At approximately 6 AM, Antoinette and I arrived at the hospital to begin the process of inducing labor. She was checked in, stepped into her hospital gown, got as comfortable as she possible could, and then the doctor came in. At about 8:15 AM, the Doctor broker her water and began her on an Pitosin drip. Within an hour or so, her contractions had begun to increase although Antoinette could still not feel them. The plan was to increase her drip from 2 ml/hr to 20 ml/hr in 2 ml/hr increments ever 20 minutes.
Before long, Antoinette had begun to show signs of progress and she began to feel the brunt of the contractions. At that point, she requested the epidural be started and within an hour, Antoinette had been hooked up and the pain reliever had begun to flow. Shortly after, the pain faded until it was non-existent and Antoinette rode out the bulk of her 16 hour labor relatively pain free.
She began to move slowly from 2 cms dilated to 3 cms dilated. Then from 3 to 4 and from 4 she jumped to 6 cms dilated. By 7 cms dilated, about 14 hours into labor, she had begun to feel the pain of contractions over and above the relief that the epidural was capable of providing. The good news was that within an hour and a half, she shot forward to 9.5 cms dilated and 100% effaced which is great because as a husband, you can imagine no more helpless a feeling than to watch your wife in pain without anything you can do.
A little after 11 PM, Antoinette began pushing and by 11:52 AM, she had given birth to our son, William Arthur Douglas Lionhood II. The odd part was that the final hour of labor prior to pushing was the worst part for her. The actual act of pushing went by much easier, with Antoinette smiling, laughing, and even telling the occasional joke in between contractions.
The baby emerged a little messy and after being cleaned off a bit, was immediately given to his Mother. I quickly cut the cord and the doctor's proceeded with the act of Antoinette passing the placenta while the baby was taken across the room for his APGAR testing (which he scored a solid 8-9 on), a routine physical and reflex test, and for the doctor to clean out a bit of meconium that had been swallowed (which is typical of a 41 week pregnancy). After a bit, he was placed under the warmer and spent the better part of the next hour being poked and prodded, weighed and measured, and most of it screaming his little lungs out (he was crying from the minute his head popped out without assistance).
Antoinette and I had an opportunity to spend the night with the little guy in our room and she recovered remarkably well. She was a bit sore and uncomfortable, but was in remarkably good spirits. The little guy took immediately regarding feeding sessions with Mom and has been doing very well since birth. Antoinette was feeling so well this morning that she actually cleaned the suite, took a shower, and was generally good and able to see any and all visitors.
This morning, Billy had his hearing test, which he passed, and had his circumcision, which as you can imagine, he did not particularly enjoy. Since that time though, he has basically been sound asleep, as he is in this picture with his Mother. Now, I am home to shower, change, pack some things, eat, and then head back to the hospital for our 2nd night. We hope to have the little guy home sometime tomorrow, just in time for the NFL Draft on Saturday.
I hope you enjoy this picture and some of the others I'll be floating around in email... The next update will be in about a week and will not be emailed out as a reminder, so remember to tune in periodically if you want updates on how he's doing and the milestones he's reaching.
1 comment:
You look gorgeous and your baby is adorable! I love the name, it has substance.
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