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Birth Story: Connor Julius
Okay, so this may get kind of long 
Monday afternoon (the 24th) I had an appointment with my OB. It was then that we decided we should start inducing labor. Connor and I both looked healthy, but we didn't want to gamble with time. I was 38 weeks and 3 days.
Matt and I headed to the hospital and arrived at 8pm. They started me on Cervidil because I was only 1-2 cm and 30% effaced and that was supposed to help get me further along as well as start mild contractions. I definitely felt the contractions and by 5 am they came in to take the meds out and check me again. NO progress. At most my cervix moved forward a bit. That was the first 8-9 hours of labor.
At 5:45 am they started me on the Pitocin drip and had me on a pretty high dose and increased it often to help me progress a bit more. Holy contractions!
At noon they checked me again and I was about 2 cm and 50% effaced. So my OB came in a bit after to break my water and to see if that would speed things up (the first 3-4 cm are the hardest to get through). So after she broke my water the contractions intensified. I was doing pretty well but then as the kicked up the Pitocin my contractions became pretty unbearable. They were about a minute long and coming about every 45 seconds. It was awful because I just couldn't get a break.
At 2:30 I made the call to get an epidural. (Leading up to labor, my goal was to go epi free if I could.) The epidural gave me some much needed relief. They knew I didn't really want one, so they left it pretty low so I could still feel the contractions and the edge was just taken off them. The epidural did make me sick a number of times throughout labor so I was cut off from water - that may have been the hardest part!
By 5pm I was 4-5 cm! So then they were estimating that I would keep going 1cm per hour and we were looking at a delivery around midnight - 1am. Well, I ended up going much faster than that and I was a full 10 cm by 8 pm. His head wasn't down so they had me do a few practice pushes. My epidural wore off around 8:30 and I didn't push the button for more because I wanted to feel the contractions and when to push as well as the fact it had made me throw up 4 or 5 times throughout the day.
I started really pushing at 9. They turned off the Pitocin because the contractions were still coming so fast and they needed to slow them down (they actually stopped so they needed to restart the Pitocin again so I could actually push.) 1 hour and 3 minutes later, Connor Julius was born!
He was 7 pounds, 10 ounces and 20 inches long. His cord was wrapped around his neck twice (but not tight). He's absolutely perfect and I am so very in love with him.
I am still pretty swollen and I did have a second degree episiotomy and that is pretty sore yet, but other than that I am feeling great!
Now that we're home, we're learning our new routines. There were a few sleepless nights, late night calls to the helps lines, and midnight runs to Walgreens, BUT we've made it past all that and life at home has been pretty fantastic. I am home for another 7 weeks and I can already tell it will be awful to go back to work
I read all of your posts during labor and after and I want to thank you all for the kind words and support! I meant a lot to me to read those!
Here are a few pictures of my sweet baby Connor and his copper red hair!
Many more pictures to come! I am going to attempt his newborn pictures tomorrow or Wednesday!
Oh and Connor was just a name we liked for a number of reasons and Julius is after my grandfather who passed away last October (I am named after him and he was named after his father and it goes back in the family, etc.)
OH OH and PS!!! I had my first postpartum appointment today (6 days).... even with all the swelling I am 1 pound less than my pre-pregnancy weight!
Re: Birth Story: Connor Julius
Blog
Thank you for the story Jules. A huge congrats to you all. Connor is just adorable and LOVE, LOVE the redhead!
oh and congrats on the PP weight loss!
Blog
Good job, mamma!
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great story!! he's adorable
congrats again!!
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