Baby RJ's Birth

Well, it has been a month since RJ's arrival. Two kids have definitely doubled our fun and our work, hence the reason I have not posted anything about RJ's birth. So here is the run down...

I saw the doctor on Wednesday, April 14th. He said I was about 2-3 cm dilated and that RJ would be arriving within the next 36 hours. On one hand, I was glad to hear that because I was very uncomfortable by that point. RJ was sitting very low and putting lots of pressure on my lower back, etc. On the other hand, I got very nervous thinking about the whole process of giving birth, how our house wasn't ready, the baby's room wasn't ready, and I still had to go back to work to tie up loose ends. Yikes!

I called Bryan to let him know what was going on, then headed back to work to tell my principal and my students that it was going to be my last day for the year. Everyone was super supportive and excited for me. I finished what a had to do, then got a call from Grace's school. Her teacher said she woke up from her nap crying and comlaining that her ear hurt. I immediately made a doctor's appointment for her.

While Bryan took care of getting the dogs to the kennels for boarding, I took Grace to the doctor. I started having mild contractions. Grace did, in fact, have an ear infection and was put on antibiotics. We brought her home and my Mom came and got her for the night, in case we had to go to the hospital.

Bryan suggested that we go out for sushi (the dinner we had the night before Grace was born). My contractions got more intense while eating dinner and I thought for sure RJ would be born that night. We went home and just rested. The contractions weren't regular, but they sure were uncomfortable. Around 10pm I decided to take a warm bath. That was the best decision ever, because it felt wonderful. A nice warm bath really did work to ease the pain. When I got out of the tub, the contractions stopped, so I went to bed.

I got up the next morning around 7 and sure enough the contractions started again. Thank goodness we had Grace and the dogs taken care of! The contractions proceeded to intensify and come more frequently. The seemed to come around 10 minutes apart for the majority of the morning. Around 11am, my amniotic fluid started to leak and we called the doctor. She said for us to head to the hospital to see if I really was in labor. Well, let me tell you...I WAS in labor!!!

We arrived at the hospital around 1-ish. The times are kind of a blur because the pain was pretty intense. While waiting in triage my contractions went into hyper-mode. In the 30 minutes or so we waited they went from being 10 minutes apart to 4 minutes apart. I have never experienced such pain in my life. The nurses finally got me back to a room and at that point I was 8 cm dilated and the contractions were right on top of eachother. All I wanted to know was could they get me an epidural???

Those nurses were so good. They had a whole team working on me...getting my medical history, putting in an IV, hooking up the baby's monitor, etc. They rushed me upstairs to labor and delivery. When I got there I was already 10 cm dilated and ready to push. That baby was coming!! Within 17 minutes of me arriving to L and D, they had the epidural in me and all was well with the world. It's amazing at how quickly I became a polite, civilized, and pleasant person again. Drugs are amazing!!

Raymond Joseph was born at 2:53pm...less than 2 hours after we arrived at the hospital! He was 7lbs even, 19 & 3/4 inches long, and absolutely beautiful!! The nurses, midwife, anesthesiologist, and doctor did a fantastic job bringing RJ into this world safe and sound. Not to mention, making Mommy comfortable in the process!! My hospital rocks!!

The second time around has been really neat. Bryan and I are much less stressed and things are going very smoothly. RJ is a laid back baby and Grace has been so patient with all of us! We are truly blessed!!