Well, Micah's here! I thought I'd update everyone on the birth and following week of Micah James.
On the morning of March 8th, Ryan and I got to the hospital and were quickly induced to have our baby that day. When I walked in the doors, the nurses were all taking bets to see if the baby would hit the 10 pound mark--they were amazed at my tummy. Everything went SO smoothly. By 1:00, I was dilated 9 and 1/2 and almost fully effaced. I couldn't believe how quickly everything was going, and, since I took my epidural early, I was really not having very much pain.
However, by 4:00, nurses and my doctor started saying little comments about "ifs" and "we'll sees". You see, the baby's head wasn't coming down at all, and I had been nearly or completely dilated for hours now. Finally, my doctor came in to tell me that the baby's head was trying to drop but just couldn't. The attempts were actually causing trauma and swelling my cervix back shut again. She would give me one more hour to see what happened, but she was putting me on the wait for the surgery room. Well, an hour later, I was tired, the baby was starting to show irregular heartbeats from stress, and my cervix was even more swollen. It was clear I had to have a C-section. Since we thought Micah was huge, I had kept this option in the back of my mind as a real possibility, so I wasn't tremendously discouraged.
The C-section was at 6:30 that evening. Unfortunately, the actual surgery was rough on me. I got extremely nauseated and ended up vomiting multiple times all over myself and the table. Afterward, I was uncontrollably shaking from the medicine and still had potosin contractions happening. It was painful! Once the morphine kicked in, I was much happier, and, due to the grogginess caused by the medicine, the bad parts are all a bit of a blur.
Micah arrived and surprised everyone--doctors and nurses included--by only weighing 8 pounds, 6 ounces. They also realized he wasn't coming down in labor because he was "sunny side up"--facing the wrong way--and sitting in a very difficult position.
Micah is such a blessing! He is a mellow guy, rarely crying or fussing, and, from the beginning, he has been very alert. The nurses all said he was their favorite baby while we were staying in the hospital.
We were at the hospital Sunday through Thursday morning, and we were all happy to be able to be home as a family. Carter has been such a loving big brother to Micah. The night Micah was born, Carter tried to offer Micah a french fry--a true present of love in Carter's eyes. There have been small glimpses of jealousy, and we have had a surge of fits and misbehavior this week, but, overall, Carter has been a trooper.
Enjoy the pictures we have taken this week. If you are on Facebook, you have seen all or most of these, but I certainly don't feel like I can look at them too much. I'm one blessed momma! I am beyond thankful to my Heavenly Father for the boys in my life! Thankful for all your prayers for our family--they were felt and appreciated!
