Our new "normal"

We are officially a family of 4!!! Our sweet Fisher Cole made his debut on March 3rd at 12:08 pm. He was 8# 3oz and 20.5in long. I will just dive right into the story, then let the pictures take over. We were set to be induced on that Monday morning, so we showed up at the hospital at 5am ready to go. We were a little nervous, because our nurse for the day wasn't happy about being called in 2 hours early and let us know about it. However, she turned out to be fantastic throughout the whole day and the following days in the hospital. We got to the room, settled in, and waited for Dr. Benton to come by to get the process started. She broke my water, which just so happen to have "thick meconium" per Dr. B. I immediately got freaked out about what that might mean for him. She and the nurse both told me that this happened a lot, and that most babies do not have any problems. We just wouldn't know until he was born. His heart rate looked great on the monitor, so they weren't worried about it. I was about 3cm and 75%. He was still "high in the sky", so we had a ways to go. This was all around 6:30am. I'm a little foggy on the details past this point, but I'll try. I got very uncomfortable very fast. I guess it was the pitocin. My contractions started come hard and fast. Very little break in between. I asked earlier about the epidural and how long I needed to wait. They wanted me to hold off as long as possible to give him a better chance of coming down. Apparently the thinking is that epidurals slow labor progress. I was in the bed shaking and crying from strong contraction after strong contraction. I finally asked for the epidural and got it pretty quickly. I was having a bad contraction the whole time he was putting the needle in my back. Very difficult to hold still, by the way. Anyways, I started to get some relief pretty quickly, but it never fully took effect. I was so uncomfortable and tossed and turned in the bed. I could move my legs pretty easily. Looking back now, that should have been my first sign that something wasn't quite right. I told the nurse how uncomfortable I was and how much pressure I was feeling. She checked me and I was at about 6 1/2-7 and he had dropped a little, but still not where he needed to be. I kept feeling more and more pressure. About 10 minutes later, she rechecked and I was 9 1/2 with Fisher in place ready to go! Holy smokes was I hurting at this point. She said she could call to get an epidural boost and also had to call Dr. Benton and the NICU nurses that needed to be in the room for delivery (because of meconium). I thought I was going to birth the baby myself right there, right then. She said she couldn't leave the room to call the doctor, because she couldn't trust me to not push. I told her I wasn't pushing, but my body was. It was time, and Fisher was not going to wait much longer! Everyone got in there just in time...except my epidural boost! I pretty much had him naturally, which I would not wish on my worst enemy. I have total respect for people who have babies without pain meds, but then again, I think they are totally crazy! I just kept yelling (yes yelling) how bad it hurt and I needed the boost. Dr. Benton just said, give me a few quick pushes, and we will have a baby. It took 4 pushes, and Fisher was born! I was in such a fog, all I could do was ask if he was ok and watch as they checked him out. They said he looked great! I watched as they put him on the scale and Derek very sweetly tried to take pictures and stay out of the way. I asked to hold them, so they brought him right over. I was able to hold him while they finished their assessment and give him his shots. He was the sweetest little wrinkly thing! We were a little traumatized about the way everything happened, but that moment of holding my sweet baby boy made it all worth it. Here are pictures from the big happy happy day!!!

Ready to go to the hospital...bright and early!

 

Holding my baby for the first time!

Mommy bliss :)

First "bath"

Our nurse, Sharon, was so great!

Big brother meeting little brother

J was very unsure of everything, but came to sit with me when we got out the present!

My favorite picture EVER!

Let's go home!!!

 

J wanted to hold his "brubby"

OMG at the sweetness in this picture. And I promise, this is how he actually is towards Fisher. I was so worried, but Jonah is so sweet and gentle. He will hug and kiss and talk to him. He also liked to turn on the music on Fisher's swing. My boys are just perfection :)

This picture holds my entire world!!!

Fisher, welcome to our sometimes crazy, wild, loud, but loving family. We are so happy you are FINALLY here. We are definitely busy and exhausted, but the feeling of having 2 children is incredible. We are not worthy, but God has blessed us beyond belief.