Baby is here!

I am so thrilled to announce the arrival of David Arthur on July 18th. We are both doing well and plan on coming home from the hospital today.

July 17-A busy day was planned. Alicia sang in church and then we took her to Bible camp, about 2 hours away. It was a nice family outing, although we were in the midst of an extreme heatwave...115 degree heat index. We came home and I attempted to accomplish some last minute tasks..still packing my hospital bag (perhaps in denial that I was really ever going to have this baby?), cleaning, dishes, laundry...even planting some flowers that I knew were going to die if I didn't get them into the ground. I finally went to bed about 10:30pm.

July 18-a bit after midnight I began to get some strong, fairly regular contractions. I had prayed that labor would begin before I had to go to the hospital and it appeared that God has answered my prayers. These were contractions unlike any that I had been experiencing the previous nights. The contractions continued and woke me up a few times with their intensity. I got up at 6am, took a shower and prepared to leave for the hospital (about 20 miles away). On the way, the contractions continued to be strong and regular..about 5-7 minutes apart. I felt dejavu, as this same scenario had occured 19 years earlier for the birth of my firstborn (also in July). I had gone into the labor the night before his scheduled induction at 9 days past due. This baby was 8-12 days overdue depending on which duedate we used.

Once we arrived at the hospital, we checked in and made our way back to L&D. It is a small hospital and we were the only ones there. They checked me and I was 4cm and 75% effaced (at 7am)..I had made progress since Wed. The nurse, still expecting me to get Pit and possibly an epi, hooked me up to my i.v. and then blood was drawn. Jesse and I watched an old Red Skelton movie on TCM while we waited for the doctor. Doctor Mary came in at 7:30 and broke my water. At this point, the way my contractions were going she did not expect me to have to get pit and even questioned the I.V. I told her that I would probably get an epidural, so she ordered one. She wanted me to get up and walk and I attempted to do this, but the contractions were continuing to build in intensity and frequency. At about 10 am, she checked me and saidI was a good 8-9 cm. I was extremely thrilled with my progress, but having an increasingly hard time with my contractions. The anesthiologist was called and Dr. Mary instructed him to go easy on the meds as I was getting so close. It began to give me some relief about 10:30 and at 11:30 I was almost complete with just a small cervical lip. Baby's heart took a dip and they put me on my side and gave me some oxygen..which did the trick. I was complete and began to push at 11:45 and David Arthur made his way into the world at 12:07pm. He looked so big and healthy and so familiar! Like a combination of all the kids put together. We found out he weighed 8lbs 15oz (my biggest by 13 oz) and was 21 inches long. What an amazing relief to have him here and healthy. I felt wonderful, too. Such a different labor then one induced with Pit for me. I felt like I could dance down the halls (more of a feeling then reality to be sure). My mom was there to witness the birth of her 13th grandchild and Jesse's mom (David is her 18th grandchild) came a bit later and brought the kids to meet their new brother.

We are so thrilled for the miracle of our new little son and praise God for his safe arrival. We found out after the delivery that there was a something unique about the way that his umblical cord went into the plancenta. Dr. Mary showed us how the cord went into the top, rather than the middle. It was very vulnerable to tearing and other accidents and only occurs in about 1 in 200,000 births.

Psalm 139:14 (New International Version)
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.