William's Birth

This is me, at 5am, the morning of my induction. I'd been having contractions off and on for 2 and half weeks. I was exhausted and ready to meet my baby.

I'm very sad that i didn't get any pictures of my doulas, Kira and Jenny. They were the most amazing labor support. I am terrified of pitocin. I wanted as natural a birth as possible. Unfortunately, due to complications, we all agreed (my doctors-OB, High Risk OB, and Endcrinologist- my husband, and I) that a scheduled induction was the safest choice. My OB was great, though, and let me go as sowly as I wanted. It took 5 or 6 hours to get the pitocin up to the point where I was having active labor. The rest of the time, we were hanging out. Kira and Jenny helped me stay calm and made the experience a positive one.

Derek kept the kids at the house, about 5 minutes from the hospital. They came by to visit periodically.

After about 5 hrs of physically and emotionally intense, but not painful, labor,  I got to meet my beautiful baby. At this point, I still didn't know if it was a boy or girl. And, to be completley honest, I didn't care. He was safe, healthy, breathing on his own. That was all that mattered. 

8 pounds, 8 ounces of perfection.

So happy to have this precious little person.

Still gunky and already beautiful.

Derek and the kids arrived within minutes of the birth. They had to wait in the hall while the nurses helped me get presentable. :) Ben and Jeff were so excited to be "more involved this time." They both took the experience very seriously. 6 weeks later they are still talking to me about how wonderful it was to be able to be there. These pictures are from the next day, when they came to visit. William had to be monitored in the nursery every few hours. He did very well, and we got to home after 24 hrs.

Baby Jason took the experience much less seriously, but he too was happy to be there. He also enjoyed the chicken nuggets Derek brought me. I was ravenous.



Here are two more, just becasue I want to show him off. Isn't he stunning? I love this precious little boy.