A Baby Story

Lately we've been seeing a lot less of this:

 

 And a LOT more of this:

So it has taken me a while to write "the birth story".  I love reading everyone else's so I thought I'd provide (most of) the details about February 29th.

My OBs and I decided to schedule an elective induction because Kevin had mild shoulder dystocia (his shoulder got stuck for a bit) when he was born.  My previous OB in North Carolina had also recommended that I be induced early the next time that I had a boy.  The hospital policy states that elective inductions can't happen until 39 weeks, so my OB set things up for me to be induced at 39 weeks and 1 day.  I didn't choose a Leap Day delivery, but I was really happy about it.

This is me on the 28th:

After a very sleepless night (it reminded of the night before the first day of school), my dad drove me to the hospital on his way to work.  I had an induction appointment at 8am.  Dan was coming straight from work and meeting me there.  He was on night shifts and had worked the previous night until 7:30am. 

We checked in and waited around for a while for different tests and paperwork or whatever.  I had been 3 centimeters dilated for the past 3 weeks and was having some regular but little contractions before they started me on the pitocin.  It's always fun to watch the contractions on the screen.  They finally hooked me up to the pitocin at about 11.  Dan slept and I watched TV and read a magazine.  I got my epidural at about 1/1:30.  I think I was still only 3 1/2 or 4 cm then. 

Once I had the epidural, I really relaxed and watched Breaking Dawn (an early "push" present from my mama) while Dan slept on the couch in my room.  The nurses kept checking to see how dilated I was.  Not much was really changing.  I think that I was not quite 5cm at around 4:30pm.  At 5:00ish I mentioned that I felt pressure, so they checked and I was at a 10!  Dan woke up and came over to be supportive. :)

The nurse told me to go ahead and try to push.  I questioned, "Are you sure?"  I am, after all, a master pusher.  haha  She told me to go for it and about 4 seconds later told me to stop and left to get the doctor.  A few pushes later, little No Name Dison was born at 5:12pm.  He was the picture of health with a one minute Apgar of 9.  He was big and strong and alert and must have shoulders just a little bit smaller than Kevin's.  Yay!

Side note:  Jonah is still big and strong.  He weighed 9 lbs 10 oz at his appointment today and rolled from his tummy to his back at 12 days old!

Initially, Dan wrote "Nerdius Maximus" on the baby name white board in the labor and delivery room.  Then he changed it to "Noname" and later it was "McFunk D'licious".  We talked and talked about names on the 29th and 1st.  We asked the kids what they thought and Kevin had a lot of fun making up names.  We tried a few names out to see how baby boy responded.  The middle name had been more or less set for a while, but we couldn't fixate on one first name.  Finally, the evening of the 1st, we narrowed the name search down.  The next morning I made it official when the birth certificate lady came for the second time.

My recovery hasn't been as fabulous this time as it was after Kevin.  It's pretty similar to how I felt after Elena.  I have not yet left the house by myself with all 3 kids.  Judging by how loud and proud Jonah cries (with or without reason) I may never take them anywhere.  However, I feel good, I am grateful for Dan's one week paternity leave, my Dad's spring break, and the daily help of my mama.  Also, I have to say that the doctors and nurses were all wonderful and I once again had a really good birth experience.  It was definitely my quickest labor.

So that's the long version of the story.