I need to try to type this quickly, while Joseph is still sleeping 🙂 I wanted to post this so that family and friends have the particulars of Joseph’s birth. I had my last doctor’s appointment on Friday, Sept. 2, where my doctor stripped my membranes (sorry if that’s too much TMI). Paul and I then went to Target to get a few last minute things, when I got a call from my doctor’s nurse, saying they thought that my doctor might have inadvertently broken my water (so THAT’s what that small gush was), and that if I felt like I was leaking (again, sorry…) to go into the hospital. I was a bit, but it wasn’t too bad. Then contractions started coming…and started getting closer together and more consistent. Paul downloaded an app on his phone so that we could time them properly, which was a lifesaver! I also noticed I was leaking more fluid, so after a couple of hours, we called the hospital. At first they wanted me to wait a bit more, but when they found out that I was leaking, they told me to come in. So we grabbed everything and drove to the hospital. We got there about 7 PM, and they did some tests for amniotic fluid, as well as hooking me up to monitors to track contractions and Joseph’s heart-beat. After the tests came back positive, they admitted me and started pitocin. I wasn’t progressing very quickly, and was in a lot of pain, so they gave me my epidural at 3:00 AM on the 3rd (I was 2 centimeters). After that, I was actually able to go to sleep! I slept until 5 AM when they came to check me again…and I was 4 centimeters…I was gearing myself up for a long day. Then, they checked me at 8 AM, and I was 9.5 centimeters! We got that last .5 centimeters gone, and I started pushing. Joseph’s heart would decelerate every time that I had a contraction, so they ended up using a vacuum to assist in the delivery (they REALLY didn’t want me to get a C-section). At 9:17 AM, Paul Joseph Darr III was born. They had to take him to the NICU for a bit because there was meconium present, and they wanted to be sure he hadn’t inhaled any of it. We got a bit of skin-to-skin time, and then they came and took him. He was only there for less than an hour, and then he got to come back in with us. After that, things got into a routine, and we actually came home the next day. It has been more than a week, and it amazes me each time that I look at him. Paul and I CREATED him! We are truly blessed 🙂
