I'm still here

Apologies for the delayed posting. I've sat down to write a new entry several times over the last few days but keep getting distracted. Imagine that. As expected, our lives have been turned upside down by the arrival of Grayson and just when we get a few things figured out our son throws a new parenting lesson our way. 

So many things have changed in such a short amount of time that it's hard to know where to begin. I guess I should share his birth story (without the gory details, of course). After experiencing inconsistent contractions for several days, Sunday night they kicked into gear. I was up and down most of the night but didn't start timing them until a little before 8 a.m. on Monday. They were 3-5 minutes apart and nearly a minute long so after they were consistent for an hour we decided it was time to go to the hospital and get things checked out. 

In the elevator on the way up to the birthing center, I told Michael I was going to be really ticked off if my night of contractions didn't make me any more dilated and they sent me back home. Luckily, the pain wasn't for nothing and I was dilated to 3 1/2 cm and about 90 % effaced. They observed me in triage from 9:30 a.m. until admitting me at 1 p.m. Once I was admitted they took me to a birthing suite where my new best friend, the anesthesiologist, came to administer my epidural about 30 minutes later. I was dilated to about 5 cm at this point and once the epidural kicked in they also broke my water and gave me oxytocin to speed up the contractions. 

When they broke my water there was black meconium in it which is a sign the baby had already had a bowel movement while inside me. This meant they would need to move quickly upon birth to ensure none of it got into his lungs as he took his first few breaths. 

When they checked me again around 3:15 p.m. I was already at 9 cm so the head labor nurse started whirling around setting up medical equipment and alerting the OBGYN. A team of nurses came in and time passed very quickly at this point. I was still feeling the contractions slightly on one side so my epidural was cranked up so much I couldn't feel my legs so a nurse and Michael had to move them for me. She had me do a few "practice pushes" but then realized the baby was nearly out so she told me to stop. 

The OBGYN took forever to arrive and all of a sudden the baby's heartbeat dropped so the labor nurse told us she was going to move forward to deliver the baby. I pushed two more times and he moved far enough down to get out of distress and his heart rate rose back up so we stopped to try and wait for the doctor. Even though I wasn't pushing the baby kept inching down and we really though he was going to arrive before the OBGYN. 

Luckily she flew through the door just in time and while I was anxious to push some more the OB on call (which was not my doctor) recognized Michael from when he worked at a bike store in college (she's an avid cyclist) and proceeded to catch up on what he had been up to over the last few years. Finally she got down to business and after only a handful more pushes our son Grayson Mark arrived. 

Due to the meconium they had to whisk him over to the warming table and do a deep lung suction to clean out his passageways. Thankfully the fluid came out clear so he didn't swallow any of the black tarry stuff from the bowel movement. Once that was over, Michael was able to cut the cord (which had already been done once, but we were able to capture for the camera) and then we could hold him. 

From the time I was admitted until Grayson's birth at 4:36 p.m., time flew by and I can't believe it all happened so quickly. As you may have seen from the photo link in the last post, the picture of me enjoying an ice cold Dr. Pepper was taken just moments after birth when I could finally have more than ice chips and I threw 9 months worth of carbonation and caffeine concerns to the wind by enjoying a victory drink.  

So that's how it all went down (literally and figuratively). I have so much more to share, but will stop for now so I can finally get this novel post online. Thank you to all of you who have emailed and  called with well wishes. Even though we may not have responded just yet, we hope to catch up soon and appreciate you sending positive thoughts our way.