David's Birth Story!

The morning of March 19th was a very special day for our family. Jason and I woke up and were finishing some last minute chores when the phone rang at 10:30 – it was my call from the hospital telling me they were ready for me to come in and start my induction. We packed the last couple of things into the car and left for the hospital. We called Grandma Lisa (my mom) and met her at the hospital. After getting settled in, we started the Pitocin at 12:30pm and got things underway. Things started slowly and not much progress was made. After walking to see how things would go, the doctor decided to break my water at 5pm and things progressed quite quickly (at least the intensity of the contractions progressed quickly). We tried watching several movies like Jurassic Park 3 (mine and Linda’s obsession lately, lol) and Robin Hood – the animated Disney version. Dad and Alex came to spend time with us in the hospital (around 9pm) hoping to see David before leaving for Spring Training. They walked in during some VERY tough contractions and Alex quickly took his place by my side, holding and stroking my hand trying to comfort me. He was doing good until mom suggested he help me breathe… he was doing fine, except that he was breathing on me which was so very annoying, lol. The nurse came in shortly after saying they were going to put in an internal contraction monitor because my external one was not working properly. After they had finished, I was bawling! The contractions were approaching the 80’s in intensity and coming about every 2 minutes… I decided I needed the epidural. With Jason by my side, the anesthesiologist came in and gave me the epidural which was arguably the worst part of labor. The relief came quickly for which I was very grateful. The epidural was in full swing around 10pm and I decided to get some sleep. Since you have to switch sides every 30-45 minutes when you have an epidural, my sleep wasn’t very productive. The nurses checked my progress every 2 hours. They had to switch off the Pitocin twice because the contractions were coming too close together and were very strong. The second time it was turned off, David’s heart rate was dropping in response to the powerful contractions so I was also put on oxygen. Things evened out quickly, though, and I was taken off oxygen. At 4am, I woke up in a lot of pain. We called the nurse who came in and checked my progress, I was at 8cm and fully effaced. We found out the pain was being caused by David’s head pushing on my public bone – he was face up! They gave me a second dose of the epidural and I was able to sleep again. We had to say goodbye to dad and Alex around 4:30am - they had to catch their plane. I was so sad they weren’t going to get to see David before they left for Florida!!! At 6am, the nurse had to come back in to replace David’s internal monitor because he kept wiggling out of them… 5 of them to be exact. The nurse was preparing to replace his monitor when she said we were going to have to call the doctor. “Why?” I asked – I was exhausted and wanted to go back to sleep, not wait for the doctor. The nurse said that we needed the doctor because she could see David’s head! I was in shock! How could I be ready to push? Was I even fully dilated? I’m too tired!!!! Plus, the second dose of epidural was a pretty heavy dose so I could NOT move my legs at all! We did a couple practice pushes and the nurse promptly told me to cross my legs until the doctor arrived. We got the room ready for delivery and got the cameras ready! Dr. Sopuch walked in, got ready, and gave me the thumbs up. 4 short pushes later, David came into the world at 6:56am on March 20th. He was welcomed by mom, dad, Grandma Lisa, and Auntie Linda. I could hardly believe that my sweet little boy was finally here! We shortly found out that he was anything but little. David weighed in at 9 pounds 11 ounces and 22 ½ inches long! Dr. Sopuch put him on my stomach and it was love at first sight! He was so calm and just looked up at me while the nurses dried him off. He is such a calm little boy! Even when he’s hungry, he rarely does more than whimper. We were moved up to recovery at about 8am. Over the next few days, we were surrounded by family and friends coming to see out sweet boy. Jason and I love being able to spend all our time with our sweet little man. We can hardly believe how perfect our little family is. David, I’ve loved you longer than I know and always will.