Been There, Done That, Got the T-Shirt
And I seriously mean got the t-shirt, but more on that in a minute. I do know that 11 hours of labor sure beats the heck out of 53 :). I can say for certain that this time was sooo much easier than the last. If I ever have another child, I think I could just pop that baby out without so much as a push. Okay, maybe tmi, but while I have a minute, here is the birth story of my little Alexander the Great:
As I have posted on here, I have had a hard time with the last few weeks of my pregnancy. I was an emotional wreck in a lot of pain all of the time. It wasn’t much fun at all. Well, the Lord heard me because when I went in to my doctor’s office last Wednesday and got checked, Alex actually went back up and my cervix had closed a little. The 2cm dialation progression I had achieved totally went away and it looked like the baby was content to stay in the womb forever. My doctor was concerned so we did an ultrasound to check the baby’s weight. He was 7lbs 10oz so everything looked fine there, but he said, “If you are going to have this baby the old fashioned way, we better induce because he’s not going to come on his own.” I said, “What time should I be at the hospital?” Seriously, I was so ready.
So we set the appt at the hospital, and Brad and I got there at 6am. It was about 7:30 or so when they put this little pill into my cervix to start contractions. They said that the contractions would be effective, but much less painful than a pitocin drip. Whatever works I said. After 4 hours and no real progress, another pill was inserted. This time it really caught on. I lost track of time at this point, but I know it was only 2 hours or so until I was dialated enough for the doctor to break my water. After your water breaks, the pain goes from tolerable to unmanageable in a matter of an hour or less, so I got the epidural and waited. Except I didn’t have to wait very long. I remember it was around 5pm or so that my doctor came in and checked me and said, “You will have this baby by 10pm.” Awesome I thought. I could swing that. But then a half hour later I started feeling a lot of pressure and really hard contractions. Although I had a continous flow of pain meds, I felt a lot of pain, and I couldn’t understand it. When I told the nurse, she checked me and sure enough the baby was there and ready to come out. We had to call the doctor back who had just pulled into his driveway (poor guy :) and he came back to deliver little Alex. I honestly think I only pushed through 3 contractions before I was holding a little boy in my arms. I wish I could describe in words what it is like to have your hubby beside you and the doctor and nurses urging you on, encouraging you to push out this bundle of joy that you have waited so very long for. But I can only say it is the most exhilarating, amazing thing you will ever experience. My sister in law actually shared this experience with us this time since this is her godchild, and I know she will never forget it either (maybe for more than one reason :). And just like that, we are now a family of four. Alexander Warren Duvieilh was born on December 3, 2009 at 6:53pm weighing 7lbs 13oz and measuring 21.5 inches long.
And just like Drew, he had a big welcome ceremony. If you remember, the whole family had Drew Dat shirts to welcome little Drew into the world. We had to give Alex the same warm reception, so we thought of Jeopardy shirts (like Alex Trebek if it is flying over your head.) The front of the shirt said this:
And the backs said multiple things like this:
And This:
Of course the nurses in the labor and delivery unit remembered us from last time (20 people with matching shirts are hard to forget) and they got a kick out of us again this time. I mean, who makes t-shirts for the birth of a child? Well my crazy family does. They all had a blast, and I love that we can have so much fun no matter where we go or what we do. Drew was so awesome and calmly played with his trucks and was spoiled with attention the many hours he was at the hospital that day. He is such an amazing child, and I hope his little brother learns a lot from him. I will have to have another post on the progression of how he does with a new baby in the house, but more on that to come.
Just want to say thanks to everyone for all of the support. We feel so blessed and lucky. Everything with Alex seems to be fine. We go to the doctor on Friday for his first checkup, but he has none of the issues that Drew had, and I have none of the issues that I had the first time. Things are going great so far, although I told Brad he cannot go back to work next week. Not sure what we’ll do about money, but we can figure it out right? :)
As I have posted on here, I have had a hard time with the last few weeks of my pregnancy. I was an emotional wreck in a lot of pain all of the time. It wasn’t much fun at all. Well, the Lord heard me because when I went in to my doctor’s office last Wednesday and got checked, Alex actually went back up and my cervix had closed a little. The 2cm dialation progression I had achieved totally went away and it looked like the baby was content to stay in the womb forever. My doctor was concerned so we did an ultrasound to check the baby’s weight. He was 7lbs 10oz so everything looked fine there, but he said, “If you are going to have this baby the old fashioned way, we better induce because he’s not going to come on his own.” I said, “What time should I be at the hospital?” Seriously, I was so ready.
So we set the appt at the hospital, and Brad and I got there at 6am. It was about 7:30 or so when they put this little pill into my cervix to start contractions. They said that the contractions would be effective, but much less painful than a pitocin drip. Whatever works I said. After 4 hours and no real progress, another pill was inserted. This time it really caught on. I lost track of time at this point, but I know it was only 2 hours or so until I was dialated enough for the doctor to break my water. After your water breaks, the pain goes from tolerable to unmanageable in a matter of an hour or less, so I got the epidural and waited. Except I didn’t have to wait very long. I remember it was around 5pm or so that my doctor came in and checked me and said, “You will have this baby by 10pm.” Awesome I thought. I could swing that. But then a half hour later I started feeling a lot of pressure and really hard contractions. Although I had a continous flow of pain meds, I felt a lot of pain, and I couldn’t understand it. When I told the nurse, she checked me and sure enough the baby was there and ready to come out. We had to call the doctor back who had just pulled into his driveway (poor guy :) and he came back to deliver little Alex. I honestly think I only pushed through 3 contractions before I was holding a little boy in my arms. I wish I could describe in words what it is like to have your hubby beside you and the doctor and nurses urging you on, encouraging you to push out this bundle of joy that you have waited so very long for. But I can only say it is the most exhilarating, amazing thing you will ever experience. My sister in law actually shared this experience with us this time since this is her godchild, and I know she will never forget it either (maybe for more than one reason :). And just like that, we are now a family of four. Alexander Warren Duvieilh was born on December 3, 2009 at 6:53pm weighing 7lbs 13oz and measuring 21.5 inches long.
And just like Drew, he had a big welcome ceremony. If you remember, the whole family had Drew Dat shirts to welcome little Drew into the world. We had to give Alex the same warm reception, so we thought of Jeopardy shirts (like Alex Trebek if it is flying over your head.) The front of the shirt said this:
And the backs said multiple things like this:
And This:
Of course the nurses in the labor and delivery unit remembered us from last time (20 people with matching shirts are hard to forget) and they got a kick out of us again this time. I mean, who makes t-shirts for the birth of a child? Well my crazy family does. They all had a blast, and I love that we can have so much fun no matter where we go or what we do. Drew was so awesome and calmly played with his trucks and was spoiled with attention the many hours he was at the hospital that day. He is such an amazing child, and I hope his little brother learns a lot from him. I will have to have another post on the progression of how he does with a new baby in the house, but more on that to come.
Just want to say thanks to everyone for all of the support. We feel so blessed and lucky. Everything with Alex seems to be fine. We go to the doctor on Friday for his first checkup, but he has none of the issues that Drew had, and I have none of the issues that I had the first time. Things are going great so far, although I told Brad he cannot go back to work next week. Not sure what we’ll do about money, but we can figure it out right? :)