He has arrived!

Tommy Robert finally made his debut a week ago!  He was born on Wednesday, October 12th at 8:52am by c-section after 17 hours of labor.  Tommy weighed 6lbs 14oz and was 21inches long.  Side note, Tommy and Claire had the same exact birth weight. :)  We are so excited Tommy has finally arrived and he already has brought so much joy to our home.  Here is the story of his arrival.

On Tuesday morning I was almost out the door to take Claire to story time at the library when I felt wetness "down there" after I walked down the stairs.  I thought that my water may have broken because I had felt a little off all morning as well.  I went ahead and decided to go on to story time because Claire loves it so much and to call the doctor on the way.  The doctors wanted me to come in to get checked  because my due date was the next day.  So I called Jacob to meet me at story time to get Claire and I headed to the doctor.  I began having contractions during story time and they continued in frequency and duration while I waited to be seen at the doctor's office.  The doctor determined that my water probably did not break, but that I was in the early stages of labor and that I was 2cm dilated and 90% effaced.  He suggested I head to labor and delivery at the hospital, but I wasn't ready to go yet so I asked to go home instead.  Jacob and I stayed home for about 3 more hours before we headed to the hospital.  I was admitted to the hospital though my contractions slowed down and the nurse determined I was only 50% effaced because I was so close to my due date.  The doctor on call said I would be having the baby soon no matter if it was vaginally or cesarian which was a relief because I was worried it would be a false alarm.

The doctor inserted a water balloon in my cervix to help me dilate which was very uncomfortable, but it did get me to about a 4.  I labored for quite a few hours and then I received my epidural which was heaven. :)  After being pumped with pitocin for hours giving me very strong consistent contractions I had only progressed to 5cm dilated and the baby heart rate dropped showing signs of distress.  It had been 17 hours since I went into the hospital.  The doctors immediately took me off the pitocin and waited to see if the baby would recover.  He did recover about a half hour later, but since I had stopped progressing, the doctor recommended I have a c-section again because it would probably end up in one any way and it was better to not have to rush in case of an emergency.  This was a very hard decision for Jacob and me.  I really wanted to have a vaginal delivery so that the recovery would be easier and to have the experience.  Jacob and I decided that having another c-section was the way to go so Tommy arrived about an hour later.

This recovery was much better than last time with Claire.  I did not have the shakes or itching on my back near as badly.  They even let Tommy ride with me on the bed on the way back to our room.  Tommy has been a wonderful baby so far, even though nursing had gotten off to a rocky start.  He had a lot of difficulty latching and of course the newborn sleepiness is not to be underestimated. :)  After we had gotten the latching part worked out, he would just not suck for very long so it took 6 days for my milk to come in.  The last 3 of those days were really rough.  I was very sore and it hurt so much to feed Tommy so often.  Thankfully I am healing and we have gotten Tommy on a really good 2.5 - 3 hour feeding schedule now that my milk is in.  He has even slept two 4-hour chunks the last two nights.  Let's hope that continues!