Nora Grace Brunson

Nora was born August 4, 2015 at 5:48 pm.  She weighed 7 pounds 11 ounces and was 20 inches long.  She was born crying and ready to eat.  She is adored by her brothers.  They wanted to stay at the hospital with mom and baby Nora.  Isaac wants to hold her all the time.  Ben bestows kisses on her every chance he gets.  Jacob and I love her too.  She is mild mannered (so far) and seems to sleep okay (so far).  She eats well too.  I'm still not sure I'm happy that nursing is going well or if I was hoping for an excuse to bottle feed.  She is getting a bottle here and there though.  I'm hoping we can train her to do both so I don't have to breast feed at church and can use a bottle when it proves more convenient.

And now, for the details of her delivery.

I was scheduled to be induced Tuesday morning so we headed to the hospital at 7:30 am.  They didn't get the pitocin going until 10 or 10:30.  With the pitocin I began having contractions but nothing terribly uncomfortable.  Jacob and I hung out watching shows, checking emails, etc.  I tried getting some sleep here and there.  By the time my doctor arrived to check on me had dilated from a 3 to a 4.  Not much progress in all that time.  So my doctor discussed breaking my water.  We agreed it was best and so she proceeded to rupture the membranes at about 3:00 or 3:30.  I had some meconium in the water so a NICU nurse was going to be on hand for the delivery just to make sure everything was okay with Nora.

In my prior pregnancies I knew that I moved pretty quickly from breaking water to delivery as long as I'm aided by pitocin.  That proved true once again.  I began feeling more serious contractions and considered an epidural.  I called the nurses in to check me because I also felt like I needed to use the bathroom and wanted to make sure that was okay.  She checked and I was dilated to a 6.  I was pretty disappointed to hear that because the pain was getting strong.  We discussed options for pain management and the nurses, my doctor and Jacob all encouraged me to continue on without the epidural.  They assured me I had made considerable progress because I was 100 percent effaced and dilated to 6.  I decided to press on.  It wasn't too much longer that I began to really feel like things were happening.  I wasn't quite ready to push but knew it wasn't far off.  They checked again and I was at an 8.  I continued laboring some more and then began to feel like I needed to push.  Once again I was checked and was at a 9.  My doctor didn't want me to push because I could have torn my cervix but the urge was pretty strong.   I think it was also about this point that I was given a little phentinol for the pain.  It made me relax a little more in between contractions.  I guess I said some pretty funny things too.  I had a previous conversation with the nurses about women screaming in child birth and talked about how that wasn't really my style.  During an intense contraction I sat up and looked at the nurse and said "I might scream...I might be a screamer after all."  I was being way more vocal than my other deliveries...but still no screaming.  Anyway, everyone laughed and then I returned to my pained expression and continued delivering a baby.

So...back to it.  My doctor was still trying to have me not push while she tried to stretch the cervix so it wouldn't tear.  I was giving little pushes and then the next thing I knew I could feel the "ring of fire" need to push.  Again they told me to stop so they could prep everything and drop the bed and all.  I pushed two more times and little Nora was here.  It was incredibly intense and FAST.  A little less than 3 hours from breaking water to baby in my arms.  And after it was all said and done I was grateful not to have had the epidural.  I love the recovery of no epidural.  Up and walking quickly and feeling good.

I also love the relief felt after Nora was placed on my stomach.  I cried.  Kind of a lot I think.  So glad to be done with labor and looking at my sweet girl.  I remember one of the first things I said to Jacob was, "Now we have to take care of her."  I've had a lot of anxiety about how to manage two crazy boys and a newborn.  I still have some of that anxiety but so far so good.  I stayed one night in the hospital and then came home.  I hate taking care of a baby in the hospital.  I always sleep so much better in my own bed.

Nora has been a really pleasant newborn.  She sleeps pretty well, has some fussy moments, but overall eats and sleeps and poops like a newborn should.  The boys LOVE her.  They were so excited to see her at the hospital.  Ben came running in past Nora in the hospital bassinet and straight to me.  He then looked confused and said "Where's baby Nora?"  I pointed her out in the bassinet and he said "please hold her."  Isaac held her and just kept saying "wow" and "she's SOO cute" and "she's so tiny."  It was really adorable.  They've been good helpers and good holders of the baby.  I think so far we adjusting well.