Saturday, July 6, 2013

Graham's Birth Story

We are officially 1 week away from our little man's FIRST birthday! How can that even be possible?!? The past year has been the best year of our lives. With his birthday approaching, I thought it would be appropriate to dedicate the next 7 days to highlight the "BIG" things that have happened in the last 365. Let's start off the countdown with his birth story, which I journaled as a letter to Graham when we got home from the hospital.


Your Birth Story



Well, the doctor finally said we should help motivate you. At 41 weeks, an induction was scheduled. We had an appointment on Thursday afternoon, Dr. Fagan said that I was 1.5 centimeters dilated and we could schedule the induction. She called the hospital and scheduled us for 6 am the following Friday morning, Friday the 13th. We left the dr’s office and went home to spend our last night together as a family of two. We packed our bags, went out for Chinese, took a family photo, and went to bed early. I (Mommy) was up by 4:30 the next morning to get ready to meet you. I had to get ready! We made it to the hospital, got checked in, IV started, and then we got bad news. Dr. Brandenstein said that I was not dilated enough for her to break my water. I was so mad, sad, frustrated, and over it! Without another option, we headed back home, very upset. Grandpa and Grandma Hege were already here and expecting to meet you. Mommy and Daddy decided to go for a walk to help with the frustration and passing of the time until the doctors office opened. Once I got a hold of Dr. Fagan, I told her how upset and frustrated I was. After speaking with her, we headed back to the hospital around 11:30 for her to do the induction herself. Got settled back in to the same room and began to walk the halls waiting for Dr. Fagan. She arrived around 1:00 pm to break my water. At this point, I was already between 3-4 centimeters dilated and having contractions on my own. Once my water was broken, I was stuck in the bed for the duration of the labor. About 15 minutes after Dr. Fagan broke my water, the nurse started pitocin. The pitocin really intensified the contractions right away. About an hour and a half after the pitocin had started, the contractions were really painful and I was ready to be checked again. I made a deal with myself that if I had progressed then I would go ahead and get the epidural. Good news, I had made it to 4-5 and said, let’s have those drugs! The anesthesiologist took no time getting in our room and setting up the epidural. Daddy had a tough time during the epidural – I thought he was going to faint! The dr. asked me if I had a metal taste in my mouth and Daddy said – I do! All of the nurses laughed and then told him to sit down. Mommy was on her own. The epidural was more painful than I expected it to be, but it was so worth it. Once we got settled back in, the epidural started to creep up my chest and my blood pressure started dropping. Daddy called the nurses and they had to turn the epidural down, and give me some medicine to help things return to normal. Then – it was nap time. Daddy was in charge of informing the family of my progress and I just relaxed. I had made it to 5, 2 hours later I was at 7 and then next time I got checked it was time to push. I began to push with each contraction and had about 45 seconds-1minute to rest between. Daddy was quiet during this time until I told him I needed him to spit out his gum and count to 10! Each contraction yielded 3 hard pushes. After 45 minutes of pushing, I experienced the most amazing feeling in the world. You were born at 11:59 pm and you were a BOY! I was so convinced you were going to be a girl, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. You were perfect and when you cried I felt an overwhelming joy that I’ll never be able to put in to words. After holding you for a second, they whisked you away to check you out. I could see you and I watched the whole time. After a short time, I got you back. You nursed right away and I fell in love with you more as each second passed. I thought I loved your Dad before you were born, but that love intensified so much more the second I saw him with you. We decided to name you Graham Jacob Dickerson. You were 8 lbs 4.5 oz, 20 ½ inches long. Your head and chest were 14 inches. You have 10 perfect fingers and 10 perfect toes. You are calm and you rarely cry. You look exactly like your Dad in every way possible. He is so excited that he has a SON.

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