The Arrival of Joel Brian

He's here, he's finally here!  After 3 1/2 weeks of contractions my doctor and I decided on inducing me 2 days before my due date.  My doctor has been super supportive and encouraging these last couple of weeks.  I was worried that he would make me wait till I was overdue but he didn't.  He said Joel was full term and I had progressed far enough so that he had no reason to believe that the induction would not be successful.  I think he could see how physically and emotionally tired I was (I had only had 1 good hour of sleep the night before thanks to contractions).  I may have agreed to the induction without a second thought, but that evening I did second guess my decision to have an elective induction.  I questioned whether I was being selfish and if everything would go okay.  Joel was perfectly content to stay in there and would come eventually.  In the end I decided that the fact I was so tired was a legitimate reason because I could see that my fuse was getting shorter and shorter with my family and people around me.  I was feeling anxious, depressed, and unable to cope with life.

We went in at 6:15am the morning after my appointment.  Thankfully contractions stopped again the night before so I was well rested.  A little after 7am I was all hooked up and pitocin was started.  My contractions had started up again that morning, so I already had a good albeit weak contraction pattern and I was 4 centimeters dialated.  I only needed a little bit of pitocin before labor took off and an hour and half into it I was ready for my epidural.  I did not have to wait long for it and lets just say I got a really good epidural.  My legs were numb before the anesthesiologists left the room, but I was still able to feel the pressure of every contraction.  My legs did not wake up enough to walk until after 9pm that night.

Around 2pm I was 10 centimeters and Joel was right there ready to make his grand entrance.  I pushed for about 10 minutes.  Silly Joel decided to try to come out sunny side up (face up) with the cord around his neck and needed a little vacuum assistance since his oxygen levels dropped into the 90s.  His poor head had a large bump for the rest of the day and he would cry if we touched it.  He was 8lbs 10oz and 20 inches long at birth.  We were shocked by his size especially since Rachel was only 6lbs 6oz and 18 1/2 inches long. 

Rachel is in love with Joel and has been a excellent helper so far.  She is so gentle with him and loves to hold him.  We are feeling very blessed and tired. 

39 weeks

 With showing the house we have not had a chance to take any more belly pictures, but I look about the same as I did at 36 weeks.  These pictures are from our outing to the Folsom Zoo over memorial weekend.  Check out Brian's fierce lion face.  Pretty intimidating if you ask me.  This was the first time Rachel willingly took her picture in a wood cut out.  She enjoyed sticking her head through and being a lion and bear so much we got a good amount of cute pictures of her.

How far Along: 39 weeks (39 weeks might actually hit tomorrow, but I figure it is close enough)
How big is baby: between 18.9 and 20.9 inches, the size of a watermelon.  My doctor played guess the baby size and guessed around 7 1/2 pounds.  Which was the size the doctor guessed Rachel was going to be when I went to deliver her, but that was about a pound too much.  We will see how close his guess is hopefully soon.  My doctor made my day when he was playing guess the baby size by telling me in a shocked voice that I really was all baby and tiny.  That is so nice to hear when you are feeling like a hippo.
Maternity Clothes: Yes
Sleep: Some nights I sleep fine and some nights I don't.
Best Moment thus far: Our offer was accepted on a new house!
Miss Anything: Not really
Food Cravings: None
Anything make you queasy or sick: No.  I was feeling sick from all the contractions I was having, but I have adjusted and am no longer feeling icky.
Symptoms:  Braxton Hicks contractions and some a fair amount of real contractions; however, the real contractions have yet to continue on to active labor.  I know all these contractions are helping me progress in the right directions because I am 3-4cm and 50% effaced.  Joel dropped really low almost a week ago now.  It seems like his next option is out, but he is hanging in there.  He has been a mellow baby in terms of activity thus far, so I suppose he is just happy to hang out a little longer.  I did pray for a slightly larger baby than we had with Rachel, so this will give him time to accomplish that.
Mood: Overall it is good.  At this point there are discouraging moments like when the doctor said probably within 24 hours after doing a procedure to jump start labor.  Here we are over 24 hours later and no baby, but I am having stronger contractions, so maybe I can still look at it as a jump start to labor.  I just keep reminding myself God is in control and sees the whole picture.  All I can see is one little piece of the puzzle.  His timing is perfect, so why would I want to push my own timing and agenda.
Looking forward to: Selling our current house and settling into our new house.  Oh, and being done with all the contractions.

Learning through Labor

I am now officially 38 weeks and have been experiencing what could be termed prodromal labor for the past week.  In a nutshell it is being stuck in early labor for a really long time.  I have times of regular strong contractions that match the description of real labor contractions not braxton hicks contractions.  For me these contractions have come at regular intervals and don't subside with rest or staying hydrates like typical braxton hicks contractions.  The longest run has been around 36 hours with contractions coming every 10 to 20 minutes.  The difficult part of prodromal labor is it does not progress like your text book labor where the contractions get closer and stronger until the baby comes.  With prodromal labor contractions can just stop.  Laboring like this is both physically exhausting and emotionally exhausting.  I have had had only intermittent nights of decent sleep because of the discomfort of contractions and as for as the emotional aspect goes I feel like a yo-yo.  Am I an labor am I not?  This could go on how long?  The OB refuses to intervene until 42 weeks unless baby is unhappy or my water breaks or something along those lines (in reality probably a good thing).  Maybe this time I will get a baby out of this discomfort? You get the idea of all the thoughts that run through my head.

The potential positive of laboring in this lovely fashion is for some women it means active labor can be a lot shorter  and easier.  That part sounds good to me.  Last time my active labor was about 16 1/2 hours.  I also can look at this as another opportunity to rely on God and turn to him.  Sadly like many people it is not something I do often enough unless life is uncomfortable, and let me just say right now life is pretty uncomfortable.  So instead of whining and crying I am going to make the conscious effort to stop and pray.  Not an easy thing to do, but God is bigger than my pain.  He will only give me what he can handle and he has handled way more than what feels in the moment like never ending pointless contractions.  So my goal is to paste a smile on (because sometimes when you force a smile you end up feeling a little better), to remember pregnancy is not a life sentence (Thank you God), to thank God that my baby is healthy, to remember there is a purpose to all these contractions and there is progress being made towards delivery (every day is one step closer), and to cry out to God in those oh so frequent moments of defeat and frustration.  I will muscle through contractions to keep my household running and make it a peaceful restful place for my family while balancing those efforts with adequate rest.  I will do this because I love my family and as a Proverbs 31 wife I will serve them to the best of my ability with a happy heart.  I will also remember that my current capacity for work is diminished, but that is okay because completing x number of things does not make me the perfect wife or mother.

If you notice lots of typos or sentences that just don't quite make sense keep in mind I have not really slept in several nights, so communicating my thoughts clearly has been challenging.