Finally...

I can not believe it's already been a whole week since I had my baby. I can't believe I had a baby!

Samuel James Fears was born last Sunday December 20, 2009 at 9:17 pm. Here's the story, I'll try to make it short and sweet.

I saw my Dr. on Thursday the 17th - a day before my due date and there had been no progress since my appointment a week and a half earlier. He was on call at the Hospital that weekend and said that if I didn't hear from him on Saturday to give him a call on Sunday and he'd have me come in and see if there was any change.

Here we are just before we walked out the door. We took a picture just in case, but I was pretty sure I'd be coming home again before the baby came. (and so was the Doctor)

The doctor checked things out and still no progress at all. So, he gave me a little pill that usually helps things progress a bit. I had to lay flat for 2 hours and then walk around for 2 hours and then he was going to most likely send me home to let things hopefully progress. After the four hours, he decided to do a second dose. At 4:52pm, JUST after I was given my second dose, my water broke and the fun began!!! :) Up until that point, I was having irregular contractions but not really anything painful and strong. As soon as that water broke, everything seemed to happen really really fast. I was given my epidural somewhere around 7:00pm and by 8:00pm I was pushing.

The Doctor noticed that every time I pushed, the baby's heart rate went down quite low. He said it could be one of two things A) The cord is wrapped somewhere around the baby and is being constricted when I push or B) The placenta is being distressed with each push. Either way...it was affecting the baby's heart rate. Doctor wasn't SUPER concerned because between contractions, the heart rate went back up to normal and he seemed to recover totally fine, but warned me it could become a serious situation and to start toying with the idea that I might be needing a C-section.

Eventually, the Doctor had the nurse call in the NICU nurses as well as order a "KIWI"- basically a vacuum device. He laid out this thing that looked like a huge zip lock bag that he called the "Baby slip 'n slide" to catch the baby if he just so happened to come out that fast (which I guess happens quite a bit when the vacuum is used). Less than a minute later about six more people walked into the room. I know it was everyday life for them but I remember feeling a bit "exposed":) Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) Sam didn't come out quite that fast. It turned into a bit of an urgent situation because his heart rate was getting lower with each push.

Finally with the help of Doc. and the KIWI, Sam's head came out and the cord was indeed wrapped around his neck. Wrapped around so tightly that the Doctor couldn't even get it off. He apologized to Gary because he wouldn't be able to cut the cord because HE was cutting it. He had to cut the cord right away to get the rest of the baby out. What ended up happening was the cord was wrapped around his neck and each push only made it tighter and tighter. The section of the cord that was around his neck was very close to the Placenta so it was like he was anchored in which is why I was pushing for so long and he wasn't moving very quickly.

As soon as Sam was completely out, Doc. quickly handed him to the NICU nurses who worked for quite a while to get him to breath. It was a scary couple minutes for me. I saw a quick glance at the hand off and his skin color looked scary. Chandra said that he honestly looked like a dead baby. I couldn't see what the nurses were doing in the corner of the room (probably some strategic nurse placement there) but I could hear them talking to Samuel and telling him to breath while they continued to do whatever they were doing. Finally, after a couple minutes I heard a little cry and the nurses all cheered. From there things continued to get better.

After they got him to a point where they could take him to the NICU they put him on me for less than 10 seconds and whisked him away for almost four hours! I made Gary go with his boy while I hung around and got a few (more like hundreds) stitches. :)

Here is Sam in the NICU, look at the little IV they gave him in his head! Sad eh? They poked him all over trying to get a vein and finally opted for one in his head.

Finally after 1:00am they brought me my baby! Of course, like every mom does, I just thought he was the cutest most perfect baby EVER...and still do!

And Gary is the cutest Dad ever! He worries about him more than I do!

And of course, I think he just gets cuter with each passing day...I already feel like I'm missing so much but I can't stop staring at him. I love to watch all the cute facial expressions he makes when he sleeps and listen to the cute sounds he makes when he's nursing and watch how he moves his little tiny toes...I can't believe those little things can actually move!

Gary is the cutest dad. This experience so far has been so amazing and such a blessing. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband and look forward to the future adventures in parenthood with him by my side.

I really started freaking out a bit as my due date was fast approaching because I just had NO idea what it was going to be like to have a child, to be a mother and was I REALLY ready to let my life change forever? Am I really capable of being a selfless person and putting the needs of a little child ahead of myself and how in the world am I going to be a good enough Mom? - Well, I can't even imagine my life any other way! I have loved every poopy diaper, middle of the night feeding, even the aching sore body I've had this past week because it represents something so absolutely perfect in my life.