Introducing Everett David!!

Well hello there handsome!

He's here! My son was born into the world on August 23rd, 2011 at 12:06pm weighing in at 8lbs 15oz and a whopping 22.5 inches long. I've been meaning to write out his birth story for the past week but we've had quite the week! Grandpa and MiMi are here, Emersyn Grace turned THREE years old (more on that later) and we're adjusting to being a family of four.

My parents just left to take Ems on a little date to get some corn for dinner tonight, Brett is upstairs on a conference call and I've got a sweet little newborn on my chest. Now is the perfect time to write out the birth story! :)

I was induced at 6pm on Monday night (the 22nd). I had been warned that the hospital was anticipating a lot of deliveries that day due to the August/September baby boom that seems to be going on. It was very likely that my induction time might be moved up but I called that afternoon and we were all set to go on schedule. It is so surreal getting ready to leave for the hospital to go have a baby. I can't imagine doing it the *traditional* way and just going into labor. I remember when I took my last shower before I had Emersyn and I had those same crazy emotions as I took my last shower before Everett's arrival.

We got checked into our amazingly beautiful hospital room. I can't lie, I kinda picked my OB based on the fact that she delivered at this particular hospital. I had visited a friend here once and totally fell in love with the hardwood floors, mini fridge, flat screen tv's....you know, all the things that are vital to a safe and easy labor and delivery. :) Brett, my mom, David and Jenny were all there from the beginning.

After I got admitted, IV in, all that good stuff it was time to sit around and wait. I envisioned being able to possibly snooze during labor but quickly realized that was NOT going to happen. They started my pitocin around 8pm and my contractions were becoming more steady and more painful. My nurse told me I could get my epidural whenever I wanted which was a decision that stressed me out. I didn't want to endure unnecessary pain, that's for sure. But I also didn't want to get the epidural too early and then have my body kinda stall on the labor process. Plus, Everett was SO.HIGH.UP (I mean SO high) that I worried an epidural might not encourage him to drop. Because he was so high up, having my cervix checked was absolutely awful. I am pretty sure I was bruised from the nurses having to jam their entire hands in to check me. Oy.

The contractions continued and slowly my cheering squad started to pass out, first my sister-in-law who, bless her heart, had been up since like 5am, then my brother and then my mom was snoozing too. Brett and I got up and walked around a couple times to try to help Everett drop and ease the labor pains but it wasn't really working. I was expecting the delivery to go just like it did with Emersyn and it turns out, that was not a good expectation to have. *People* say that your second child is so much easier to deliver then your first and they are liars!!!! :)

With Emersyn I was admitted and my dr. broke my water about 4 hours after I started the pitocin. Well, this time around I was informed by my nurse that my dr. was going to have to break my water since she couldn't and I would have to wait until she arrived in the morning around 8ish. I was not pleased to learn this information. This meant that my labor was going to be significantly longer then it was with Emersyn and this bummed me out big time. I know the water could break on it's own but because of how high Everett was, it was unlikely. I had done EVERYTHING I could to get this boy to drop in the weeks prior, by the way. I walked a LOT, was super active, even danced for 90 minutes at a wedding but alas, this kid was content where he was.

I got the epidural around 3:45 am. I was very tired and worn out from the painful contractions. Because I had gotten my epidural with Ems so much earlier, I didn't know that contractions could get as painful as they do. Ignorance was such bliss. :) The epidural always freaks me out and I was really scared. I know there are certain risks associated with them and that is all I can think about when I am getting one. I feel like it hurt this time more, I could feel more pressure for some reason. The anesthesiologist was great though and did a good job. While I was getting the epidural, my mom, Dave and Jenny went out into the waiting room and fell asleep which was a good thing so then Brett could sleep on the couch in the room with me and I could snooze too.

My nurse checked me at about 7am and I was still only dilated to a 5 and Everett was super high up. I started to feel really discouraged because I knew that if he didn't drop, I was likely going to need a c-section which wasn't my first choice. My morning nurse was amazing and I know that the Lord totally sent her my way because I really needed her encouragement and support. She was confident that when the dr. broke my water, I would progress quicker then I had been for sure.

My dr. came and discussed breaking the water with me around 9am. She was concerned that since Everett was so high up, if she broke the water the cord might come shooting down along with the fluid and if that happened, I would need an emergency c-section. She decided to just do a pin prick instead of fully breaking the water to avoid this risk.

The dr. did the pin prick of my water at about 9:30 and I went from a 4-5 to a 6 right away so progress was happening! I also started to realize that my epidural had or was wearing off and the contractions became more intense and more painful. Everett's heartrate was going down slightly with each contraction too and we started to wonder if the cord might be compromised.

