Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Joseph's Birth Story

Looking back on the blog posts I was able to do yesterday it amazes me how fast everything went after the last post I was able to squeak out.  

After my water was broken the contractions started coming fast and regular I held out as long as I could before getting the epidural when the contractions started going one on top of the other.  At about 12:30 the anesthesiologist came in and started the process.  They had to try THREE times to get it installed - by the end of the second poke, I was ready to tell them that I would be fine - lets forget about the epidural altogether!  The doctor was great though and having my father there to help me breathe through the pokes and all of a sudden the biting pain became just some abdominal pressure and I could relax a little.  My mom and Josie arrived right after 12:30 right after the epi kicked in and the waiting game began.

A little bit after that though, my blood pressure started dropping (it bottomed out at 78 over 42 !!) and when my bp would go down Joseph's heart rate would go down as well.  We rolled over, we changed positions and it still didn't do any good.  Finally the nurse had an idea to go ahead and check Joe's progress and voila - the second I got on my back and a semi upright position he pushed down, totally effaced and his heart rate stabilized.  It was time to push!   The quote of the day goes to my mother who said that he brightened up because he "finally saw daylight!"  All of a sudden, the room filled with nurses preparing things, draping tables, opening trays, warming up the lamps...and my heart was completely filled with love and joy for the baby that was coming soon.  Josie read some of the posts that were left for me from all of my online sisters on HYWWP during the melee.  

35 minutes of pushing later, Joseph Todd arrived in the world at 7lb 14 oz, 20 1/2 inches long and every bit of beautiful.  I could not be happier, after everything that I have gone through over the past 40 weeks, I feel like I could burst with happiness that he is finally here and healthy and just beautiful.  I can't believe that he is so little!  I had geared myself up to have an 8.5 - 9 pound baby and here he is just so teeny and beautiful.  

The internet here is super slow so if you would like to see pictures, there are some on my facebook profile as well as on Picasa: http://picasaweb.google.com/aremid129/StarredPhotos

Thank you so much to my friends and family for all of the prayers and support.  I truly could not have done this without you.  We are so incredibly blessed and we love you all!  

Love,
Kris, Joseph and Jackson

Monday, September 14, 2009

Joseph's Birthday - Update 2 9:15 AM

Things are going great the East Tower.  I got to watch the sun rise over a foggy morning in Des Moines, had a little nap and did some scrap website surfing with Kathy the Awesome Nurse.  I found out that my favorite OB out of the practice is the on call today - I was really hoping that she would be the one who would deliver me (!!!) AND Kathy the Awesome Nurse has the same camera I do so she took some cute pictures of me and Dr. Roose and posed for me to take pics too.  Always helps to have scrappers on hand during the important days!  Is it strange to be having fun at a labor induction?  Water broken - here we go.

Dr. Roose and I












Kathy The Awesome Scrapping Nurse and Ashley the equally awesome non scrapping nurse

Joseph's Birthday - Update 1 6:50 AM

I'm here!  It's been an early morning already but not too bad.  So much for the idea that I would get some good sleep before coming in super early.  I laid down at about 9:30 - gave up trying to sleep at about 11:00 and decided to take a shower to try to relax.  I'm not sure but I think I finally went to "sleep" at about 1:00 AM only to get up again at 4:45 to have another shower and head in to Mercy.  I got here at about 10 min to six and have spent the past hour getting checked in, getting to know Kathy "the awesome nurse" and got my IV started.  (YAY FUN).  So far so good.

It's kind of nice to have a few moments of alone time this morning to pray and meditate on Joseph's birth without any chatter or distractions but my laptop and itunes.  Just sitting here listening to John Mayer and the sound of Joe's heartbeat on the monitor.  

Here comes Kathy the Awesome Nurse too hook up the pitocin and antibiotics.  It's show time!

edited to add:  Kathy the Awesome Nurse was looking at my blog when she came in - turns out that she is a Stampin Up rep.  There is a fall catalog in my future!!!  See - today is the day that was destined to be JT's birthday!

Saturday, September 12, 2009

All in His timing...

It's been pretty public knowledge that I have been miserable the last few weeks waiting for Joseph to arrive. Well today I got confirmation that God is in the timing of JT's arrival...

Joseph's middle name (Todd) is after my friend, Mary Todd who lived with Jackson and I after he was born, worked with me... Truly my best friend...Mary  passed away 3 years ago due to a congenital heart condition on - get this - September 14th - the day I'm going to be induced!   Somehow I had written down in my planner that her date was the 17th of September...but that was the date of the funeral service.  Her mom reminded me today about that when she read about my induction date on Facebook and we spent some of time talking about how Mary was smiling down on us and giving us this baby to always remind us of His providence to our lives.  The circle of life will be completed in 30 hours, 37 minutes...not that I'm counting...but if you want to there is a link below lol.

So even though waiting until the 14th wasn't in MY timing it definitely was in HIS! WOW!  GOD IS GOOD ALL.THE.TIME!

Thursday, September 10, 2009

The Light At the End of a Very Long Tunnel

After three nights of sleeping only in two hour segments and alternating between my bed, Jack's bed and the couch I was feeling pretty beat up - I got to my appointment this morning ON TIME (!) and spent some time in the waiting room just praying that the doctor would listen to the misery in my voice and do something to help me out. Well - God answers prayers! The doctor took one look at me and got on the phone with Labor and Delivery to see if they could get me in tomorrow. The elective spots were all taken up (darn) but I am scheduled for induction Monday morning at 6AM. In the meantime, I will keep walking and seeing if I can get him out on his own...Come on JT - lets do this thing!
Jackson started preschool on Tuesday as well! I can't believe my little man is in Pre-K already. Next year he is Kindergarten bound! Wow! He is such a blessing and checks in on Joseph every morning. To celebrate his big brother status, we gave his room a bit of an overhaul. He has wanted to paint it blue for some time so on Labor Day we headed to Lowe's and Target and got everything we needed for a brand new room! Here are some highlights from his first day and his new bedroom!

I can't believe that the next update here I will be the mom of TWO boys! Wow.

BTW - painting stripes is a lot harder than it looks on Trading Spaces!!!

A little "Green" breakfast before preschool Key Lime Yogurt, Honeydew Melon and milk in a Green Cup

SO stylin'

Outside of the preschool!  
 

Jackson with his class












A little ice cream after pickup.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Could this be my last appointment?


I actually got to my appointment EARLY today and still had to wait until 20 minutes after my appointment started to get in to see the OB. I was willing to wait though -I got to see my favorite doctor out of the practice today!

I'm at 3 centimeters now - and 50% thinned. PROGRESS! She said all of the walking I have been doing has been helping. She ruptured my membranes to get things stirred up a little and told me to keep walking especially if I start getting regular contractions.

I was supposed to have been able to schedule an induction date but - since next week has Labor Day, and a bunch of people wanting to schedule their induction for 9/9/09 or 9/11 it is totally full. So I have to wait and see if I am still pregnant next week before I can schedule a time. Let's just hope this membrane thing works! This turkey is COOKED!