Labor and Delivery

So, I know it has been almost 3 months since my last post, and 2 months since the birth of our baby boy. I noticed that the last post, I had a huge belly being 8 months pregnant! I guess it is time I better post some cute photos, and tell about my labor and delivery before I forget it all. So here it goes.....


My due date was December 9th, and Dave's last final presentation for school was December 9th. Being a labor and delivery nurse, I saw many moms very anxious to deliver early, but I was the opposite. I wanted to be able to at least eat the Thanksgiving feast, and make it through Dave's finals. I was checked at about 39 weeks, and was closed dilation. After that, I convinced myself that I was going to be one of those moms that had to be induced one week late starting totally closed, and have a grueling 50 hour labor, push for 3 hours, attempt forceps, and then end up with a C-Section. Not fun!
During the last couple months of my pregnancy, I went on tons of walks and hikes with my Mom, ate a lot of frozen yogurt, slept in (for the last time ever:), took a sewing class, prepared for his arrival, traveled to Huntington Beach, went kayaking, and spent time with family during Thanksgiving. It was awesome just to relax! Every week, Dave and I would sit down and have our own little prenatal class together. Even though he had heard hundreds of stories about labor and delivery every day I got home from work, I still wanted him to feel prepared.

To celebrate his finals being over, we went out to eat downtown for pizza, and walked around at the Farmer's Market. That was our last outing together before he arrived. At about 3 AM on Friday morning, December 10th, I woke up with some uncomfortable contractions. They were happening about every 10 minutes. That morning, I went to the doctor, and was excited to find out how far I had progressed. Closed Dilation once again. Bummer. I set up an induction date on December 16th, and planned on waiting. By this time, I was getting anxious to meet our little guy.

Finally, after 3 days of back labor 3-10 minutes apart, at about 11 PM on Sunday night, I decided that I needed to go into the hospital. We drove to the hospital, which was only about 5 minutes away, and went up to Labor and Delivery. The nurse checked me, and I was 5 cm! She told me I was going to be admitted, and I asked for the epidural right away. I had always planned on getting the epidural. Way to Go to all you girls out there that go unmedicated. You are amazing. The anesthesiologist seemed to take forever to get in the room. I tried to always be empathetic to my patients, but I definitely will be even more so now! At about 1 AM, I felt the epidural taking effect, and I felt probably the best I have ever felt. It was awesome! I have seen hundreds of women with epidurals, but it was crazy to finally have one myself. I was checked and was about 6 cm. I then tried to sleep for a couple of hours, and was rechecked at about 6 AM. I was still about 6 cm, so they decided to start just a minimal amount of pitocin. The doctor finally came in at about 8:45 AM, and broke my water at 7 cm dilated. There was a slight amount of meconium in the fluid, but I wasn't too concerned. I jumped from 7 cm to 10 cm in about one hour. His head was still slightly high, so we decided to "Rest and Descend." I am all about resting and descending. The epidural unfortunately started to wear off, and I decided to get a little extra dose of medicine. That re-dose made my legs completely numb, and so we decided to wait a little longer before pushing. By the time we started pushing, much of the epidural had worn off once again.

Once I started pushing, I only pushed for 45 minutes. Our baby boy was born at 1:15 PM and started crying right away. His Apgar scores were 9 at 1 minutes, and 9 at 5 minutes. That was such a relief for me, because I knew what things could go wrong. He was so alert, and was delivered skin-to-skin. What an experience! Dave and my Mom were there to see the birth. He was such a beautiful baby, and had a lot of brown hair. He even gripped his Daddy's hand right away. I was excited to see that much hair, but it started falling out at about 1 month old. Pretty young to already be balding:) After delivery, Dave got to help with his 1st bath in the room. Seeing him for the first time was such an amazing experience. We are very proud parents! He was 7 pounds 15 onces and 19 inches long. We love him so much!



After the epidural!:)

Our steak meal for two the night before discharge;)


Dave holding his baby boy for the first time!

He is now 2 months old and just went to his well visit today. Here are the stats:

12 pounds 12 ounces (68 percentile)

24 inches long (80 percentile) Maybe he will be the new Jimmer Fredette in about 20 years with being so tall!


He is growing up so fast!


Grandma and Grandpa, and some of his cousins!

Hanging out with his cousin that is only 3 weeks younger.

Dave and I with our twins.:)

My sister brought down her scale when she visited with her 6 week old boy, and he loved hanging out on it. We would sometimes weigh him before and after he ate to see how many ounces he was getting. He is getting big! We have been on a lot of walks these last 2 months. He loves the stroller. We have been lucky, because it has been about 70 to 75 degrees the last 6 weeks!