Meet Russell!

Well, the morning of the nineteenth was unlike any other to date. For one, Matt and I were alone at the house. Keldrie had a sleep over at Grandma Smith's. (Thanks again, Elaine!) Not only that, but we were both waking up at 5. I say both, because Matt gets up at 5 on a regular basis to get studying, scripture reading, and exercising in before heading up to school. I sleep in until Keldrie wakes up and tells me she is "berry hungry". So we woke up and Matt called the hospital to see if there was an open bed. Turns out, lots of women decided to give birth in the last 48 hours or so, and no, there was no bed. 

No bed means no inducing and no inducing means no baby. Oh crap. So yes, we did what anyone would do in our situation: discuss all the gross, nasty, and ridiculous ways to induce labor naturally and then.... went back to sleep.

Upon waking up the second time, we ate breakfast, took showers, and cleaned ourselves up a bit. By this point, we thought we should go get Kel from Elaine. Matt called his mom and at the same time, I called the hospital to see when we might expect a bed to open up, and therefore knew if we would need somewhere for Keldrie to sleep.  As we are pulling out of the neighborhood to go get Keldrie, I am finally answered by the charge nurse that she expects a bed for me in the next 3 hours. Well, we turned around and came home. I figured it would be hard for Keldrie to understand why we picked her up for a few hours only to drop her off again and be on our way. So home we went. We picked up our morning dishes and then found ways to spend our time. Me by browsing away on Pintrest and Matt by doing homework. Well, I started to get hungry for some lunch and it was decided that we should have some grilled cheese. I am just flipping the first sandwich when my phone rings, and of course, they are ready for me. Matt decides I can have the grilled sandwich and he will eat his cold and un-grilled. So really I guess it was just a plain cheese sandwich.

We got to the hospital with our hearts and adrenaline pumping. And then.... we waited to check in for about 20 minutes. Life, right? 

Once we were all checked in, we got to the room, I got changed and they asked me about 50 million questions about all sorts of things. But my nurse was great! She was patient and made me laugh and was just helpful. Then finally came the IV and the Pitocin to start my contractions. My doctor came and broke my water and then we were off. Well sort of. They start the Pit low and so it took about an hour to have the first real contraction. For the first 2 hours or so, I do fine and then the contractions start to get longer and more painful so I asked for the epidural. The anesthesiologist was also pretty great. He talked to me about football and basketball while he put the epidural in to distract me. After about an hour and a half of the epidural, it had only numbed me on my right side. So back came the anesthesiologist and he pulled it out just slightly and then gave me an extra shot of the stuff. After that and some adjusting my weight, the epidural spread to my left side and I was feeling pretty good. 

I kept trying to nap, but between all the stuff going on, I didn't. Around 8:15 I asked to be checked again. I had been checked about an hour before and was a 6, but I was feeling pressure. The nurse came in and yep, I was a full 10 and ready to go. They called the doctor and brought in all the medical equipment and after only about 4 pushes, which took about 5 minutes, out came Russell! He is beautiful. So small and perfect. He weighed 6 pounds even and was only 18 inches long. 

My mom was there almost all afternoon and my dad and little sister came to visit once they knew he was born. Now Russell is being given his first real bath in the nursery and Matt is sleeping on the couch in my room. He planned on going to his parent's house, but that was when we were starting at 6 am instead of 12 pm. I'm waiting for the feeling in my legs to return so I can have my epidural taken out and all that good stuff. 

I only have these two pictures so far, but hey, I'm updating the blog only 4 hours after giving birth, so it will have to do for a few days!

I really just wanted to write it all down while it is fresh in my mind! It's amazing what you forget in only a few days. 

We love him so much already. Matt just can't stop smiling. He is so happy to be a daddy for the second time. Oh, and he does not follow after his sister when it comes to crying. His little cry is soft and sweet and just right for him. 

Welcome to the world, Russell!