For those who haven't heard, baby James Patrick Brinton was born at 10:01 p.m. on Thursday July 16th, 2009. He weighed 7 lbs 9 oz and was 20.5 inches long. He apparently wanted to make a grand entrance because his birth was quite involved.
Here is the story from the top:
He decided to break my water during Harry Potter 6 (which I have a lot to comment about but not right now). He began leaking amniotic fluid during the movie but was not sure what was happening down there. One of the joys of pregnancy is that urine sometimes leaks involuntarily and I really thought I was just peeing myself. Embarrassing. Turns out I have more bladder control than I gave myself credit for and it really was amniotic fluid.
We had our bags packed and we headed off for the hospital. When we got to the hospital, it was 10:00 p.m. on Wednesday. I was dilated to a 3 1/2 when we got there and I was having really weak contractions. They got me checked in and started me on Pitocin. It took FOREVER for that stuff to work. by 4 p.m. on Thursday the contractions had finally kicked in and I opted for the epidural. Not as bad as everyone says except that I quickly discovered that I'm allergic to the drugs they were putting into me. Lots of puke-age. I was dilating quickly and before I knew it is was time to push. I was having back labor and I'm one of the few people who the epidural only worked on half of my body...needless to say I was feeling pretty horrible. I pushed for 2 hours, during which the babys heart rate was dropping to ridiculously low levels. The nurse had to push the emergency button a few times during the pushing process because his heart rate had dropped too low. Finally, the doctors came in and said that the baby was not going to be able to fit because of the way my pelvis is shaped and that I would need a C-Section. I was totally ok with that because the baby and I were both not doing so hot.
They prepped me for surgery quickly but by the time that we were in the operating room, the baby's heart rate was in the 40's. They had to get him out quickly. They pinched me to see if I was numb and I could still feel it so they gave me some more drugs. Then they poked me with the scalpel and I could still feel it so they gave me some more drugs. Then they started cutting. I think when I let out the blood curdling scream, they realized I was not numb. They started moving my insides and I could still feel it. I knew they had to get the baby out but I was not anticipating that! Finally the anesthesiologist pumped a magical white medicine in and I was out. They had baby James out in just a few minutes after they cut me open. Pat jumped into dad mode instantly and was wonderful with him from the beginning.
In recovery, I finally got to see our beautiful baby boy a couple of hours after surgery and he was perfect. After I knew that he was healthy and happy, I was happy.
I was totally healed up after about a week and I feel like my old self again. Baby James had jaundice and had to stay in the NICU for a couple of days but when we finally brought him home, life was complete. He is a wonderful baby and is really pretty easy. He's even letting us sleep a little. He's already over 8 lbs and doing great!
We feel so blessed to have this amazing little angel for our son. He has brought Pat and I more happiness than we could ever have imagined and it gets better everyday.
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