IT'S A BOY!!!!

Our son, Blake Ryan, was born on Friday, Nov. 6th at 1:13 a.m.!! Weight: 7 lbs. 15 oz. Length: 21 1/4 inches Here's the story:

I had false labor on + off all week that started on his due date, Nov. 2nd. It usually started at night and sometimes the contractions would get up to 5 min. apart and then they would stop after a couple of hours. That was really frustrating for us. On Thursday, Nov. 5th, I had a doctor's appt. All of that false labor was not for nothing...I was 3 cm dilated at my appt. She asked me, "Do you want me to do a membrane sweep?" I quickly said, "YES!" I went home and by 2:00 that afternoon, I was having contractions again. They were about 5 min. apart, but I wasn't sure if it was real this time. I was GBS positive, so I was supposed to go to the hospital either when my water broke or when my contractions were 5 min. apart. They were pretty steady all afternoon and by 5:00 I figured we should go to the hospital. We got ready and dropped Kiera off at my parents' house and arrived at the hospital at 7 p.m. When I got there, I was 5 cm dilated. My doula came and we got moved to a really nice LDRP room where you labor, deliver, and recover, so you never have to move! I went into the jacuzzi tub almost right away and labored in there for a couple of hours. By 11:00, the pain was getting pretty bad, so I said, "I want an epidural." They measured me and I was 7 cm dilated. The nurse tried to talk me out of it because she figured the labor would go quickly after that and that the epidural would hardly have time to take effect. I was getting frustrated with her and she said, "Why don't you try the gas?" and I said, "Ok." I tried it for a bit and I really didn't like it. It made me very dizzy. I was still in the jacuzzi room at that time and said, "I still want an epidural," so they moved me back to my room and checked me again. I was 8 cm dilated and they said, "It's too late." I was like, "WHAT?! I have to do this naturally?" They hooked up some fentanyl to my IV, which helped a bit, but not much. Shortly before 1:00 a.m., I was 10 cm dilated and ready to start pushing and was in the WORST pain of my life. I said, "I feel like I'm going to die!" I was writhing around on the bed, not knowing how I was possibly going to go on. They broke my water, I pushed for 15 min. and out came Blake! While I was pushing, I had NO drugs...totally not what I had planned for! The burning I had while pushing was incredibly painful and combined with the pain of the contractions it was almost unbearable. When he came out, they didn't announce what the gender was. The doctor held him up and said, "Look!" I half sat up and said, "A penis?! Oh my goodness! We have a boy!! Thank you Jesus!" After that, Jared cut the cord. We had really wanted a boy and just felt so blessed that we got the genders that we wanted both times! I had 2nd degree tearing, which makes sitting painful, but it's slowly healing. Blake hardly ever cries...basically just when he's hungry or getting his diaper changed. He's been sleeping very well and we're just so incredibly blessed! Blake means "forgiven" and Ryan means "youthful heart." Here are a few pictures: