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The Details

Some of you have requested the details about Isaac's birth. Others of you may not care. And truthfully, I'm not sure I want to share every little detail in this very public forum. But I'll give some of the story:

I went to the urgent care the night before Isaac was born because I wasn't feeling him move at all. The doctor there put me on the monitor to check for fluctuations in Isaac's heart rate. Basically they weren't happening. So he then sent me to the hospital for a biophysical profile, a fancy name for an extended ultrasound where they look for specific types of movement. Again, he was moving, but not as much as they would like to see. So, Jacob and I waited for a phone call from my doctor with more information. We got the call and decided to induce labor as I was already dilated to a 3 and 39 weeks.

They started me on pitocin that night and saw little reaction to the drug. I was contracting regularly, baby was moving fine, but I couldn't really feel any contractions so they couldn't really call it labor. They were going to send me home. But, as I stood up to use the restroom, my water broke. So stay I did.

I progressed very quickly from that point. I think I dilated from a 4 to a 9.5 in about 2-3 hours. I was to the point where I was asking for the epidural and Jacob was trying to get me to wait a few more minutes. I asked the nurse to check my progress. Jacob started running water in the Jacuzzi bath for me. I went to the bathroom. When I came out I told the nurse I felt like I needed to push. She did check me at that point and was surprised to see I was at a 9.5.

The nurse then frantically got the room ready, called for my doctor, and got some others for assistance. She told me not to push as my doctor was still 15 minutes away. I did some breathing to help not push but it was difficult because my body wanted to push.

When the doctor arrived I began pushing. I pushed for what I'm pretty sure was 2 hours before Isaac joined us. He was perfect, and still is, and he was placed on my stomach. I turned to Jacob and told him Isaac had a "Carter nose." I think I also calmly told him that was the worst pain of my life. But I did do it all without the epidural.

And then there were some complications with the placenta not separating from the uterus. And that is where I will skip the details, because frankly, it wasn't pretty. I lost more blood than they would have liked and I was weak from the loss. I still am trying to build up my iron levels. Good times.

But Isaac is here and well, and I am well. And that's all that really matters.

I'm having difficulty loading my pictures to this blog, again, so those will have to wait. And, since it's been a while since I actually wrote this post I will update with these few words. Newborns are hard. I worry a lot. And I give props to all you mothers out there.

Isaac is still perfectly healthy, sometimes a little fussy, but over all pretty good. He just does not like to sleep on his back in the bassinet so if anyone has suggestions on how to get a newborn to sleep in the bassinet please let me know.