Happy Birthday!

JACOB ANTHONY PIERCE

....has arrived! And boy he arrived with a bang. Completely unlike his big brother and we are all so happy that he is finally here. Here is the story!

At 1:45am this morning I woke up with sharp abdominal pains. I started watching the clock to time them and the first one I counted was 5 minutes apart, but after that they were about 3 minutes apart AND my water broke. I got up and went to the bathroom and they quickly got stronger. I woke Nick up and told him it was time! We immediately called his mom to come over and stay with Brad so that we could head out.

I stumbled around the house to gather our bags pausing every few minutes to struggle thru the contractions. I was NOT looking forward to the drive to the hospital. We got the car all packed and as soon as my MIL pulled into the driveway we ran off! I told Nick to turn on the flashers and fly! Let's just say he made the usually 30 minute drive in about 15 minutes.

Thankfully I had already filled out the registration paperwork and as I barely made it thru the entrance they stuck me in an exam room while Nick parked the car. It was about 3am at this point. The contractions were super bad and I was very afraid it would be too late to get an epidural. They still had to page the on-call CRNA and wait for him to come in. Anywho they checked me as soon as I got in the exam room and only 1 hour after my contractions started I was at an 8!!!!!

At this point it was all I could do to get thru each one, and I could barely talk in between to sign consent forms. I kept my eyes shut and kept saying prayers to have strength. They wheeled me into a labor/delivery room and I could hear all of the commotion and workers around me getting everything ready. I heard the on-call OB come in (who I know and work with) and introduce herself but I could only keep my eyes shut and breathe. Then I heard the magical words: "Brian is here". Brian is the CRNA to do the epidurals and I obeyed everything they needed me to do to get it.

By this time I was at 9cm and Brian thought it would go super quick so he only did a spinal injection of pain medicine that would last about an hour. I did get relief and it was so very welcome....until it started wearing off! Jacob was having trouble getting past my pelvic bone (just like his big brother) so it drug out for a couple more hours. Around 5am-ish I started feeling the super painful contractions again so we called Brian back. He stuck me in the back again but this time for an epidural injection. After that I couldn't even feel the butt I was sitting on!

 I did some pushing around 6ish then we took a break so that Nick could help the nurses position me differently to help baby move around. Around 6:45am the OB checked me again and he had moved just right to get past the pubic bone. She had me push a few times and he popped right out with no trouble at 6:58am!

 

 They immediately put him on my chest while they rubbed him clean and Nick cut the cord. I snuggled him under my gown for awhile before he nursed, then after he was done they did his newborn bloodwork and shots in the room.

 

 When he came out everyone was commenting how big he was. I figured since he came out so much quicker and easier than Brad that he couldn't be more than 8.5lb. When they finally weighed him.........I was way off!

 9lb 9oz

21.5 inches

Wow! A big boy indeed. He got a nice sponge bath then we snuggled him up in some clean clothes and got moved to a postpartum room just in time for breakfast! We have had lots of visitors today and everyone is so happy to see our little angel finally here. He has been a wonderful baby so far with a huge appetite. Tomorrow morning he will get his last few newborn screenings done and get circumcised, then we will head home hopefully in the afternoon! We are so very blessed to have gotten to this point and we are so thankful for everything God has given us. We have overcome infertility and heartache once again and are proud to introduce our precious baby boy.