Finally…11 days after welcoming our Sweet Davis into the world, I feel like I have a few minutes to spare and get a post out about his special day. It all happened so quickly that I’m afraid if I don’t document it….I’ll forget some parts of it, but I can assure you, there is no way I will forget all of it. It was just too real.

As I’ve mentioned in previous pregnancy updates, this pregnancy was for the most part….perfect. I hate to say that, but it’s the truth. God has blessed me with 2 very “easy” pregnancies with just a little bit of elevated blood pressure towards the end, at the 38th week to be exact. Luckily, my elevated pressure has never escalated into pre-eclampsia, so I think, that’s just the way my body lets me know that it’s getting ready to do its thing.

In my last post I told you that when I went to the Dr they requested some extra tests due to my higher blood pressure. I was hooked up to a non stress test and everything was fine, I did the 24 hour urine, and it was normal, but my blood pressure was still high so Dan and I headed over to the hospital on Wednesday the 19th so they could get my lab results and monitor me and the baby for a little while. After everything checked out normal, my Dr. came in and checked me for dilation and I was 2-3 cm, and 60% effaced which was exciting for me, but could still mean little, so we scheduled a follow up appointment for me on Christmas Eve, and an induction for the 27th, just in case my blood pressure remained elevated. I was bummed, about the scheduled induction but still hopeful that just maybe our baby would come on his own.  Dan and I were discharged from the hospital and went out for Mexican before picking up our little Man at his Grandmas house, and enjoyed what neither one of us knew would be our last night as a family of 3 before putting G to bed.

The last photo we have of our family of 3!

My contractions started around 8:30 that evening, but I thought they were just Braxton Hicks at first. That was until they started coming pretty regularly, but still between 9-11 minutes apart. I opened up my contraction timer app on my phone and started keeping track. The contractions continued throughout the night while we were relaxing and watching TV but they were still pretty far apart. Around 10:45 I decided to head to bed but just in case, I made sure all of our hospital bags were packed and ready should I go into labor. My contractions increased in intensity and got closer together so needless to say I didn’t get any sleep and finally at 12:08 am, I woke up Dan and told him I thought we may need to go to the hospital as I was calling my Dr’s office. My water hadn’t broken but my contractions were averaging about 3-4 minutes apart and lasting about a minute and a half each and they told us to come on in. We called my MIL and she came over to stay with G, Dan grabbed our bags and pillows, I kissed my Little Man and told him how much I loved him, tucked him in once more and we were off. Lucky for us the hospital is only 7 minutes away from our house; because my contractions were very intense at this point and I was ready for a little relief.

We got to the hospital at 12:30 and they checked me in, took me to my room, and got me all situated then they checked me for progress and I was 38 weeks and 4 days pregnant, at 3.5cm, with contractions still coming every 2 minutes and still lasting about a minute and a half. They asked me if I wanted an epidural and I said yes, so they brought someone in to get my IV going so I could get a liter of fluid. They require you to have at least a liter before they administer the epidural, and after they blew through the vein on my left hand they went for a vein on my right and started my IV. At this point the on call Dr, who I had seen at the hospital earlier that day (well technically the day before) came in and checked me for progress again to make sure I could stay and I was at 7.5 cm and 90% effaced!! This was probably about a half an hour after they checked me the first time!! Dan and I couldn’t believe how quickly I had progressed and obviously, I was admitted to stay.  My contractions were really really painful and coming very fast, and I overheard the nurse telling Dan that I may be able to have this baby without any epidural. I then heard him say, “don’t let her hear that” and I couldn’t agree more. I was really uncomfortable and in a lot of pain but still hadn’t even come close to getting the entire liter of fluid in me. I continued to labor a little while longer and Dan could tell that I was seriously in a lot of pain and asked the nurse to check me again. After a few minutes she did and my water broke. She also informed us that I was at 9.5 cm and that I wasn’t going to be able to get an epidural because the baby was coming. I was shocked, and a little pissed, and scared to death, but there wasn’t anything anyone could do about it. I was going to have to suck it up and have this baby naturally.

They called all of the nurses and Dr to come in and told me to let them know when I felt like I needed to push. It wasn’t long before I was screaming through my contractions and ready to push.  I was that obnoxious pregnant woman yelling because I could feel everything, and it hurt…a lot. My Dr. told me to re-direct my cries to pushing and I don’t know how, but with some deep yoga breathing and a change of focus, I was able to, and our nameless baby boy was born a few minutes later. I distinctly remember saying “Thank God” when I felt the last of his tiny little body come out at 2:08 am. They waited for him to cry, let me see his perfect little pink body and took him to check his lungs for meconium. My Dr. finished up my delivery and checked me out and let me know that I wasn’t going to need any stitches because I was in such control of my body and the instructions he gave me while pushing. Again….I was shocked and happy but couldn’t take my eyes off of my perfect little boy who when the nurse asked Dan what his name was he said, “Davis” which was my first choice 🙂  He weighed in at 7lbs 13oz, and was 20 inches long.  (Garrett was 7lbs 8oz and 20 inches long)

Healthy Baby Boy!

The time between when I woke up Dan at 12:08 and the time Davis was born at 2:08, was the fastest, most surreal thing I have ever been through. So fast in fact that we didn’t even have our real camera to take pictures after the delivery. It was in the baby’s bag, which Dan had left in the car in his mad rush to get me up to my hospital room. Thank goodness for camera phones

I was amazed at how alert Davis was after he was born, because I had no medication in my system, he nursed right away for about 40 minutes and was wide awake for about 2 hours after that. I was also much more mobile, and didn’t have nearly as much pain as I did with Garrett and my third degree tear from him. Garrett’s birth story and Davis’ birth story were very different but the end result was exactly the same. We had 2 beautiful, healthy baby boys, and I was once again amazed that we created this perfect little life and that he grew inside me for 9 months.  It truly is such a miraculous thing, and I am once again, so thankful and so incredibly blessed.

Garrett

Davis

Let the chaos of raising a newborn and a toddler begin!