The Final Day - He's Here!
Well he's finally here and I've attached some great pictures.
To start it out -- both Alexander and I are doing great and everything is wonderful.
As for the details....
I went into labor at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday night (8/20) and ended up at the hospital at 12:30 a.m. (8/21) after my water broke (it was not a pretty site and was tinged with meconium).
I made no progress for quite some time and while hooked up to the monitors they noticed his heartbeat drop a few times. I ended up having an internal heart monitor attached. They also inserted something that helped to flush out the meconium from the amniotic fluid so I was pretty much bed ridden from the get-go. Prior to inserting these things they decided that it would be best for me to have an epidural (I wasn't in too-too much pain, but in order for me to be relaxed for these things the doctor felt it would be best). After having a blood-timing test (they were concerned about my platelet count), they decided to go along with it. Well - it took two tries, but finally the epidural was inserted and I slowly numbed up.
I waited and I waited, watching the monitors beep and getting very anxious. Nothing was happening! At about 1:00 p.m. (I had been at the hospital for 12 hours), the doctor checked me. I was only at 4 centimeters! This meant that I still had a long ways to go.
Poor little Alexander was in distress and the doctor didn't think it would be wise
to wait so they schedule a C-section for 1:30 p.m. They sure move fast!
They numbed me up some more and wheeled me in. With Brian on one side and my mom on the other, we listened as they performed the surgery (there was a sheet up so I couldn't see anything). Within 20 minutes they had opened me up and pulled him out. I heard him crying and knew everything would be okay.
He came out with a head full of curly hair and looked great. They checked him out and determined that his gestational age was 42 weeks (although I was only 5 days past my due-date). He also got an Apgar score of 8 and 9, which I was thrilled with since the whole "baby in distress" thing had me worried for quite a while. Go figure how it all works out.
He was born on Monday, August 21st at 2:22 p.m.
He weighed 6 lb 12 oz.
He is 20 inches long
I am recovering well and trying hard to take it easy. It's hard to imagine that he is finally here. I hope to swing by the office in a few weeks to introduce everyone to him. I'm a lot calmer about everything than I thought I would be. Can you believe that I actually let people, other than Brian, hold him in the hospital?