The birth of Josiah was a huge blessing and I feel I couldn't have asked for much more in a birth story (except for maybe no pain ;) I started having contractions around 6:00 am on May 10. They were usually around 10 - 15 minutes apart and although painful, were pretty manageable. I had my mom take Isaiah for the morning and I relaxed and tried to get some rest knowing there would be tough work ahead. Around 11:30 am, the contractions stopped for about an hour and a half. I was kind of annoyed because then I thought it was false labor.
Around 2 pm they became really consistent again and many were around 5 minutes apart. The delay was actually a blessing because Ted had been taking a test all morning and didn't get back home until around 1:30. I was wanting to stay at home as long as possible, so I just worked on staying calm although the pain was definitely increasing. I decided to take a bath around 4:30 to try to ease the pain. A little before 5:00, Ted convinced me we should at least call the hospital. They said that we should go ahead and come in. We got there a little after 5:00 and by that time contractions were coming very quickly (and very painfully may I add.)
Ted found a wheelchair and took me up to Labor and Delivery. As it turns out, they were full and there were no empty rooms that were set up. We waited in the hall as the janitor cleaned a VERY small room that was not well equipped for delivery. I was in a bit of a panic due to the pain and the lack of help from medical staff at that moment. They didn't have time to do that admitting paper work and just put me in the room to be evaluated. Ted finally convinced me to let him go park the car and get our cameras.
When they examined me, they determined that I was fully dilated. They told me not to push and they went into a frenzy looking for an available doctor. Luckily, she showed up in time for me to announce that I was going to start pushing. I think it was literally 3 - 4 pushes later that Josiah was born at 5:50 pm.
We had forgotten how little newborns are (even if they are big like ours!) so we immediately thought that he was much smaller than Isaiah had been. As it turns out, he was actually 8 lbs., 9 oz. - only 3 oz. smaller than his brother! He was the same length at 21 inches. I was really glad that he came 8 days before his due date as I think he would have been well over 9 lbs.
I got to help pull him out during the delivery and got to hold him right away. As the Dr. was working on me, the nurses started our admitting paperwork with us. It seemed so strange to answer all of the questions after the baby was born. He came out hungry so I nursed him as they wheeled me up to the maternity floor. Then Ted and I had a few minutes with the new little guy and officially named him. Then, at about 7:00 pm we started calling shocked friends and family to tell them we had a baby about an hour earlier. In the rush and panic, we hadn't even gotten to tell most people that we were heading to the hospital.
That evening we were blessed by visits from family and friends. Isaiah got to come and see his brother and it was such a sweet scene. He held him, kissed him and sang a lullaby to him. He was not to jazzed about seeing mommy in a big hospital bed, but other than that he was pretty happy.
I was so blessed to be able to have a birth experience like this. Not only did I not have any drugs, but we didn't even have time for an IV. As a result, I felt so much better during my recovery. I was begging to be released by noon the next day. They finally let us go around 3:30. It was an extra special blessing that I went home with 2 little boys on Mother's Day. What a perfect gift and blessing from God!
Here are some pictures - Hope you enjoy them. The next ones on this blog could possibly be of his first birthday :)
