dickie and my family. We need every good thought and prayer you all have

Tami

**** UPDATE (June 18th, 2007 7:19pm) - just got back from the hospital and our strong little guy started his first feeding today. He seemed to like it! They stopped his antibiotics, and are going to give him iv caffeine tomorrow - this is to prepare him for removing him from the ventilator later this week. He is such a fighter. He had his eyes open and was looking all around. It is amazing to see such a little one be so strong. KEEP PRAYING!!!!

Little Rachel is doing fantastic! I have a few minutes to give a bit of a birth story! I edited it from the super detailed version, so forgive me if it's disjointed.

I really hadn't been feeling all that great for several days, kinda crappy and crampy and bleeding within the cervical mucous. I decided I was feeling crappy enough for enough days that I should call triage/Labor and Delivery. The L&D person sort of freaked me out as she asked about the bleeding and pain and whatnot. She even suggested sending an ambulance! So, John (Foxy Daddy ) and I rushed out and got to the emergency room

They hooked me up to the machine to monitor the heart beat and contractions. Heart beat was fine and contractions were mysteriously non-existent. The resident was getting ready to pretty much send us home but needed to talk to the attending physician first. She ended up doing another cervical exam and found....3 cm dialated and 90% effaced! The plan at that point was to get 2 steroid shots in case she was born early to help develop her lungs with bed rest for the rest of the pregnancy.

So they wheeled me into a tiny little room where I got hooked up to IVs and a catheter because I was on bed rest. They gave me antibiotics and magnesium sulfate to stop contractions (even though they didn't believe I was having contractions because they still weren't coming up on the monitor!) We counted the contractions and it was becoming obvious that the kiddo would be here soon, but we weren't sure if it would be now or in a couple of days. After we told them about the contractions, they checked me again and I was 6 or 7 cm dialated and I was fully effaced. So the meds to stop contractions didn't quite work.

Contractions kept coming and coming and the breaks between became shorter and less restful. John and I used the breathing techniques we learned in our 2 classes of Lamaze (do we get a refund?) and it worked.Breathing into contractions are kinda like trying to get a kid's train onto the track...there is some resistance and fidgeting, but eventually, it runs smoothly. I know I was fighting them off when they started. Just, there was so little rest time. John, by the way, was amazing. I could not have done it without him! I'm truly lucky to have him!

Eventually, I felt the urge to push a bit (kinda feels like ya need to poop, gals). We got the doctor and I was fully dialated.

They wheeled me into the delivery room and transferred me to the table. I was beat, just laying there! They got me set up in the stirrups and the doctor got ready...he was super super nice. What was interesting was that the painful contractions pretty much stopped.

So, he popped my water bag and the fluid trickled out. He then sort of stopped, relaxed and looked at me. I literally said "are you waiting for me?" Yup. They said that when I felt a contraction to push. So I did. The pushing wasn't so bad. they do the whole push on the count of10 and take a breath 3 times and then rest thing. We only did about 3 or 4 of those and she was out. Not bad at all.

I could feel when she was ready to come out.I actually didn't know she was out because I was pushing with my eyes close as I was turning purple. I heard John say "there she is" and I opened my eyes and she was on my tummy. I didn't know what to do! I just stared! I wish I had touched her. The doctor cut the cord and handed her right off to the NICU doctors,
i do have to remember that I told John "that wasn't so bad."

Then sent John along to the NICU with Rachel. I could see him beaming like the proud papa he is! I got stitched up because I had 2 tears. They actually had to sedate me to sew one up. They also delivered the placenta.

I got sent to another room to eat (yay!) and eventually got set up in my hospital room. I pumped (and got a good amount the first time!) and went down to visit my beautiful little girl!!

She's now 3 days old and out of the NICU down to Intermediate care. Amazing!! She's doing so very well. She's tiny and LONG!

