April 25, 2011: The Best Day of My Life [so far]

I woke up at 12:15AM on April 25th with some painful contractions. As I mentioned in my last post, I had been having very regular Braxton Hicks contractions for weeks- they were timable and very uncomfortable... However, that night they were different. They were more painful. Not awful, but enough that they definitely made me pay attention. I was definitely thinking they would just go away (as did all my other contractions I'd been getting in the previous weeks). Finally, my husband woke up two hours later to me breathing through contractions with, "Oooooh, okay, okay, okay..."... They were about five minutes apart for two hours. I didn't want to go to the hospital because I SO didn't want to be the girl that kept going for false labor. He said we probably should. We let the dogs out and grabbed the hospital bags. I decided we should just leave the bags in the car because they'd probably send us home.

We got into OB triage, and the contractions got more painful... Maybe this was it...

They checked and I was at 3cm, 70% effaced. My contractions were kind of irregular, so they decided to make me walk around for a half hour and then check me to see if they were doing anything. They were. I had progressed another centimeter in that half hour. I guess Kris and I still thought they'd send us home, because when the nurse walked in and said, "Okay, let's go have a baby," we both kind of looked at each other in shock (and some fear too, I guess!). On my way to Labor and Delivery I told them to get me an epidural as soon as possible. I have such respect for women that do it all natural, because I was SO not having that.

Sparrow Hospital was incredible. I was in Labor and Delivery for no more than 15 or 20 minutes before I got my epidural. We called my family at 4:00AM, and everyone left right away for the hospital (Ha- I had family coming from Grand Rapids, Adrian AND Detroit). My sister, Molly, got there first. Bless her heart, she was there for the WHOLE thing.. and we appreciated it.

I progressed so much faster than they anticpated at the hospital. We tried to warn them that the ladies in our family have fast labors- but they didn't listen! :) They actually had to try and slow it down because I had to have a bag of Penacillin interveineously before I could push. Before we knew it, my water was broken and I was ready. I remember calling the nurses and saying that I couldn't wait any longer and that I NEEDED to push. Ha! They came in and said my doctor was actually delivering another baby next door and I'd need to wait as long as possible. I let them know that wouldn't be possible. They decided to have me do a "practice" push to see how serious I was... I gave one push and I heard, "Okay, he's crowning. Go get Dr. Levitt." That was amazing to hear, but still kind of horrifying! :)

I ended up having the resident help me push for the first twenty minutes, and then my doctor made it for the last 25 minutes... Yup- only 45 minutes of pushing... Not bad for my first baby! This was the best day of my life. It's incredible to see how your instinct takes over and you become so much stronger than you ever thought you were when your child is involved. I just remember telling them that I didn't want to wait for a contraction to push- so they let me keep pushing even between contractions. I was just ready to meet him.

And there he was. April 25, 2011 at 11:23A, Kris and I met the most incredible human on earth:

Keegan Michael: 6 lb 11.9 oz, 20.5 inches long

And he is perfect.

I've never been so in love before in my life. There's nothing like it- and no one like him. Nothing he can ever do will make me stop loving him. What an awesome feeling.

Right after this picture they realized Keegan was having difficulty breathing. They took him to the nursery and put him in the incubator. He was there for 12 hours on oxygen, being fed through a tube, hooked up to wires. My heart was broken. But praise God, my baby boy starting breathing on his own, without any trouble. When his Daddy went to check on him, this is what we saw:

All smiles, and feeling MUCH better. Finally, that night at midnight, they came into our room and woke me up and told me that I got to go to the nursery and try to breast feed him. The nurse told me not to expect very much... but he did AWESOME! It was so good to hold that boy again, after 12 hours without being able to hold him... He thought so too, apparently:

Sweet pea. The tag's say it all. His bracelet has my name, my necklace has his. We are so hooked! :)

Here are just a few pictures of the joy of my life:

Please pray that he continues to grow strong, and that the Lord would give Kris and I the wisdom to help Keegan grow into a man who loves Jesus and to have a spirit that reflects that love.

So far I think he is the best. Thank you for sharing in our joy!