indescribable love: the birth story

well it looks like baird didn't want to wait until his induction date to make his debut. on wednesday, january 5th, he came into this world and i can't even describe to you how magical it was. i had reserved myself to the fact that he wasn't going to be here until sunday so when i started having contractions around 3 pm on wednesday, i really didn't think it was possible. i started watching them on the clock and when after 30 minutes of contractions, each 5 minutes apart, i decided that it was go time. by the time griffin got home from work i had everything together and was ready to go. he changed out of his suit, we called our parents and my sisters, letting them know that we would call them as soon as we confirmed that i was in labor, and we headed to the hospital. luckily we live about 5 minutes from the hospital and we were able to get into a room and get checked out very quickly. by this point, i was in quite a bit of pain and knew that if this was not labor, i didn't want to find out what labor felt like for real. the nurse examined me and i was already dilated to a 6. the day before at my doctor's appointment i was at a 2, so how quickly i had progressed shocked griffin and i, and explained why i was in so much pain. we were in my room an hour later and i got my epidural extremely quickly. for the record, the epidural is not bad at all. i recommend doing it in the middle of a contraction and you will be more focused on that pain than anything else. i didn't even realize she had done it. for the record, epidurals are amazing and i can't imagine not getting one. i knew getting one would help manage the pain, but never in a million years did i think it wouldn't hurt at all. all i felt was a little pressure, that's it.

after about 2 hours of waiting for my contractions to work on my body, i was dilated to a 10 and ready to push. i still can't believe how quickly i progressed and how short my labor was. the nurse told me that because this was my first child, it would probably take about 2-3 hours of pushing to get the baby out. when i heard that, i looked at griffin, the nurse, and my doctor and said i assure you that will not be the case. i told them i would have that baby out in 30 minutes and after 27 minutes of pushing, baird was here. i have a confession: as much as i always said that i wouldn't use a mirror, i decided to use it for the first part. i didn't want to see the whole body come out or anything but it was pretty cool to see his head come out. it was surprisingly not gross at all. once the baby was out, they placed him on me for a couple of seconds and then took him over to get measured, cleaned up, etc while the doctor finished up with me. i'll go ahead and answer a question i am sure all of you are wondering. yes, i did tear, but only a little bit. i figured i would and my doctor even said i probably would when she was examining me earlier in the labor. i obviously didn't feel anything at the time but it has made for a painful, but manageable recovery.

after cleaning him up, i immediately breastfed him, which i must say was an interesting experience. of course they get so little at this point but it was really neat trying to get him to latch on, etc. we spent about 30 minutes skin to skin, and then my family and friends came in. it was so special to see how many people were there to celebrate the birth of this precious boy. it is so obvious how blessed griffin and i are and how blessed baby baird is going to be. the hour and a half we spent with them was extremely special, not only for griffin and i, but also for our family. my mom, dad, and sisters were ecstatic, as this is the first grandchild on my side of the family.

after our family went home, they took the baby up to the nursery to get his first bath while the nursed finished up with me. by 2am (yes we were zonked by then) i was in my room with my precious baby in my arms. i think griffin and i spent at least an hour just starting at him. i know everyone thinks their baby is the most beautiful baby in the world, but we literally fell in love with him the moment we saw him.

there were quite a few emotional ups and downs during the next two days we were there. baird had mild jaundice while we were in the hospital and was having trouble latching on when i would feed him. the second night we spend four hours with the lactation consultant trying to get him to latch on and he really struggled. when he wouldn't latch on, i couldnt help but think that it was something wrong with me. i know i know, but the pregnancy hormones were out of control. and it didn't help that i was in quite a bit of pain. i don't want to scare any of my wonderful bloggy friends who are pregnant, but the recovery period is pretty brutal. if you get an epidural, the birth is a piece of cake, if not fun. but the week and a half afterwards, ouch. it makes sense that it would be painful, yet all of the movies you see always focus on the birth as being the painful part and rarely show the mom during the two weeks after wobbling to and from the bathroom. the medication definitely helps though. if it weren't for my vicodin during the first week, i definitely wouldn't have made it. once i got the hang of taking the medicine when i was supposed to, i was able to manege it pretty well. and now, i feel much better. and of course, if you don't tear, you might have a completely different experience than this.

we had tons of visitors between wednesday and friday and on friday at 1pm, we were discharged from the hospital and came home. we've had a rough couple of weeks, as baird was diagnosed with severe jaundice and continued to have latch-on problems, but i wouldn't have it any other way. my husband is a saint and we have pulled through together. we love this baby more than life itself already. everyone says your life changes completely when you have a baby. of course i believed them, i just never imagined that my heart could love something as much as i love him. he is our world now.

i'm going to post separately about our first week at home, as it will require tons of explanation!!

hope all is well in bloggy world. even though i haven't posted over the last two weeks, i have been reading. its been so nice to catch up with everyone.

love,
maggie

p.s... that is not baird's birth announcement. we aren't sending them out until he gets his newborn pictures taken next week. i just wanted to put it on here to announce it to all of you.