~Marcy

Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 10:48 am Post subject: I had the baby - LONG and TMI

Originally Posted by jmommy

Hello everyone. I had the baby. This is a kind of scary story with plenty of gross parts, so be warned now. What a week. Last Tuesday, at about 4:30 in the morning, I woke up thinking I had to pee. I started walking to the bathroom and felt like I was leaking. I sat down on the toilet and something BIG came out with a loud plop. I looked back towards the bathroom door and saw blood everywhere. I started screaming for my husband. He grabbed towels for me and then grabbed our (now traumatized) four year old out of bed and we ran to the car. We called the doctor on the way and she told us she would meet us at the ER. Once there, I was immediately taken to L&D. They hooked me up to the monitors and immediately found the baby's heartbeat, Thank GOD. They said I was having mild contractions and gave me two doses of something to stop them along with something to calm me down, and the first shot of steroids for the baby's lungs. The u/s tech came in and confirmed that my placenta was detaching and I was hemmoraging. My doctor then told us that there was no time to wait for the second steroid shot and I had to have the c-section right then. I was given a spinal block, which was difficult because they couldn't have me sit up because of the bleeding. Then my blood pressure dropped and they tilted the table to the side which did the trick. Luckily, I did not need a blood transfusion which they thought I would. Nicolas Dimitri was delivered at 8:54 am. He was 4 lbs. 2 oz. and 17 inches long. He was immediately taken to NICU. He is already off the ventilator and having no breathing problems. He initally lost weight, like he was supposed to, and the last two weigh-ins have shown a gain. He has a feeding tube and they are giving him the breastmilk I'm pumping. He's having some trouble tolerating it so far but they say that's to be expected. I'm praying, praying, praying that he'll do better with the feedings. We are also doing "Kangaroo Care" so in the morning I hold him (skin on skin) and in the afternoon it's daddy's turn. It's the best feeling in the world. I can't drive, which is frustrating, but I'm doing well. Apparently, I'm having a little tougher time with recovery due to the fact that the incision is big (they said there was no concern about anything but getting him delivered so they were a little rough on me!) and the blood loss made getting up and around difficult for the first few days.

Anyway, Nicolas is doing well. Jordan is having some issues understaning why he's not home and why our attention is suddenly so divided. Please pray for all of us. You have no idea how much I would appreciate it. They are guessing he will be in the NICU for about four weeks. Thanks for reading everyone, I've missed you all!

Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2007 11:32 am Post subject: Baby pictures!

Originally Posted by jmommy

Here are some pictures of Nicolas! We are doing the skin-on-skin "Kangaroo Care" which is AWESOME. Thought you girls might be interested to see what your baby looks like right now! Can you believe this is what's inside you!? Amazing!

These are when he was 5 days old.

Well, a lot has happened since Tuesday night at 11:15pm when I wrote you guys that my water had broken and we were headed to the hospital! He was a bit of a surprise since he was 1 1/2 weeks early. The oncall OB said to come into the office at 8am since I wasnt having any conraxtions. We left home to go stay at a friend's house closer to the hospital since it is a 1 1/2 hour drive there. My contraxtions started on the drive and by the time we were close they were lasting a minute and about 5 minutes apart. So, we went straight to the hospital and by the time we were in a room I was 3 cm dialated and 80%! We expected things to progress fast but that didnt happen. In a couple of hours I was only 4cm and 80%. After 16 hours my contractions were very very intense. My hypnobirthing breathing and tapes were amazing and I tolerated it all pretty well up until that point even though my contrax were about 2 minutes apart. I was 9cm and 100% for hours and hours but there was a "lip" of my cervix that just wouldnt dialate. So, after all of that my conscentration began to fail me and instead of having a slow controlled breath out I was screaming. As the nurse put it "I hit the wall" and asked for a epidural, actually I demanded an epidural immediately. They rushed and had it done in about 30 minutes. It was the difference between heaven and hell as far as pain goes. I was uttely exausted by that point so they let me rest for about 3 hours. My husband and SIL slept but I was too anxious. My Mother didnt make it, Reef came 3 days before she flew in from Ohio on Sat. So, after 20 total hours of labor they checked me and I was 10cm and 100%! After about 2 hours of pushing his head was visible and after 2 more hours he was born at 11:27 on Wed August 22nd(24 hours and 15 minutes after my water broke)!
The part before the epidural was more intense pain than I have ever known and I feel lucky to have made it through it. I really impressed myself, I didnt know my own strength. It has given me a greater appreciation for women and Mothers everywhere, humans are stronger than I ever gave them credit for! I was cold sometimes and sweating bullets others. The worse part was the shaking, it was like my lower half was convulsing and my Dh and SIL had to put their whole body weight on my legs to control it! A lot of it is a blur because of the hypnosis, that made the hours pass very quickly for me(time distortion). But, the pushing part with the epidural I actually enjoyed. The epidural was done perfectly, I was numb in all the right places but I was very mobile. I could get myself up to the squat bar and I was in about 5 different positions. We went through 4-5 contractions in each positions then shifted to another position.
I tore about 3/4 of the way through my perineum so that has been the most painful part of recovery. They gave me vicadin and ibuprofen for pain and I have needed a mild sleeping pill every night since to get to sleep due to anxiety. It is simply amazing how much fluid and blood and other stuff has come out of me! And I wasnt prepared for it but it keeps coming. It is like I am on my period and have to wear underwear(I normally dont) and big huge pads-yuck!
My sweet angel was worth every ounce of pain, I cant stop staring at him. He looks just like my DH with my long fingers and toes and my button nose. He took to the breast very easily the minute they put him on my chest and wants to eat whenever he is awake. My milk just came in yesterday though so he had trouble the first few days being satisfied. The last 3 nights we have gotten in a pretty good pattern of feeding for an hour or so then sleeping for 2-4 hours so I feel pretty good. My body is still muscle sore though and my tits are sore. DH caught the baby, cut he cord and put him on my chest. He is totally in love with him, it is the sweetest thing ever! My DH just went back to work today and my Mom is here to help me. I realized that no matter how prepared you are there are always adjustments you need to make when you get home. We have made several trips to the store for things we forgot or didnt know we needed.
The hospital staff were fantastic, they treated us like royalty! The food was great and after 36 hours of not eating I ate like a horse and have continued to be just sooo hungry since. I guess it is good because you need a lot to bf.
I will post pictures soon. I know this is long but 24 hours of labor is hard to condense, I feel like I could write a book! I learned a tremendous amount and a lot of it didnt go like I planned but I was flexible so I am happy with the way it all turned out.
I missed all of you and cant wait to read everything to get caught up with everyone!
__________________
Lovelovelove, Jules

