Beautiful Boy

I awoke Monday morning thinking of all the things that I needed to "do" before the day ended. Anne and Bryan were coming for a visit, the family was coming to have Thanksgiving dinner, I needed to go grocery shopping, get all the beds ready, plans the meals, clean the house, etc., etc., etc. So right then and there I decided that today was NOT the day that I was going in to labor. I had too much to do. So I worked--all day--up and down the stairs, all the groceries in the cart, out of the cart, in the car, out of the car, in the cupboards, the vaccuum cleaner upstairs, the beds made, and on the list went. I finally collapsed in my bed at 11:30 p.m. but I couldn't sleep. Nothing unusual--I hadn't slept well in weeks. I sat in bed and read a book. I must have dozed some after 1:30 a.m. At 2:10 a.m. I woke up with a bad cramp, and a warm trickle. I was shocked. I jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom, and, thank you Lord, I made it to the toilet before the "big gush" came! So there was no mess and I was positive that my water had broken. I sat for a minute just waiting. I wasn't sure what I was waiting for--I think for contractions to immediately start or something. I woke Jeff up and broke the news to him. He took it well. Since I was not in any pain, I suggested that he take a shower and put fresh clothes on while I got the rest of my things together. By 3:30 a.m. we were on our way to the hospital, calling Grandma, Nana, Lee, Gaylene and Mark and Laurie on the way.

We got in our room at the hospital and got hooked up to all the monitors and such. From there was just sat and "relaxed" while we waited for something to happen. About 8:00 a.m. they checked me and found that I had not progressed in my dialation at all, so they started the pitocin drip. At first the contractions were very manageable, and I was enjoying the whole "labor" thing with the breathing and the relaxing. Turns out that I wasn't really doing anything and once the contractions started to come every 2 minutes and extremely hard, things got a little scary. We went from relaxed breathing to frantic "hee hee hee hoo's" in no time. It was NOT fun. At about 11:00 a.m. I started begging to be checked in case I was ready for my epidural. The nurse was skeptical that I could have progressed so far in such a short time, but she decided to humor me. Surprisingly, I was a 4! And the anesthesiologist was on his way! Dr. Hutchinson breezed in the door and became my best friend in the whole wide world! The epidural was NOT painful at all. It was very easy and I wouldn't have cared where they were sticking it, as long as it got rid of the pain. It took effect very quickly and in 15 minutes I was asking for my lipstick. From there we just played the waiting game. Everything I knew told me that it would be a long wait, but before long (just a couple of hours) I started to feel a lot of pressure and asked to be checked. I had progressed to an 8! We were so excited! By 2:30 p.m. I was complete and ready to push. It took me a little while to get the hang of the pushing thing, but I was driven by everyone's encouragement. Jeff stayed beside me the whole time, holding my hand, counting for me, taking the breath with me (and as a side note, he was also pushing with me, so much so that he had to leave the room for just a minute to, um, use the restroom). As the baby's head came out he would lean over and look down and tell me what he was seeing. We quickly ascertained that Jack had blonde hair. I pushed for about an hour and was ready to have him, when word came that my doctor was in the next room delivering another baby! So I did little "half" pushes for about 20 minutes until Dr. Harrison arrived. Then I pushed for about another 5 minutes and out he came! It was truly amazing. I don't think it could have gone more perfectly, and suddenly my greatest dream in the world was lying in my arms. I am amazed that my first birth went so smoothly, but then I shouldn't be, I had prayed for it, and God had been faithful to answer my prayers up to this point. I cannot describe the feelings that I have for this little boy. I know, every mother gets choked up about their children, so I won't gush into great detail, but I am just overwhelmed with the incredible grace of God, that He would choose to give me this gift. I am thankful, humbled, fearful and completely satisfied. Enjoy the pictures. I wish that you could all see the real thing!