Birth Story

Well, sorry we didn't keep up with the blog as well as we planned, but the WiFi in the hospital was on the fritz so Michael couldn't update the blog or post pictures. So we're just now getting our birth story up. Here goes:

Well, we had planned to have the C-section on Monday, June 16 at noon so my mom and dad came up Sunday night to go with us to the hospital on Monday morning at 10 a.m. and I started having contractions Sunday night while we were at dinner at Red Lobster but didn't think much of it as I've been having contractions for the past two months. Then we went home and played with dad's new Wii (his Father's Day and birthday present). While playing Wii, my contractions continued to get harder, but were not on set intervals. They continued to get worse and hurt enough that I couldn't sleep but were still not regular. After watching tv from 4 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. I finally went and woke Michael up and told him that I was in so much pain that I couldn't handle it anymore. He started packing the suburban and timing the contractions which were now coming every 3 minutes.

By the time we got to the hospital (and waiting through 8 a.m. traffic on Mopac) and the nurses finally checked me, as they were moving very slowly because I don't think they believed Michael and I that I was in labor as we are newbies at this, I was already 8-9 centimeters dilated! They quickly got me to the Operating Room (OR) in about 30 minutes, although it felt like it took forever to me because I couldn't get the spinal block until I got in the OR, and Ryan was born at 10 a.m. on the dot. He was 7 lbs, 14 oz at birth and was 19 1/4 inches long with a 14 1/4 inch head! His head measured on the large scale and his weight and length was normal. After seeing his head measurement I'm very happy that we had a C-section.

Well, in my life I have never been a patient in the hospital for stitches, broken bones or anything else, so this was easily the worst pain I've ever been in, but it's hard since I can't compare it to anything else. But I can say that based on the pain I was in getting to 9 centimeters, and knowing that it would only have begun to hurt even more pushing a baby out, I think a C-section is definitely the most humane way to have a baby. And of course, the babies are so beautiful with a perfectly round head. :) Ryan is gorgeous and that's not just a proud mommy talking, the nurses and everyone else said so too.

We've been home since Thursday, June 19 and every day is an adventure as we are learning more about babies and get more organized. We'll try to update often with info and pictures of Ryan. Below is a link to our Picasa photo album (you don't need to sign up to view the pictures) and you can see pictures of Ryan's first days.

Thank you to everyone who came to visit us at the hospital and sent flowers. We'll get around to talking to everyone once we catch up on sleep.

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