Well, he has arrived...he has ten fingers, ten toes, blond hair and blue eyes. In short, he's absolutely perfect. All the waiting, the aches of pregnancy, and the pain of childbirth was absolutely worth it.
So, I was reading my post from a week ago (which seems like a LIFETIME ago) and at this time last week, I was counting down the hours until my doctor's visit so we could check if I had progressed at all. I had my mind firmly set on the fact that my labor was going to be induced, because I had noticed no change in my contractions. Believe it or not, I actually had work sitting on my desk when I left on Monday evening because I was so certain that I'd be back in the office on Tuesday. Well, as I've been saying all along, babies come when they're ready and by Monday night, Jack was ready to come into this world!
So, last Monday, I took a bath and got ready for bed. Jeff and I crawled into bed around 9:00 p.m. (hey - early to bed, early to rise!) and fell asleep fairly quickly. Pregnancy was/is exhausting! Anyways, I woke up with a start at about 10:00 p.m. because my water broke. And, I mean it broke! Without getting into the gory details, there was little question what was happening and we definitely knew that I was headed into labor. So, after that happened, I took a shower (Jeff makes fun of me for this), washed and fixed my hair and I also put on make-up. But, I didn't know when I'd be able to shower again and come on, you know there would be pictures! Jeff finished packing our hospital bags, loaded everything in the car, and we headed to my parents' house to drop off Maverick. So, here we are outside their house, on our way to the hospital...
Can you tell we're excited? So, we got to the hospital and checked in. The nurse checked me for dilation and I'd only made it to one centimeter! I groaned and asked if they were going to send me home...fortunately, I had a "traumatic rupture" of the amniotic sac and was at high risk for infection, so they admitted us and put us into our labor and delivery room. The doctor recommended that I spend some time walking around the hospital wing to encourage the progression of labor, so I walked around and around the floor. It didn't take long for the contractions to intensify, so I went back to our room to rest. Jeff fell asleep out pretty quickly, and the doctor gave me some medicine to try and help me rest, but it didn't work. So, I labored throughout the night and occasionally got up and walked around the hospital. Jeff would wake up every so often, scream "How you doing, honey?" and then go back to sleep. At about 7:00 a.m., the nurse came in and told me to order some breakfast and then they'd check me again to see if I had made any progress. Fortunately, I'd dilated to four centimeters, so I didn't have to receive any Pitocin, which made me very happy. I heard that stuff is just awful. They did give me some pain medicine, which really didn't do much to take away the pain, it really just made me care less about it. But it didn't last for long.
We kept walking in circles and at about 10:30 a.m., I finally called the doctor and asked for an epidural. If you will recall, I was really hesitant to get one before labor, mostly because I was terrified of being unable to feel my legs. So, Jeff looked at me, and asked me if I was sure that was what I wanted. The only way I can describe my change of heart is analogizing it to leaving a movie theater and realizing the movie you just saw was completely different than what you had expected. So, I had the epidural and once that kicked in, I fell asleep almost immediately. I slept until 2:30, when the nurse came in to check my progress. Well, much to my surprise, she told me that it was time to push! That statement definitely caught Jeff and me off guard, and I momentarily panicked. For some reason, I had expected things to be a lot more difficult, prolonged, and intense. So, the nurse got everything set up, and I started pushing just before 3:00 p.m. I pushed through about five contractions and John Robert Storms came roaring into the world at 3:14 p.m.
Like I said before, he is absolutely perfect. My tiny heavyweight topped the scales at 7lbs 9oz. and was 21" in length. His head was 13" in circumference. Those few moments after he was born were unlike any other emotion I've ever experienced. I never believed he was real until they laid him on my chest, he looked at me, and it was like he'd always been a part of me. I can't describe the intense love I've felt since that time. When I was younger, I babysat quite frequently and always got bored with caring for the baby. I was really nervous that I'd get bored with Jack, but I find that I can't seem to stop staring at him. Even when he cries, I am not bothered and I find myself needing to hold him.
So, this will be my last post on this blog. I'm going to start a new one with updates on Jack's progress and growth, with pictures, of course! I haven't created the site yet, but once I get it up and running, I'll make sure to link it with this blog.
To everyone that followed and supported us on this journey, I want to thank you for everything. Jack, Jeff, and I are very lucky to have such wonderful, generous, and caring people in our lives.
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