EDD September 2, 2007
IT IS A BOY! Reef Thomas G.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Caleb's got his laptop up here and it's quiet, thought I'd pop on. Holy cow, she's here She's so tiny, and so quiet, a sweet little peanut!

The contractions had started at like 2am, well I posted that, but I HAD to get a few things done, so I took Jordan to orientation, then we picked up her shirts that had been embroidered, stopped by my mom's work since we were right there and visited.....kept having strong contractions but was so afraid it wasn't 'time' yet, ya know? So we ran into Sears in search of THE high school musical backpack Jordan insisted on......none in sight. So we went to the mall, haha. Walked around there for about an hour and didn't find a backpack and I was getting really uncomfortable so I called my mom and told her to meet me at my house and bring me into the hospital, that it was Caleb's first day of work and I wanted him to get to stay there until we knew if they'd keep me or not. So we got up here around noon, got in a room around 1, I was still a 4. Around 3:00 I was at a 5, but they didn't think she was dropping fast enough and her heartrate was going down to the 80's and 90's so they hooked me up to the pitocin around 4:30.....by 5:00 I really needed to have the epidural, and they checked me and said I was at a 6 or 7.....stuck me on oxygen b/c she wasn't acting well. At 6:00 the head nurse came in and had me start pushing and told me we had to get her out quickly and to push with all I had. I pushed through a couple contractions and they had me wait on the doc, pushed through about 4 more and out she came....her cord had been wrapped around her neck which they kinda suspected. We waited anxiously and sure enough the stupid IUD came out with the placenta, part of me wishes I'd kept it for her scrapbook, haha.....

Anyway, they did all her testing and bathing in my room so she never left my side, that was awesome. They couldn't get my bleeding stopped so I got a shot in my leg......we visited iwth family all night, I sent her to the nursery for a while. Around 1:00am and 4:00am I was hemorrhaging pretty badly again and they ordered another shot.....luckily it's all slowed down and I'm cooperating again. It's AMAZING to me how little pain I have since I had no tearing or episiotomy. The tummy cramping sucks arse, but the percocet helps that, haha.

So anyway, they'll keep me 'til tomorrow just to monitor the bleeding.....so I won't get to take Jordan to her first day of school, trying not to be emotional about that, but my mom's helping out and Jordan will enjoy that I know.

