Baby Jimmie is Here!

A little over a week later, I'm finally getting around to getting a very important blog post up! The birth story of our son!  Fair warning, this post may be more detailed than you care about, but I also write these for myself and so that I can remember, so bear with me :)

The week leading up to his birth was relatively normal.  We were finishing up my student teaching with no red flags.  I posted on Memorial day and went back to school Tuesday.  On Tuesday we had a dance festival, and our 5th graders totally rocked it!  On Wednesday we had our Field day.  On Thursday we had a half day where the kids signed year books and said goodbyes.  Being so close to my due date, I took it easy during the activities, but had no problem moving around and participating.  I felt pretty normal actually.

The theme for the 5th grade class that I was in was "Mightiest Heroes" and focused on the theme of the Avengers.  Our sweet teacher aid brought in these Avenger bracelets for the last day for our students since they have completed their superhero training and passed 5th grade. 

Also on Thursday I was considered 39 weeks.  I was so excited that we were getting close, but didn't really feel any different.  I thought for sure that I would probably end up going passed my due date and end up having to be induced. I had an appointment scheduled for the next morning with my doctor where she would check how far along I was and I'd kinda have a better feel for things.

We never made it to that doctors appointment though.  

I came home from my last day of school happy and ready to relax/prep for baby for the next week.  I spent the afternoon getting some things in order, doing some cleaning, and resting. My parents called that night, checking in and seeing how I was feeling.  I told them I was feeling great, normal, and don't think baby will be coming any time soon.

That wasn't true either

I woke up at 1:38 AM and my water had broken.  Even though Jim is now working night shifts, Thursday nights is thankfully one of his nights off.  He was even already awake because he tries to keep his sleep schedule consistent.  We gathered a few things to add to our hospital bag, I did some straightening around the house, and we headed out. 

I wasn't having any contractions yet and realized, I didn't have very much for dinner the night before.  I foolishly just snacked a bit here and there.  Well, you can't eat during labor! So, I insisted we stop at McDonalds on the way and get a Sausage McMuffin.  Go ahead and judge me :) it was delicious!

 By this point it was 2:14 AM.  Jim did a really good job of documenting events of the day in correspondence with the time (which is great, because I wouldn't be able to remember)

Eventually we got to the hospital and by 3:00 they confirmed that my water had broken and that I was in labor and not going anywhere until I had a baby.  Woohoo! But I was only 2.5 cm dilated and 80% effaced, so it would probably be a while still.  I had pretty much exclusively back labor, which I suspected that I probably would based on how I felt throughout pregnancy.  I was having contractions, but nothing that wasn't tolerable.  (For a while at least)

Checked in and lookin very pregnant 

By 5:10 I was only measuring 3 cm.  By that point my contractions were pretty severe and I couldn't believe that after all of that I'd only progressed 0.5 cm! 

Clearly I wasn't getting anywhere on my own so they gave me Pitocin.

A few minutes later, I got an epidural which worked like a charm!  It was enough that it got rid of the pain (though I could still feel a dull ache when a contraction was happening) but not so much that I could not move at all.  I was still able to move my feet and legs for the most part, which was awesome.  

Feelin' wonderful after the epidural

So good, in fact, that I sent Megan this Snapchat.

I had been keeping Megan updated and she had apparently been reading the texts in her sleep and thought she'd been dreaming that I was in labor.  When she actually woke up she asked, "Wait, are you having the baby?"  This was the beautiful response she got :)

For the next several hours, they continued to increase the level of pitocin and we just relaxed.  Since I had only gotten a few hours of sleep the night before, I stuck my headphones in and just napped on and off for a few hours.   We just kind of hung out, ate my awesome flavored ice chips, talked, and even played some games.  It was all actually quite relaxing!

By 7:40 AM I was 5 cm and 90% effaced.  At the rate I was going, I thought we'd be there all day.  The nurses said we'd probably have him here by late afternoon or early evening.  They said they would now start checking hourly, but by 8:40 they came back to check on my progress.

Nurse: "Well, you're complete!"

Me: "Completely effaced?"

Nurse: "Nope, complete complete! We'll go call your doctor, this baby is coming! If all goes well, he should be here a little before noon!"

That was rather shocking! Jumping from a 5 to a 10 in an hour caught us by surprise.  The more surprising thing though is that for some reason, they checked me again about 10-15 minutes later and said that I was "complete +3"...whatever that means.

Jim had just spoken to my brother who was kind enough to take care of Nala and bring Jim some food.  Now it was looking like he wouldn't even have time to run down to the main floor to get it at the rate this baby was coming!

What was originally telling my doctor, "Hey, start to make your way over here" turned into, "Hey, get over here right now!"  The nurse said we should do a practice push before the doctor arrived but stopped me short because after just one, she could already see hair and we didn't want to have the baby before the doctors got there!

The doctor arrived and after pushing for just 3 contractions, the most precious little guy I've ever seen was born at 9:30 AM exactly.  He weighed in at 6 lbs 10 oz and 18.5 inches long.  

I couldn't believe how small he was!  Everything about him was just so tiny and perfect.  The doctors and nurses could not even believe how smoothly and easy things went.  They kept telling me how rare my experience was and just how lucky I was.  And considering the fact that this hospital delivers the most babies in the country, I'll take their word for it! 

He got to take a trip with Dad to the nursery to get some shots and his very first bath.  Meanwhile I was able to talk to my parents on the phone and let people know.  My recovery, like my labor and delivery, was phenomenal.  The epidural wore off on my legs within 30 minutes and I was able to walk and move around like normal within about an hour and a half.  

We spent 2 days in the hospital.  It was nice to be able to relax and have help for the first little while.  Jim was able to take off of work until Monday.  

My mom was able to change her flight (since he came a week early) and got here on Monday and is staying til this Wednesday.  It has been amazingly helpful having her here to help with everything.  Megan came down for the weekend as well.  Nala has been adjusting well and seems to be very accepting of little Jimmie.  She's curious of course, but has been so good.  We've been able to see so many friends and family in the last week and a half--it's been wonderful.  

Jimmie is eating well and being such a good little baby.  He's been sleeping really well for the most part and is perfectly healthy.  He passed is one week check up with flying colors!  It's hard to believe that he's this old already.  We are so totally in love with him, and sometimes it's hard to believe that my little man is here now.  I spend the majority of my day just snuggling and loving him. It is probably one of the greatest times of my life right now, and we're enjoying every second of it. 

We obviously took a lot of pictures and way more than we could ever post.  But for those of you who are interested and have been begging for pictures, here is a link to a web album of some photos from the hospital and the last week and a half: 

Baby Jimmie's Web Album

Thank you for all of the thoughts, prayers, and well wishing on our little family's behalf!  We feel so blessed to have this little guy and love and support from family, more than words could ever express.