Our little boy is finally here! We are so thankful for God's amazing gift that He gave us and we still just cant believe it is real ha. Thank you to all for sharing in our excitement with your emails, calls, texts, etc. We have truly enjoyed these first few days of his life and appreciate your patience as we get settled in.
Now for the birth story....
It all began Saturday when I woke up with some contractions. They continued throughout the day but would never remain to stay consistent or long enough. My Mamaw Ann and Frank had decided to come on up, thinking the induction was coming on Monday, and so we all went to dinner at the Olive Garden. Throughout dinner I continued to have contractions but they were still too far apart. Once we got home we decided to go for a walk and that was when I knew it was the real deal. We started timing them at 7:32 and by 9:30 we knew we needed to call the doctor. We had walked for most of that time and I think that really made all the difference. During the walk we all started craving Sonic so therefore we went there about 9:00... yes again I was still contracting. Once we returned home Dr Holton did say it sounded like the real deal so we packed up the car and headed to the hospital. Upon arriving we saw the nurse who also cofirmed that she agreed it was the real deal and we wouldnt be going home. This was a big relief for me because I was worried that if this wasnt the real deal then there was no way I could make them if they were more painful ha! Dr. Holton then came in to check me about 11:00 and to my disappointment once I had stopped walking around and sat in the bed, they had stopped. What were the odds? Now going on for over 3 hours and as soon as it was time to see the doc and get things going, they all stopped. So then he gave us some options: walk around more in the hospital, start the induction like we were going to on Monday, or go home and sleep. Well I knew I couldnt just go home and sleep so we decided to go for a walk. We walked from 12-2 and the contractions had returned and were even stronger. I was now at 1cm and it was time to start monitoring Griffin's heartbeat and my contractions. After waiting to see if things would progress more, he decided that we needed to go ahead and have the balloon inserted into my cervix so that it would help thin it out. Let me tell ya that was pretty painful!!! We also decided to start pitocin at this point. This intesified my contractions so much that I was ready for that epidural :) 5:00 am I received the epidural and I couldnt believe how easy it was! It made a HUGE difference as well in my pain, and in fact I couldnt feel a THING! At 11:00 we were excited to hear that the balloon had fallen out now and I was at 4cm. Doc decided to go ahead and break my water as well. I was still feeling so well at this point that once our family started arriving from TN we had them all up to say hello. There were several times that I had to ask if I was even still having contractions because the epidural was working so well.. Halleluah! However after increasing the pitocin they began to get so strong that I began to feel the pressure again. At 3:30 we kicked everyone out and started breathing through the contractions again. I was now at 5cm. 4:45 Dr. Holton said that because I had remained the same for so many hours that he was not hopeful that I would progress anymore and then told us that if within another hour if I had not progressed anymore then we would have to do a C-section. This did not come as much of a shock to me bc I had already prepared myself for it to happen. JR and I talked through the decision and were pleased that the end had finally come and our son would be here soon. We spent some time learning about what would happen during the c-section and then proceeded to just cry in anticipation that we would REALLY see him soon. 5:45- No progress made so prep for C-section began. Surgery began at 6:25 and Griffin was born at 6:33!!! The sound of his first gasp was heard and then about 3 minutes later they brought him around to see us. All we could do was cry- all 3 of us ha. WAS HE REALLY HERE??? JR then went to the nursery with Griffin and they finished my surgery at 7:10. Amazing that they can get the baby out in 8 minutes and yet it takes them 45 minutes to put me back together ha. I then went into a recovery room and that is where I got to hold him for the first time. To look into his eyes for the first time was the best feeling in the world- totally amazing! We all 3 got to our room at 8:30 and that is when all the family was able to come visit. They had already seen the little man in the nursery and JR had showed them his video he took as well. Come to find out Griffin was sunny side up (meaning he was head down but looking up instead of down as we had hoped) and his umbilical cord also was acting like a seatbelt across his chest, not allowing him to move down into the birth canal. Either way he is here and we are just thankful that he is nice and healthy!
The next few days in the hospital were filled with many visits from friends and family and my recovery time. I was so excited to be able to get out of bed at 7am Monday morning and shower. What I was not so excited about was my extremely swollen feet. All the fluids I had received through the birth had now found their way to my feet.. and they looked like elephant feet. Besides that though and of course the typical soreness, I really felt well. Because I was doing so well we got to come home after 3 days instead of staying 4. We came home Wednesday at 10:30am and were welcomed by Cici, Granny Reba, Aunt Jean and Uncle Phil. It felt so good to be at home!!! Now we are just still taking it all in and trying to adjust to the new schedule of being night owls :)
Here is a montage of our favorite pictures of our little man's first 4 days, but if you would like to view all of them visit our picasa at http://picasaweb.google.com/babyisham