The dr. checked me again at 10 and said that Everett had dropped quite a bit, praise the Lord! She also said that it appeared that Everett was on his side which could make for a challenging/impossible delivery situation. The nurse and Brett flipped me over on my side/stomach (with a lot of help from me which confirmed the fact that my epidural wasn't working well) and we prayed that gravity would help or encourage Everett to turn his head. At this point I was really stressed about everything, the cord, his head, his size, etc.

At 11 the dr. checked me again and I was at about an 8 and was super nauseous which my nurse said was a good sign. By this time she had called in another anesthesiologist to adjust my epidural med and I was informed that by the time the new batch of medicine kicked in, I may have already delivered my baby. Awesome.

I started feeling a LOT of pressure with each contraction and I was in SO much pain. They flipped me back onto my back and I pretty much had a breakdown. I was crying and so discouraged from the pain and the fact that I was really scared that Everett just wasn't going to fit in my pelvis. I think because of all the ultrasounds previously, I was convinced that he was a giant baby and that he was going to get stuck in the birth canal. Plus, I was in a LOT of pain and hadn't experienced that with Emersyn. I don't even remember anything hurting that much until right when she came out. At this point my dr. had ran up to another nearby hospital to check on another patient. About 20 minuted after the dr. left I had the nurse check me because I was in a LOT of pain and it felt like I was getting close to being ready to push. She checked me and sure enough, I was fully effaced, at a 10 and ready to push. The only problem was, my dr. wasn't there and I was freaked out that he was going to get stuck on his way out. My nurse tried to encourage me to start pushing but I just had this feeling that he was going to come out right away and so I insisted that we wait for the dr. The nurse agreed and we decided just to let my body labor with each contraction and let the uterus do the hard work. Brett put a Michael Buble CD in to try to ease my mind but even that wasn't working so I asked him to turn on Pandora to the "Mighty to Save" channel. The first song that came on was a Phil Wickham worship song and I totally felt like God made that song come on just for me. I needed that reassurance that He was going to help me get through this because the pain was more then I could bear. At this point, I really don't think the epidural was working much at all. I can't imagine feeling more pain then I was feeling at that point. I felt like the Phil Wickham song was a little wink from the Lord to me, saying He was going to get me through.

My dr. got back to my hospital room around 11:45 and got set up to deliver my sweet baby boy. I felt confident that I could push Everett out in just a couple pushes because it just felt like was was right there, ready to come out. The only problem was I was in SO much pain and in order to make that pain stop, I was going to have to push which was going to cause even MORE pain and do you know how hard it is mentally to sign up for that?? I did two little wimpy pushes that my dr. said didn't count and they really didn't because I wasn't giving it my all by any means. I remembered with Ems I couldn't wait until the next contraction because I was so anxious to push and meet my baby girl. I was just as anxious to meet my baby boy but not as eager to push, that's for sure.

Finally, amidst my sobbing, crying out to Jesus (no joke) and hysterical screams of worrying that Everett wasn't going to fit, I decided to suck it up and push this baby out. I did one good push and got the head out. My dr. told me to stop pushing and Brett said that the cord had been wrapped around his neck and dr. needed to flip it over his head to unwrap it. Then one more final push and he was out. Friends, this hurt more then anything in my entire life. I was screaming and yelling and considering I had my mom, MIL, brother and SIL in the room, this says a lot about how much pain I was in. I normally am kinda modest about pain to other people, not to Brett that's for sure (ha!) but in front of other people I don't love to admit that I'm uncomfortable.

In one swift motion my baby boy was laying on my stomach and I felt this incredible joy and relief. My first thoughts upon looking at Everett was that I couldn't believe how much he looked like his sister!! His mouth and chin are just like hers. It was love at first sight. I honestly would have to say that I didn't feel like I had truly bonded with Everett until I laid eyes on him. It's so different with your second child (or at least it was for me). I think because I had a child already to focus, love and put energy into, it made this pregnancy much different then Emersyn's. Of course I was excited to meet him but I just didn't feel this intense bond yet. When my dr. placed him on my chest, I instantly felt this surge of love and adoration for this sweet boy and thanked God that He has blessed us with this child even when I initially questioned His plan for our family.

More to come later on how we're doing as a family of four but I wanted to get the actual birth story written out. I've written this in parts amidst nursing, taking care of Ems, going to dinner at my brother's, etc. so I hope it all makes sense. :)

Here are some pictures of my sweet boy and a couple with his sister too, who can't get enough of him!!

I think this is my favorite picture of him so far. I love his eyes are open. This was taken when he was exactly one hour old.

Our family is complete!