Well, I just wanted to update, am going to take a nap while noone's here....thanks for all the congrats! it HAS been a wild ride for us, but oh so worth it, I can't wait to share some pics, she's so tiny and so cute, lots of dark black hair, tiny little nose, and Alex's pucker, haha
I thought I'd share some pics while she's sleeping. Silly girl wanted to be held ALL night long, haha. She's a snuggle bunny, so so sweet, but mommy's gonna need a nap today for sure!!!!!

Just a few minutes after she was born...




The kids got there shortly after she was born, my sis missed the birth, thought she had time to take them to McDonald's for dinner, haha.


Daddy had to comfort Alex, he was quite nervous about all mommy's bracelets and the iv...


Alex combs her hair for her hospital pic...

Big sis was too nervous to hold her...they have matching shirts "I'm the Big Sis" type, but Tatum's swallows her right now, haha.

Got milk?


And a bonus shot of my girl on her first day of kindergarten!



Thanks for letting me share so many! I'm doing really well, the cramping is horrible, but since I had no tearing or episiotomy I have none of tha pain to deal with. If the cramping would go away I'd be perfect! (well, that and a few hours of sleep, haha)....but she's precious, so glad she's here!

Camden Henry
7lbs 5oz 19inches
8-27-07 1:23pm

Saturday August 25th

We spent the day cleaning the house, I should have known something was going on as I was in a frenzy to have everything “just right” and cleaned up.

We ate Chinese takeout for dinner and Kevin and I were amused to see what our fortune cookies read: Mine: Good news of long-awaited event will arrive soon. Kevin: You will get what your heart desires

Kevin left to work at the Peanut around 9:00p.m. my contractions started around 10:00p.m. but I thought it was just from overworking throughout the day. I went to sleep around 11:00p.m., but the contractions started waking me up, I got my hypnosis tapes and put them on and listened to them most of the night as the contractions kept waking me up.

1:00a.m. I went to the bathroom and noticed I lost my mucus plug, I thought I should call and tell Kevin something might be happening but I fell back asleep before I did. I awoke again at 3:30 to more contractions, this time I called Kevin and told him he probably should get home because I had been having a lot of BH (nothing even strong at this point) and I thought something might be happening.

4:00a.m. I heard Kevin walk in the door and moments later I felt a pop and a warm gush, I yelled to Kevin my water broke and as I stood up to go to the bathroom there was no doubt my water had just broke. I started packing all the bags and called my parents to let them know what was going on. I timed my contractions at that point and they were 4-5min apart lasting 40seconds, not strong at all. We decided to lay down for a while and see if things picked up. Kevin had no sleep at this point. Things really didn’t change much at this point. I called my Doula at 6:00a.m. to let her know what was going on. At 8:00 a.m. we got the kids up and dressed for my Parents to take them to Church. Contractions still coming but not strong at all. I called my drs office and told them what had happened and was told to go ahead and go in. I took a shower and we headed to the hospital around 10:00a.m. Got to the triage room where they monitored me and then the on call dr from my group came in to talk to me and check my fluid. I had seen him before and while I was sad my Midwife wasn’t on call I really like this OB. He didn’t do a cervical check per my request and said he wouldn’t anyway and said he would see me later. For the next 24 hrs it was pretty much the same, I was contracting but not progressing, the contraction increased in strength but did not get closer together. My doula was with me most of the day/night, Kevin slept on and off and helped also, we walked the halls, we did some massage hitting the acupressure points to bring on contractions. I did my hypnosis tapes. The contractions would get together and we would get excited and then they would space back out. Generally every 5-7min they were strong enough that I had to stop and breath through them and get hip and back counter pressure. I think my hypnosis was amazing getting through the long night. At 10:30 that night the OB came back in and decided to check me, I was 3cm 70% effaced, he said they might have to do pitiocin but he was more than willing to let nature have a chance, and that was pretty much the last I saw of that OB (such an easy going guy. Love him). Baby was doing great through everything and my Bp and temp was always normal.

