EJ entered the world at 3:05pm on June 29, 2009. He joined us kicking and screaming and opened his eyes for the first time to sound of his Daddy's voice, he knew exactly who it was asking if he was ok. Yes, they really can hear you when you talk to the tummy.
The doctor decided enough was enough with my ever increasing blood pressure and schedule us to come in for an induction Sunday, June 28, 2009. Once the date was set, Craig and I decided to relax and enjoy each other and quit trying to walk out our little man. We arrived at the hospital at 6pm and were all checked in by 7pm. I had dilated to 3 cms so the doctor opted to not apply the cervacil, the drug administered to start thinning the cervix. I personally was very thankful for that simply because had they applied it I most likely would have gone into labor sometime in the middle of the night and laboring on little to no sleep was not really something I wanted to do. Craig went and got me a big pasta dinner since once midnight rolled around I would not be allowed to eat until after EJ was born, yet another reason I love my husband he is always taking care of me. And by 11pm, I was given a sleeping pill and off to dreamland I went.
I was awakened at 4am and by 5:30am the Petocin was flowing through my body. I can honestly say I did not feel anything other than EJ's punches and kicks that immediately followed each contraction but by 9am it was a different story. I had back labor which is rumored to be the worst, who knows. I had only dilated to 4cms so I opted to wait on the epidural since it can slow labor down, however my doctor did help me out with some Morphine. At 1030am, after 5 minutes of constant contractions, I decided it was time for the real drug and Craig ran for the door, for those of you who don't know he HATES needles and this moment was his biggest fear for the delivery. Personally, I would have taken it through my eyeball at that point, bring it on. For all of you who fear this moment as much as labor, let me tell you don't. A. You don't care at that point and B. I didn't even feel it. No, I am not lying the only thing I felt was the instant relief. It was AMAZING! Right after I asked for the epidural my water broke and we realized that there was not only a lot of blood, EJ had pooped in the womb. This meant that once he was born he was going to have to have his lungs flushed and spend sometime with a NICU nurse. We had the best nurse because even though things were not ideal she told us it was no big deal and to relax. No wonder I was hurting in an 1.5 hrs I went from barely 4 cms to 8cms, but true to the personality he had already shown EJ had not come down at all, he just plain didn't want to I guess.
For the next 4 hours I laid on my side with one leg in air so gravity could do its work and move EJ down. It was fine with me, I just laid there with Mom and Craig watching movies. At 2:45 the doctor checked me again and said it was time to start pushing, she equated pushing to taking a big poop and I am guessing she will come up with a new way of putting it for the future. Craig immediately started cracking so many jokes that everyone was laughing including the nursing student who honestly looked scared to death. I put my mind to it and decided it was time to get EJ out. His heart rate had dropped some so I had on an oxygen mask, which was not comfortable and Craig told me I looked like a beautiful elephant, thank you honey. I was not doing this for hours, and I didn't, 15 minutes later EJ was born. They quickly cut the cord and handed him off to the NICU and within 3 minutes of checking him everyone relaxed, he was fine, actually perfect.
What an amazing journey, those many months of misery melted away as I held my little man for the first time. Nothing can explain the feeling and the love that you have at that moment and it only grows. I am so very thankful for my husband for our mini him... EJ looks just like him. I am so blessed to have these 2 wonderful men in my life, I love them both so much.
EJ has received many wonderful gifts so far and today I wanted to send a special THANK YOU to the Midwest to EJ's Great Aunt Vida who spent many hours over a sewing machine making him this amazing blanket and matching bib... he's still a little small for the bib but just wait he's trying really hard to pack on the weight.
Its so warm when the AC over cools the house in the summer heat!
