Dawson's Birth Story

*I'm trying to get this typed up as soon as possible, or I'm afraid I won't get around to it. I will have Joey post some pictures this evening.

As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I went to my 39 week appointment and it was decided that she would induce my on February 2nd. I hadn't progressed in over two weeks and I just knew labor wasn't going to start on it's own. I was becoming so uncomfortable at this point. I decided that since I knew when the baby was coming, I would make the entire week about Ashlyn. I wanted her to have the tons of fun with just her mom before her brother came. We went to the mall, Chuck E. Cheese for the first time, the zoo etc. We had a great week.

On Friday, we went to the zoo. It was such a gorgeous day. I hoped the walking would get something going. While we were at the zoo my doctor called me. She wanted to know if I was having any contractions. I told her I had some here and there but nothing major. She said she would check me again on Monday, and if I had progressed she would induce me Monday. She said if not we would stick to February 2nd. She then told me that she was flying out to see her husband for the weekend. She told me I couldn't go into labor. She said she wouldn't be back until Sunday night and I couldn't go into labor before then. I assured her I wouldn't. When I hung up, I told my sister and mom about what she said. I said, "Watch my water will break tonight."

Friday night I wasn't feeling much different. My upper back was killing me as usual. I was having some minor contractions, but they were so weak I knew it wasn't a big deal. Joey had to work Saturday, so we ate dinner, put Ash to bed and headed to bed early ourselves. About 9:30 Joey said goodnight and fell asleep. I stayed up to watch 20/20. About 9:45 I felt the oddest sensation. I couldn't describe it if I wanted to. When it happened, I thought to myself, "Did my water just break?" The SAME exact thing happened with Ashlyn. Although that time I felt a POP. I decided to see if I felt anything more. I woke Joey up getting in and out of bed. I told him my water might have broken. I said we should call my mom to come over to watch Ahslyn and go get it checked just in case. Just like last time, Joey started running around the house like a mad man getting things ready. The more I stood there, the more I knew that my water had indeed broken.

We got to the hospital around 10:30. They took me to triage and confirmed that my water had indeed broken. She checked me and I was still at 3cm. They then brought me back into a room. I wasn't having any contractions really on my own. Since I had been at 3cm for so long, they wanted to start pitocin right away. They started the pitocin and I decided to hold of for a bit to get the epidural. The contractions started to become pretty intense. Around midnight, I decided it was time for some relief. While I was getting it, I decided that I probably waited a bit too long because I was in some major pain. Getting the epidural isn't fun, but my gosh what a difference it makes! I felt like a brand new person! My epidural took so much better this time. It truly numbed me. I couldn't even feel really strong contractions.

Through out the night they kept checking me, and I was still not changing past 3 cm. I was starting to get worried I would need a c section. They kept turning up the pitocin. Around 6:00 a.m. they decided to use an internal monitor so they could better measure how strong the contractions were. They checked me then and said I was now at 4 cm! I had made some progress finally! I managed to get some sleep for about an hour and a half. It felt very good to finally sleep. At 7:30 they checked me again, and said I was 8 or 9 cm! The nurse gave me about 3o minutes and checked me again and said I was good to go! I started pushing at 8:05. I told them before I started pushing that I did not care to push for an hour and a half and have to use the vacuum like the time before. They assured me that wasn't happening. I pushed with everything I had. At 8:24 a.m. he was born! Only pushed for 20 minutes this time! His cord was wrapped around his head, but he came out screaming. He weight 7 pounds 7 ounces and was 21 inches long. His apgar scores were 8 and 9. They said he looked great. I actually got to hold him right away which was so wonderful. He has a full head of hair just like his sister. He cried for the first few minutes and he just sat there and looked around. He was so calm.

After they got me all situated, Ashlyn got to come in to meet him. She was a little apprehensive at first. She brought him this little stuffed dog that she had picked out for him months ago. She put it by him and he instantly focused right on it. He is so strong. He was lifting his head like crazy in the hops ital. He has been a great baby so far. He is very mellow and only cries when he is really hungry or uncomfortable. Things are very different both physically and emotionally the second time around. I am trying to get through some of these differences. He is nursing like a champ. I'm still working on remembering how to do it exactly right. It's amazing how rusty you can get in just 3 years. I know it's going pretty well as he only lost 2 ounces while in the hospital which is very good for a newborn. I'm praying it goes as well as it did with Ashlyn and it becomes like second nature for both of us.

We were released from the hospital this morning. I started noticing that he was looking jaundiced. He looked a lot like Ashlyn did. The drew his bilirubin levels this morning and they were pretty high. We will have to take him in the morning to get his levels checked again and we will also go to the pediatrician. I am praying they have gone down and we don't have to do the light therapy again.

We are happy to be home and just adjusting now to being a family of FOUR! Dawson is such a gift from God and I am so happy he is finally here!

This is a list of names we were considering for Dawson. Notice when I did the list, I didn't want any name starting with a "D" because I thought it would sound funny with DeLorme.

This is a video of Ashlyn announcing to everyone what her brother's name is.