8:00a.m. Monday morning, my midwife came in to talk to me, at this point the contractions while strong were spacing out even more, she wanted to check me to see where to go from there, when I heard no change I was not happy I figured I was on my way to another c-section. But my midwife said that I was really really soft and she thought a little bit of pitocin and she thought I would go quick. At this point things had really stalled out so I agreed. They started on the lowest level and things started picking up pretty quickly. At first it wasn’t bad they were my normal contractions just closer together, I was able to breathe through them and use my hypnosis tapes, I spent a lot of time in the rocking chair and on the birthing ball with the monitors on, When things started getting more intense I would hang on Kevin and my Doula would press on my hips and back in between contractions Kevin would rub my back. Time sort of was lost on me at this point, the contractions were somewhat bearable but very very intense. The nurse came in and upped the pitocin one more level, After that things got a little more than I could handle, instead of a ramp up in the contraction they went from nothing to as intense as they could go and then ramped down, every minute lasting almost 2min each. I finally asked for an epidural, took forever for epidural guy to come, and then it takes a while for it to take place but finally I was able to relax. I made it about 3hrs on pitocin without the epidural, the nurse checked me about 45min later and I was complete! I requested to labor down for a while to let the baby move down on its own before I had to push, also it was a VERY strong epidural so we had to let it wear off some before I could push. I pushed several pushes and they told me I was moving the baby down well, they set up the mirror and I was able to see his head, amazing. After a maybe 15-20min of pushing they called my midwife at this point the top of the head was right there, My epidural was turned completely off so I had some feeling, just enough to feel the urge to push but not really any pain. My midwife used warm compress as the baby was crowning and soon his little head and body were out and he was put directly on my chest for skin to skin contact, I was able to announce his sex and hold him and help wipe him down, The cord wasn’t clamped until it stopped pulsing and Kevin cut the cord. The placenta detached pretty quickly and my midwife repaired a 1st degree perineal tear, not bad for pushing with a strong epidural with my feet up in sturrips. I spent the next hour just cuddling and nursing my baby skin to skin. They did some of the baby care while we were nursing and then he was taken and weighed, 7lbs 5oz 19inches, 12inch head circumference apgars of 8 and 9. Recovery has been amazing compared to a c-section. What an amazing experience.

Matthew Christopher is here! He was scheduled to be sectioned on August 31st but he had other plans! He entered the world at 5:17am on Sunday August 26!

Matthew's Birth Story

Matthew was scheduled to be sectioned at 11:00am on August 31st but I went into labor around 12:00am on Sunday August 26. The contractions were coming every 5 minutes for about 40 minutes. As some of you may know my mom is a nurse on L&D and was working Saturday night til Sunday morning so I called her to let her know we were coming. I arrived at the hospital around 1:30am and was 1cm. 45 minutes later i was at 3cm. The doctor had to wait until 4:30am to do the c-section because I had eaten dinner at 8:30pm. I walked into the OR at 4:51am and Matthew Christopher was born at 5:17am.

August 26, 2007
5lbs 15 oz.
5:17am

Cashion Michael
Born 8/28/07 6:49 p.m.
8 lbs. 7 oz. ~ 19 3/4 in.

I've been lurking because I felt too guilty to post before I sat down and wrote my birth story so here we go!

I went in to be induced Tuesday morning at 7:30 a.m. I didn't get any sleep the night before, I kept waking up every hour because I was so anxious! My mom was already there at 7 and called us before we got there because she wanted to get a picture of us getting out of the car. We checked in, got into the labor room, and they hooked me up to an IV for fluids and a blood pressure cuff that monitored my bp every 15 minutes (that was *really* fun for 12 hours). The nurse checked me and I was a 2 and 50% effaced. My mother was trying to be helpful but she was asked to leave and come back later after antics such as massaging my hand with lotion when I was having questions asked and blood drawn, making me smell candles she brought, and suggesting I listen to a "relaxing" CD. It was just way too much and she was really stressing me out with her bombardment of "helpful" stuff she brought. At 8:15 a.m. they started me on Pitocin on I started having mild contractions that were a couple minutes apart. At 9 my doctor came in and broke my water (jeez that was way more water than I expected!) and the contractions started coming on HARD and FAST. I don't really remember the progression (I can barely remember anything right now, sleep deprivation is a killer) but by 10 a.m. they were extremely painful, lasting 1 minute and coming right on top of one another (1-2 minutes apart). I tried putting the bed in a sitting position but what I really wanted to do was walk and squat through the contractions- unfortunately, I was strapped to a hospital bed with an IV, a blood pressure cuff, and two monitors around my belly. At noon I was between 4 and 5 cm dilated and I decided to get an epidural. It was a really tough decision because a natural childbirth had been so important to me but between the incredibly strong synthetically produced contractions and not being able to get up to deal with them like my body wanted to was too much. I am amazed by anyone that can do childbirth (especially an induction) without pain medication- you ladies are my heroes! After I got the epidural I was able to take a short nap to get my energy back up and when they checked me next I was at 7 cm. They had me lie on my side and put one leg up in a stirrup to help him drop and the next time they checked me I was a 9. I switched sides and put the other leg up and not too long after that I was complete. My nurse (who was really awesome) and my husband held my legs up and I started pushing about 5:45 p.m. At first it was difficult and I was getting frustrated that I wasn't pushing effectively so we sat the bed up and put a bar across it so I could bear down better. Near the end I reached down and felt his head which was AMAZING. When he was crowning they paged my doctor who was downstairs and told me to not push. That made me really upset and I basically thought, "Oh yeah? Watch me." I was screaming that I had to push and it felt like there were 10 people yelling at me to breathe through it and wait for the doctor. I yelled that he better be running and he came through the door. A few pushes later, Cashion Michael Rider came into the world. They handed him to me while they stitched up the tears and episiotomy/tear combo I had. He was 8 lbs. 7 oz., 19 3/4 inches with a 13 1/2 inch circumference head.

