Well, after a long delay, here at last is the scoop on Jack's arrival. I went to the hospital on July 23 to have a cervidil treatment, spent a long night in the hospital, and at 7:30am on July 24 the pitocin drip was started. At around 8am, the OB broke my water (and was surprised at the amount of water in there). There was a little meconium staining to the fluid - not a lot, but enough that the OB warned us the baby might not cry right away, since they would want to suction the fluid out first to prevent him from aspirating the fluid and getting pneumonia or any other complications.
The contractions started not long after that, and by 10am I was dilated to a 3 with contractions right on top of each other, and ready for the epidural. (Which I now swear I will never have a baby without.) The contractions continued throughout the day, and baby and I were both doing well, but by 2:45pm I was still dilated to only 3cm and things appeared to be at a stall. The OB started talking about the possibility that the baby was not going to be able to come down. It was decided that he would come back at 3:30pm to check me again, and if I was still not progressing we would begin to discuss our feelings about a c-section. (We REALLY didn't want a c-seciton, but we knew it was a possibility with the induction.) We tried some position changes and a back massage to see if we could get things moving again.
Well, lo and behold... at 3:30 I was dilated to 5+cm and we all agreed I should continue the labor. At 5pm the OB checked one more time, and I was fully dilated, fully effaced, and ready to start pushing. SO, push I did... for about 40 minutes. I pushed with almost every contraction (and there were a lot of them!) and was starting to get exhausted, so the OB used a vacuum extractor and carefully helped little Jack into the world.
At exactly 5:44pm, attended by about 8 different doctors and nurses, Jack was born. Dad and Mom watched impatiently as he was suctioned, and finally they heard that first indignant howl. Jack had arrived.
Our little family is beginning to settle in and learn how to live with each other. It's a new experience, operating on little sleep but lots of love. Jack is absolutely perfect, and we couldn't be happier with our new addition. He even sometimes sleeps through the night... (knock on wood) or at least long enough to let me steal an occasional nap between feedings.
T is, of course, shaping up to be an incredible dad. He works long hours at his new job, and is learning a lot along the way. He comes home at night eager to enjoy his new son, now that he is almost fully recovered from the nasty virus he picked up at the hospital. (Who knew you could go to the hospital healthy and come home SO sick?!)
We are beginning the process of learning to be parents, and enjoying the experience thoroughly (sleepless nights and all.)
That's the scoop on our new baby boy and his new parents. Check back soon for updates as they develop... I'm sure there will be a lot of them in the days ahead....
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