Everyone say Hello!

Little Bradley is finally here, and I am finally able to tell you about it!! They began to induce labor around 8pm Wednesday night. I began having contractions and had them all through the night but never dilated past a 1. So at 6am they moved us to L/D and began the Pitocin drip. As they titrated it up, the contractions got stronger and closer together. They had me get up and walk around and different things, but by 11am I was only a 1 1/2 so my doctor ruptured my membranes. Well shortly after that with the Pitocin getting close to being maxed out, my contractions were so strong and close together I was getting no rest in between and couldn't even catch my breath. My nurse was busy in her other room, so Nick had to hunt down different nurses to try and get them to turn the drip down or something. The IV pain meds they could give were not even touching it. They said my only other option was to get the epidural. I felt like such a wimp b/c I was barely past a 1 but I could not take the pain. And I knew that Pitocin contractions are worse that regular ones so I told them fine I'll do it. Well then they had to hunt down an anethesiologist which took about an hour.

Finally I got the epidural around 4pm and was able to relax a bit and catch my breath. They checked me just after the epidural and I was up to a 4. An hour later, I was a 5. I quickly progressed after that, and by midnight I was at a 10. They had me start to push, but after 30 minutes he hadn't moved very far, so she had me sit in different positions for awhile to try to get him to move down naturally so I wouldn't be pushing forever. This went on for several hours, and I could really start to feel the pressure down there.

This is me in labor before it got really bad :)

So around 3:30am a couple of nurses had me start pushing, and a little at a time he moved down. He had a lot of trouble getting under my pubic bone, but his head finally started poking through. And that's when the second round of pain began! His head crowned for about an hour, and then he was only out to his ears. I heard that and got a little upset, so I pushed even harder and he was born shortly after 6am Friday morning!

As far as him actually coming out, I felt all of that even with the epidural. The only part that was numb on me was my thighs and my belly and butt. Nick cut the cord, and after they got me all squared away, then I got to hold him for the first time!

He was 8lb 13oz, 21 1/2 inches long. After a bit they removed my epidural and as soon as I could stand up and walk, we moved to the mother-baby unit a floor up. They say most babies sleep a long time after birth, but he is an eater and was already hungry every couple of hours.

The next morning, every muscle in my body was sore! Even my eyeballs hurt. They drew blood from me, and did tests and blood draws on him. He also got his Hep B shot, and got circumcised. So needless to say he was NOT a happy camper that whole day. He is still pretty fussy. Finally around 1pm we had all our paperwork done and got to go home!

The first night here was a hard one. He was up almost every 20 minutes just crying and needing attention. Today was a little better. We set up camp on the couch and he hung out in his Boppy next to me. If anyone has any suggestions about how to soothe a fussy baby after a circ please let me know!

I wasn't wanting to this early, but I had to break out the pacifier already. Even after I would feed him for almost 45 min, he would still be fussy and cry and chew on his hands. The pacifier calmed him down (as long as he kept it in his mouth) and I am getting very sore. Again, any suggestions on that will be greatly appreciated.

So yeah! It's been a crazy few days and we are starting a whole new world. I'm sure the first couple weeks are the hardest and he has been through a lot so just have to keep on trucking. He is an adorable little boy though, and his daddy is so proud!

A big thank you to the friends and family who hung out through the night to see Bradley's arrival, and who visited me afterwards. Your presence is appreciated.