We're home now and doing great. My milk hasn't come in yet which is making me really worried but he's having wet diapers and we go in tomorrow for a checkup to make sure he's gaining because he lost 8% of his body weight by the time we were discharged. Breastfeeding has been going pretty well... my nipples aren't that sore and he seems to be latching well. Last night was pretty hard though because he nursed pretty much constantly from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. I've even mastered how to nurse and eat at the same time! Still working on typing though..

*Added: Our friends just came over to visit and drop off a present and while I was feeding Cash upstairs my milk came in so YAY! 1 less thing to worry about...


Edit: Ok, now that I've slept a few hours I realize I left some stuff out: After the labor I started throwing up so they gave me Zofran, the same medicine I had in the hospital in the beginning with the hyperemesis. The only thing I had on my stomach was a coke that my nurse brought me because I told her I needed one so I could have some sugar in my blood because I hadn't eaten in 24 hours and was feeling really week. That should be a Coca-Cola commercial. Labor over? Have a Coke!

TFL if you got this far!

We are just so pleased to announce the birth of our son! We had not officially known his gender until his birth (but we did sort of suspect)... here's how it went down:

I started having severe contractions early Tuesday AM but was released from the hospital when they were unable to get the labor to progress past 1 CM. The contractions were terrible lasting about 10 minutes each!... but as bad as they were, they were only "early labor" at it was not yet time.

Then Wednesday at exactly 9:16 AM I started have more contractions. They quickly jumped to about 4 minutes apart in just a few hours. I called my DH early in the day to let him know to be on guard. Then I called him just about an hour later to say I thought he should come home. He got caught in traffic, so he called for an ambulance. When I saw the caller ID with "911" on it I thought one of the neighbors must have heard me screaming and called Two seconds later 5 huge men were standing in my living room watching me suffer throught the next contraction. They really thought I should go wth them, but I wanted to wait for my DH. He did arrive just a few minutes later and we quickly departing. The ride to the hospital was three contractions long and when we arrived I was dialated to a 5 upon arrive and started pushing at 4:00 PM. The pushing went by so fast! I got an epidural which was my saving grace. It was funny (or irritating) that literally in the middle of getting my epidural the doctor took a phone car from the Lexus dealership to confirm that he would like the black and tan package. I thought to myself "if I have to hold still through an extra contraction because you are getting your car tricked out then I am going to kick your *** - as soon as I have movement again that is!! But all the same I was numbed up and ready for baby hatching. Official time of birth was 5:26 PM.

Important stats:
Name: Bryce David
born at 38 Weeks
on 29 August
7 lbs, 4 oz.
21 inches

He is such a cute little bugger!
My DH has just been amazing since (well and before too) He is already a father worthy of much bragging and praise.

Recovery has been pretty good... I had a second degree tear and caused lots of other "issues" to my hind side by pushing and today we are dealing with "severe engorgement" (boobs as hard as your forehead) So bring on the cabbage!!

I love how much this experience has made me fall in a deeper love with my DH. I always knew he would be an amazing dad. Last night going back to bed after yet another wee hour feeding I had a wash come over me of absolute joy. I feel so lucky to have so much. A wonderful little family and I just couldn't be more thankful! I'm a lucky girl!