birth story & pics

first a pic, i know some people just scroll to them. 🙂

tuesday morning i woke up at 5:30 with a bad contraction. i’d had a couple before that never went anywhere, so i messaged jeff online (he was at work) that i’d had one, and went back to sleep. i woke up about 10 minutes later with another one, and told him there was another. he said it might be going somewhere.

a little bit later, i’m in the bathroom sitting on the toilet. they did make me feel like i needed to go, bad. plus it was just more comfortable in there. they made me slightly nauseated and i’d rather throw up in there if it was going to happen. i soaked in the tub through part of them. i was talking to jeff online letting him know how it was going. eventually i took a shower just in case it was the real deal.

i’d taken the car from the hotel the night before, so jeff had no way of getting home. he had my sister drive him back when his boss finally decided to show up at 7:45. he didn’t get home until after 8. i labored in the bathroom for about 3 hours (5:30 – 8:30) before we left. jeff got our things together and told me to let him know when i wanted to leave.. i was hesitant but figured 3 hours of contractions about a minute long and 3ish minutes apart was good enough reason.

it was hard riding through them to the hospital. jeff let me squeeze his hand. he wheeled me to the labor floor (walking was too difficult) and they checked me right in. got me set up in a room where i labored another.. i want to say hour or so before i accepted the epidural. it was nearly 11 when i got it, i believe i’ve said before i wasn’t against or for the meds.. but they hurt pretty bad so i went with the epi.

getting it done wasn’t that bad. the first shot wasn’t fun and i jumped.. but i got through it. it was WONDERFUL. i felt nothing after that. i know some people hate that, but besides the weirdness of not being able to move my legs, it was really not that bad. i didn’t push the button for more meds once. i was able to talk with jeff and laugh, watch tv, nap, enjoy myself. it’d be a completely different story otherwise.

my doctor came on his lunch to break my water. he said if i didn’t change in an hour they’d give me pitocin. i was a 4. they checked me again, i was a 5. they gave me some pit, and in another hour i was at 9. my doc wasn’t quite done with work so they turned off the pit and we waited a little. it was nice to get another nap before the big push.

i was at 10 and ready to push as he was walking into the hospital. jeff says i pushed maybe a half an hour. it was so difficult. they wanted me to push more than i had the energy for. i wasn’t able to stretch far enough, so my doctor had to give me an episiotomy. that’s the part i’m most unhappy about. he tried to get around doing it, but i just didn’t have the energy or room for it. again, it’s just something that had to happen and i’ll survive.

jace was born at 6:14. his little cries were so cute. i always used to cringe at babies crying when they’re first born.. my kid was totally different. they let me dry him on my chest a bit while they fixed up everything.. then they weighed him and such, wrapped him up and gave him back to me. i held him while they stitched me up and got done with the rest of my stuffs.

the power went out for a little while (i forget if that was before or after i pushed) so the elevators weren’t working. we had to wait in labor for a little bit, but i didn’t care. they cleaned up pretty fast and suddenly it was just me and my little baby. jeff was in the waiting room letting our parents know that i was doing fine and the baby was okay. while i waited on him, i looked his little body over.. and noticed his little pinkies. he has crooked pinkies. just like his daddy’s. it’s the sweetest thing.. i mean, new babies don’t look much like anyone, not at first (i don’t think, anyway). but here’s this obvious proof that we made this baby. he’s his daddy’s child!

finally they put us in a wheel chair and took the front elevators up to recovery.. our parents all rushed over to see us as we got into the elevator. usually you take the private one and they first see you upstairs, so that was different. but fine!

got us settled, bathed the baby, passed him around.. blah blah blah 🙂 it was a great experience.

he’s the sweetest little guy. he hardly fusses over anything. if i don’t feed him fast enough (and we’re talking maybe within 30 minutes of the first sign of hunger) then he gets mad, but not hysterical. he sleeps a lot, opens his eyes and just stares around at things. he doesn’t like the light much and sneezes in sets of two, just like his dad. he’s got tons of hair like my family and looks kind of like my brother.. i’ll have to do a comparison picture sometime.

breastfeeding is going so much better. the next day (after the last one) i had issues with being too full and it was really painful, but it’s getting better now. he doesn’t have to work as hard to eat and latching really only hurts for a few seconds now instead almost the whole time. it’s hard because he eats in such short bursts (about 5 minutes on one side.. hardly ever does two sides) so he’s eating about every 1 & 1/2 hours.. but you know, that’s what works for us right now, and so i’ll go with it.

i didn’t like the idea of cosleeping at first, but it’s so much easier to just tuck my arm around him and then i can hear if he’s breathing or fussing, i can catch his feeding periods easier.. i don’t have to get up and my stitches thank me for that.. eventually i’d like him to sleep more on his own, but he’s doing so well like this right now, we’ll stick to it.

our cats aren’t happy with the new addition.. it’s funny, my dad brought his german shepherd with him and our cat vash has no issues walking around in front of her (dad holds her back because she likes cats but the cat hasn’t been around dogs.. so..) but he HATES being near the baby, who just lays there, gurgling. weirdos.

he was tongue tied, but not very badly, so we were waiting to see what to do about it.. went ahead and had it fixed. it was so hard to let him be wheeled off to be in pain.. but he did really well and is no worse for the wear. i guess it runs in my family – mom said she’s pretty sure all us kids had it done, too. hmm, didn’t know that.

you guys, he’s so beautiful. and he’s all mine! 🙂

pictures.. thanks for reading. if you did, i won’t be offended if you didn’t.

my parents decorated, it was so nice of them

<a href="http://s54.photobucket.com/albums/g110/diefl

ying/jace/?action=view&current=DSCN1059-1.jpg” target=”_blank”>

i could post photos all day, but i’m sure that’d get ridiculous. 🙂