The Story

I should've written this awhile ago, like a week ago when it actually happened.... but I've been a little busy. Go figure. ;)
My mom and sister, Libby, flew into Houston on Thursday, Feb. 10th, to come visit and help with the baby, and my dad joined in on the fun on Saturday, the 12th. I hadn't had the baby yet, so we stuck with the plan of being induced on Monday, the 14th.
Sunday night Bo, Libby, and I went to the hospital a little after 6 in the evening so that the nurses could start me on this pre-inducing stuff. By about 7 that evening, I was having pretty steady contractions, not painful, but really regular ones about 5 min apart. I hadn't even had the medicine put in me yet. They put the Cervidel (sp?) in at about 8 ish. Libby went home at about 9:30, along with cousin Jackie, who came to socialize for a bit. We were having fun playing games and watching the contractions on the screen come steadily along.
I woke up at about 2:30 in the am with contractions 2 to 3 min. apart and they HURT. Of course they did. haha. Between 2:30 and 5:30 in the am I continued to have those contractions and with the help of a heating pack and the Ambien, I was able to still sneak in a couple minutes of sleep here and there. And I mean minutes.
The nurse took the Cervidel out at 5:30, checked me, and I was only a 2. You know how mad I was to know that I spent the last 3 hours to not progress AT ALL? Grrrr. At 8 in the am, Sandy, the best nurse ever, put the inducing medicine in my system. I then asked if I could have some pain med. I'm a wimp, and if God's going to put pain medication on the earth, then I'm gonna take it. She said she'd go ask the Dr. Not 5 min. later in comes my nurse and my Dr. He wanted to check me and see how I was coming along. I seriously was on the Petocin for 5 minutes, if that. We were all surprised when we found out I was at a good 4, bordering on 5. WOOHOO. That means I can get an epidural!!
I knew that once I was at a 4, that labor wouldn't be long. I had told my parents and sister the previous day that I wouldn't be surprised if I had the baby before noon. They apparently didn't think to seriously on that, because when we called them at 8:30 to tell them I was at a four, and then at 9 to tell them I was at a 7, they were shocked and had been planning to go ride the local ferry for fun.
So yeah, the nurse checked me at 9:00, less than an hour after they had given me the Petocin and I had been checked as a 4, I was already 7 cm. (I guess I should note that at a 10 you are done and ready to push) We called my parents and told them that they had better get ready to head over. At 9:40 ish I started feeling some pressure. And it was significant enough to feel over the epidural. Real pressure. We called the nurse, who was busy getting everything ready since she'd checked me a half hour earlier, and she came and checked me again. She only had to LOOK, not even check, to see that the baby was right there on his way out, and that he baby had a head of hair!!! She hurried and called the dr, another nurse came in, and they started having me push.
My Dr. came in with a med. student and was talking to her when the baby's head started coming out. I had to pause in my pushing so that he could get his gloves on. Seriously. (The babies head was literally half way out when I had to pause and wait for the Dr. to get his gloves on. Can you imagine then waiting for a couple of minutes, not pushing, with a baby half way out of you???? AWKWARD) It only took a couple more minutes of waiting after that for another contraction to come along to help with the pushing, and he was out. 10:01 am. My beautiful, big, 9 lb 3.4 oz. , 22 in. long baby boy. I stayed in the hospital until Tuesday evening, and then checked out. I could've stayed till Wednesday, but Meg was missing me like crazy and that bed was just so uncomfortable.
So there you have it. Derrick's birth story. If it was too much info, I'm sorry, but not really. I want this in my records for both Derrick's and my sake. I use this blog as a journal, and I print it out every year, with copies for the each kid.
I love my little baby SO MUCH. He really is the dream baby. He nurses and sleeps really well. He loves to cuddle. He loves contact. He is seriously so content. I've also got to add that our first two nights home from the hospital, he SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!!! Now, of course, he hasn't been like that since, but he has still been a good little sleeper. Every three hours he's up, but he just goes right back to sleep. No fussing, no crying. So good!! Oh yeah, and he takes a pacifier!!!!! Ahhhh.
The kids absolutely adore him. They are always fighting with each other on who gets to hold him. They are constantly putting hand sanitizer on so that they can hold the baby. I love it. Meg can always be seen giving him a kiss on the head. So tender. The only negative thing to the whole new situation is that Meg has become super clingy and possessive of me. She doesn't hold any bad feelings to the baby, she just has a hard time being away from me. It hasn't registered to her that the baby is the reason she isn't getting as much Mommy time. I think me being at the hospital and away from her at night is what did it. I've had to have her sit right there next to me in the recliner when I nurse the baby because she has to be that next to me all the time. Very uncomfortable, but oh well.
Derrick, we love you and are so glad that, in Meg and Carter's words, "the baby is out!" We LOVE having you in our family!!!

My dad and Derrick.

The kids came right when they brought me lunch, and decided they were hungry too. They seriously ate at least half my food. haha. It was really hard juggling the food and the kids on that very uncomfortable bed.
Going home!! He looks so tiny in that car seat!

A good big brother!

First bath!!