introducing....

Eli Keith Nutini

June 14, 2009

4:25pm

7 lb 15.4oz 19.5 inches

This post has taken WAY too long to write:) But we finally have the internet at our house again, so now I'll be back in the loop with everything.

As you can see, our boy arrived on time - on his due date - and is a big healthy baby, for which we are very thankful. We have been told (since we don't know any different) that he is a really good baby, and although I have nothing to compare it to, I would also say that he is an absolute joy:)

Since everyone likes a birth story, here goes:

Friday the 12th was my last doctor's appointment. As my doctor checked my progress and I showed none since my 34th week, I broke down in tears and I think even said something along the lines of "I don't want to be pregnant anymore" and "this sucks". Hoping that she would have pity on me because I was so uncomfortable, I asked her if she would induce me if I made it through the weekend. Her reply: sorry, I am on vacation next week, I can induce you on the 24th at the earliest. THE 24TH. That was a sentence for going into labor on my own and being overdue. I went home and took out my frustration on AT&T and DirecTV for our internet issues. I had a few contractions throughout the evening, but since I'd been having them for almost 2 months I ignored them.

Saturday I continued on my general tirade of being angry with the world. I was crabby with everyone. I did things that no pregnant woman should: like helping Marc install the last panels of the fence. It was hot out but I managed to find one tank top and pair of shorts (both black) that fit me enough for me to go outside, and I got sunburned on my knees. I was still having contractions but not allowing myself to time them, but I noticed they were more painful late in the afternoon. We decided to go out for "one last dinner" together (which as it turns out we'd done a few times leading up to this). After dinner I decided that we should go to the golf course, we had a bumpy cart ride and I did a lot of walking to pull pins for Marc. During dinner and at the golf course I was pretty uncomfortable during contractions, but still would not time them.

At around 9:15 pm I asked Marc to start paying attention to the timing of contractions because they finally hurt. 7 minutes apart. I told him I thought this was real labor and his solution to that was to go to bed. Which he did, and I tried but contractions were painful so the dog and I stayed up all night. By 2am the contractions were 5 minutes apart, and by 5:00 am they were 4-5 minutes apart and extremely painful. I was handling them pretty well by leaning on the counters and foot of the bed, but decided that we should pack the car, shower, and at 5:30 that we should go to the hospital.

I was 4cm when admitted and wanted to stay mobile but somehow ended up strapped to an IV and fetal monitor in bed, so contractions got harder to handle. They talked me into the epidural, and paged the anesthesiologist. I was glad, because by that time my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart, but I was having couplets so they were starting before the last one ended - no relief. My water broke on its own 50 minutes after getting to the hospital, which intensified things to a near unbearable level considering I was still stuck in bed. About an hour later, after some cursing and screaming the epidural was finally in my system (apparently the anesthesiologist didn't hear the first few pages) and I was a happy camper. But the epidural stopped labor so they gave me pitocin, and within an hour I was fully dilated and effaced. I started getting really nervous because things had gone so fast. Not to worry, the doctor on call decided to let me "labor down" which I would soon find out meant hours of resisting the urge to push while letting the baby decend on his own. At 3:30pm they finally let me push and at 4:25pm our boy was born!

I think it was a great birthing experience. The best thing was hearing Eli cry and then getting to hold him for the first time and seeing the happiness on Marc's face.

More to come another time....