Here’s his birth story:
We went in to labor and delivery around 7:45 Tuesday morning, but had to wait around until 10:30 when my doctor finally got out of a c-section. At 10:30, she broke my water and asked if I wanted to start pitocin, but I told her I wanted to see if labor started on its own first. I was already 6 cm dilated (5 cm the day before) and 41w 2d.
About noon, my contractions started on their own and were not too bad, about every 5-6 minutes apart. It was crazy how we knew exactly when to expect the next one. (I know, I know, that's how it's supposed to be, but it was weird to finally experience it.) Then around 1:15 my doc checked me and I was around 7 cm and asked if I wanted an epidural. I told her I felt ok. Well, about 15-20 minutes later, the intensity had doubled (from a 5 on the computer screen to a 10) and they were coming every 3 minutes.
I gave in and paged the nurse. I definitely wanted the epidural. By 2 pm, the nurse anesthetist came in and was amazing!!! He was very quick, very knowledgable, really likable. That stuff kicked in instantly. Afterward, my nurse told me she was bragging to the other nurses about how she got Adam to do the epidural. Apparently he is the best one there. I’m happy! It was amazing. I could move my legs really well and invited people into the room. I didn’t feel a single contraction after that.
About 4:00, they checked and I was at 10 cm. (Completely textbook- 1 cm an hour) I didn’t have any pressure and he was far enough up that we waited until about 5:00 to start pushing. They came in to turn down my epi because I still couldn’t really feel any pressure, so I only pushed off and on for about half an hour. Then I started to actively push for about 2- 2.5 hours. The last half hour I didn’t realize I was so close, but my doctor came in and started suiting up. I asked her if I was close and she just laughed and said, “I don’t suit up unless you’re close.” I was in pretty happy spirits the whole time. Sterling did a really good job at counting in English, Spanish, and German! :) We had “fun” and joked around pretty much the whole time. Even when I was literally pushing him out, Sterling and I were telling our inside jokes about birth. My nurse ended up leaving (shift change) about 7:20 and a new nurse came in. She was very “forceful” with me and got me to push as hard as I could. At 7:50 pm, “little” JJ made his appearance and was placed directly on my belly. I was just crying and saying “oh my gosh, oh my gosh” over and over again. “I can’t believe I pushed him out of me.” He cried right away, which is what I was hoping for. That made me cry even more.
Sterling got to cut the umbilical cord and then they took Joshua to get weighed and diapered. Sterling got to learn all of it right there while I was stitched up. I even asked my doctor if I could see the placenta. That was pretty awesome too.
My nurse was great! She got me some apple juice as soon as I delivered and just one sip was enough to make me feel awesome. We even got to “breastfeed” within 15 minutes. It was all an amazing experience and such a miracle. Growing a child and then delivering him is a miracle.
And that first meal after birth is AWESOME!!! Overall, everything was as smooth as it could be. Everything was great. I loved all of the nursing staff my whole stay and I was so grateful that my actual doctor was on-call that so she could actually deliver JJ.
(Hopefully I can post more pictures soon. I'm having trouble uplaoding right now.)
5 comments:
He is beautiful! Congratulations to all 3 of you.
Congratulations Anna! I'm glad the labor and delivery went so well for you, and that it was a good experience. Your little boy is so cute. Seriously. He's a big baby, but who can blame him, being so late. I'm glad he's finally here. :)
Hooray! Emily was JUST barely over here and showed me a picture of him on her phone. He is precious! So, are you guys calling him JJ? Or Joshua? Or something else? I have an uncle named JJ and I think that name is so cute!
So glad to hear that you had a great labor and delivery. I loved reading your thoughts about when you first saw him. It reminded me of my own experiences. You are right that it is the most surreal, beautiful moment in the whole world. It is crazy to me everytime to think that the little person I'm holding was just inside me. Thakns for sharing! I hope you are enjoying your time at home!
I'm so glad you posted this! I love hearing everyone's birthing experiences :) I'm also glad everything went well for you guys and you had such an enjoyable and laid back labor! It's so nice when you can remember the day that way.
I hope you're recovering well from having such a big boy and you are enjoying your new little man!
Wow! What an experience. It's so fun to check out your blog! I've added you to my stock pile :)
Thanks for the nice comments on our blog. It's always fun to read comments from friends. And you were definitely missed at the cabin. Hopefully we'll do it again soon!!
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