William Jackson Reed is here!!!!!

He is finally here!! William Jackson was born March 5, 2007 at 4:38 PM, measuring 20 inches and weighing 7lbs 15oz! Here is his birth story and some pictures.

On Monday at 5:00AM we were scheduled to be induced, so Benjamin and I headed off to Parkview ready to be parents. Once we got there, they wheeled me up to the birthing room, started an IV (twice - ouch!), and took all my vitals. My heart rate was 144, so I guess you could say I was just a tad nervous! ;-) Once they got all my information, they started the induction by giving me a suppository that was to ripen the cervix, even though I was 2 cm and 90% effaced, which was some progress from my last Dr's appointment. They only gave me a 1/2 a dose and that seemed to be enough. I started contracting pretty regularly and was breathing through them pretty well. At about 10:00 AM, I was 4-5 cm and was ready for the epidural. Unfortunately, the epidural was not a total breeze. The anaesthesiologist was having trouble finding the right spot because I was pretty swollen. The second try he got it, but the whole procedure took about an hour! They had kicked out Benjamin, Mom, and Dad during the procedure and since it was taking so long, they were getting nervous. After I got the epidural, I wasn't feeling that well. The numbness traveled up too far, clear up to my chest and close to my neck and my blood pressure was falling. My blood pressure fell as low as 70/48, so then they had to give me more medicine to bring it back up. I couldn't feel ANY contractions, but was feeling so sick that I was kinda sorry I had asked for it, even though I was getting a lot of relief from the contractions. At about 2:00PM I was 7 cm and wasn't progressing much, so they decided to start Pitocin to make stronger contractions. They didn't give me anymore epidural until some of it wore off. I was feeling much, much better once it wore off a little, even though I was feeling the contractions again. The nurse gave me the pump so I could pump in more epidural medicine as needed, but I was afraid of giving myself too much because I feeling so much better and I didn't want to go numb to my chest again. The nurse assured me it wouldn't happen again, but I didn't believe her! Well, I should have listened to her because as the afternoon progressed the Pitocin had done its job, and I was feeling the contractions a lot and didn't have much relief. At about 3:45PM the baby's heart rate started to drop. Talk about SCARY!! They hooked me up to some oxygen and put me on my side. That didn't help much, so they turned me on my other. I was really nervous they were going to say C-Section because I thought I was still at 7cm, but luckily at this point, I was feeling the urge to push, so the nurse checked me again. I was 9 1/2 cm, but the baby's heart rate was still kinda low. The doctor told me, "Let's have this baby!" I started to push, and boy was it hard! The baby wasn't quite in the correct position, so pushing was much harder. Everyone (including Benjamin and Mom) were really encouraging me to push because they wanted him out and fast! I pushed and pushed, but didn't feel like I was getting anywhere! The Dr decided to try they vacuum, but that didn't work. He lost suction twice, so after that came the forceps! They said we were going to do it "Old World Style". It's funny, because if you were to tell me that I would need the help from forceps I would have been totally freaked out about it, but at the time I didn't care what they needed to use, I wanted him out!! With the help of the forceps, an episiotomy, and 25 minutes of pushing, William made his appereance at 4:38PM! They put him on my belly, but the blanket was in the way, so I didn't really get to see him. They whisked him away to check him out because of the heart rate, but he was doing great and screaming his little head off! They asked everyone to leave (except Benjamin) while the Dr worked on getting the placenta out, which wasn't easy. He kinda had to fish the thing out and then since I had a 2nd degree episiotomy the doctor had a lot of sewing to do. It was a totally amazing experience! I have to admit that things did not go exactly as planned, but in the end out came our beautiful boy! I am still pretty sore from the birth, but am feeling a little better everyday. Dusty and Zarbie (our cat and dog) are doing pretty well with William. Our family is doing great and even though it is harder than I thought, I love being a new mom.

His coming home outfit!!