Grady's Arrival and Homecoming

The past few days have been extremely busy and emotionally draining, but Grady is finally here after 9 long months of waiting! We were scheduled to be at the hospital on Wednesday night at midnight. I had planned on working Mon, Tues, and Wed but after being completely stressed out on Monday and Tuesday, we decided I should take one day off before going to the hospital. I am glad I did that because I really needed it to relieve some stress. Mikey and I spent the day doing last minute things and getting ready to go to the hospital. Mikey was very excited Wednesday night, but I was internally freaking out about the uncertainties of the next several hours.


We sent Ellie off to Grandma's and headed off to the hospital around 11:30 Wednesday night. As soon as we got there, we were immediately checked into our Labor and Delivery room.... as well as immediately asked for payment! We got settled in, I got changed into my gown, and the hospital staff starting piling in... our L & D nurse Emily, the administration person, and a couple other nurses. My pitocin drip was started by 1 am and we decided to try and get some rest before it would be too late! I expected to start feeling contractions very soon, but was very lucky and was able to sleep for a couple of hours. Mikey had a "couch" to sleep on, but didn't get too much sleep because I was constantly interuppting him to help me walk to the bathroom. We had to unplug my IV's every time and hold a million cords, so I definitely needed some help!




Finally, at 5:30 am, my nurse Emily came....





and asked if I was ready for my epidural because the anesthesiologist was nearby and could come within an hour. I still wasn't feeling any pain, but thought I better go ahead and get it because Dr. Grammer would be coming in to break my water at 7:00 am and I knew things would get worse at that point. At 6:30 am, I received my epidural. I anticipated pain for the epidural, but only a little sting and pressure was all I felt. At 7:30 am, Dr. Grammer and his nurse, Terri (who we LOVE) came in to break my water and do an exam. We also got a new nurse, Christine, and Emily went home. I was only 3 cm dilated at this point, which I had been for a week, so that was a little disheartening.


All day long, things progressed slowly. At some point during the morning, my epidural pump quit working and I felt some very uncomfortable contractions. It took a while for Christine to figure out what was going on, but once it was discovered, they fixed the problem and I felt much better. They also decided to put in an internal fetal monitor because I was having so many contractions, but not dilating much. Finally, at 3:00 pm, Christine did an exam and told us it was time to push. I said, No it's not!!!! I was scared and thought I needed just a little while longer, but it wasn't up to me, so we got set up for delivery.


I began pushing and Mikey was a great supporter the whole time. Luckily, my epidural was working well and I didn't feel much at all. In fact, we watched ESPN for a little while (guess who picked that) and then switched to Judge Judy at 4! Christine said it was the quietest delivery room ever, which for Mikey and I is very surprising! I was just so tired that I wanted to rest any chance I got and Mikey wanted to let me. It was a difficult time in the laboring, not because it was painful, but because Grady was not moving down the birth canal as quickly as we had hoped. Christine said she would need to call Dr. Grammer and ask what to do, but then things started to progress. We called the doctor at 4:30, and he wanted to know if he should speed through the red lights or if he had enough time! He made it there by 4:45 along with Terri and suddenly there were 4 more nurses in the room as well. It was a very exciting time as they were all coaching me along... just a few short minutes later, Grady was born and it was such an overwhelming feeling. There really aren't words to describe it. We were all crying. I got to see him for a short minute before they took him into the adjoining room to clean him up.

He was 7 pounds, 3 ounces and the cutest thing ever (of course I would say that).... he spent several hours in the nursery getting exams and vitals checked. He finally came back to us around 11:30 that night and I was never so happy to see someone!


We had lots of visitors over the next two days and we were both very tired, but happy to see everyone. Finally, at noon on Saturday, we were released to come home. We took naps with Grady as soon as we got home and prepared for what was probably going to be a sleep deprived night (and it was, just like the past few days had been!). But it is all worth it because he is the most precious thing in the world to us! We can't wait for him to meet all our family and friends!

If you would like to see more pictures of Gradys please go to: http://www3.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=262399129/a=13882716/t_=13882716