He is here!!!!! I can't believe he is here, but what I can tell you is that I am absolutely head over heels in love. The kind of love I never thought possible. As I type this right now I have this human being, who is half me and half Dusty, nuzzled to my chest in his moby wrap (which he loves:)
I am going to attempt the short version of his whole grand entrance into the world, but as many of you know, there was nothing short about it. I was in labor for 26 hours and in the end (and by the grace of God) I was able to push out this 9 lb 15 oz meatball that has been baking inside me. I will include some pictures of the journey at the end. I would just like to take the time now to say thank you. For everyone that has followed this blog up until this point, and prayed for the healthy and safe delivery of Dillan....it worked! God is so good and He faithfully answered our prayers. Dillan is perfect in every sense of the word. We were SURROUNDED and ENVELOPED in prayer by our closest friends and family during this journey and we have never felt so loved. So, without further ado, here is the story of my little bear cub.....
I went to bed on Tuesday night, June 2nd like it was any other night, prepared for another night of horrible sleep, lots of peeing, and a ton of effort just to roll over. At about 1:30 I got up for a standard pee session, but when I sat down on the toilet I felt a gush of liquid and thought "I don't think that is pee...." But I just went back to bed and as soon as I laid down on the mattress I felt another gush! I woke Dusty up and said "I think my water just broke but I am not sure." So we sat there for about 10 minutes deciding if we should call the Dr. I didn't want to be "that girl" who rushes to the hospital just to find out I had peed myself. However, we decided to call and they told me to come in. Dusty hopped in the shower, we got everything together and off we went to the hospital. When I got there they did a test to determine if my water had indeed broke, and it had. I wasn't having contractions yet, so I was still pretty comfortable. We got our room and got settled and the contractions started coming around 4:30 in the morning. I spent the good part of the morning getting through those first contractions with the help of Dusty and the breathing we learned in class. At 8:30 the Dr. came to check me and I was at 3 cm dilated and decided to get the epidural at that point. The rest of the day I progressed pretty well on my own, getting to 6 cm by 1:00 pm. After that, I slowed down a bit and was stuck at 6 for awhile. It wasn't until 5:30 that they checked again and I was at 7. All this time, I was comfortable. I had my epidural and we had a ton of people coming in and out to say hi and it was a big party in my room. But then things took a turn for the worse. At around 8:00 I started to feel the pain of the contractions, so they gave me a boost of the medicine. But nothing was working or taking the pain away. Bottom line.....I was a 9 cm dilated and fully laboring with no drugs. What this translated to is pure hell. I was throwing up, crying, and kept saying "why is this happening? The drugs are supposed to work!" In the end, they ended up taking out my first epidural and giving me a whole new one. By 11:00, I was dead to the world, but at least couldn't feel the pain. Now it was a waiting game. My Dr. was not there so I had the Dr. on call, which ended up being the biggest blessing. Dr. May has delivered the most babies in Orange County of any OB/GYN and he was so patient. Thankfully, Dillan was still happy as a clam in there and was showing no signs of distress and I didn't have a temperature which is a sign of infection (since my water broke). So they let me ride it out until it was time to push. That time came at 2:00 am (we are now at June 4th folks....his actual due date:). I pushed for 54 minutes, until my son made his way from the inside to the out and into my arms. When the Dr. first pulled him out and showed him to me I thought "he is ginormous!" I was a big ball of mess when they put him on me and I could feel, touch, see, and smell him. Pure heaven. When they took him to clean him off and weigh him, all I could think was "THANK YOU Jesus for letting me have him naturally." So many things had to go right for me to not to have a C-Section in those last few hours, and it all came together in the end. When the nurse yelled out 9lbs and 15 oz, I think I passed out. Did that seriously just come out of me??? But to be honest, I felt proud. I DID IT! I have the war wounds to prove it (including a broken blood vessel in my eye from pushing:)
Since the momentous occasion, things have been going awesome. Dillan is an excellent eater and sleeper. He gets up about every 4 hours to eat and then goes right back to sleep at night. I have more milk then I know what to do with. I have already pumped close to 20 oz just to relieve the pressure!!!!!!!! I have had many hours sitting up at night in the last week to reflect on this whole experience and here are the few things I want to share with all of you:
1.) Hands down, without debate, I have the MOST AMAZING husband in the world. Dusty was an ALL STAR. He never left my side. He supported me through, even when I was ready to throw in the towel and do the C-Section. He breathed, prayed, and championed me through the entire 26 hour experience. To see my son (who looks like Dusty) brings out a whole new level of love between us. I can't wait to see Dillan grow up to be just like his dad. An amazing man of God, a constant source of strength to me, and my best friend.
2.) My entire hospital experience was awesome! Saddleback was the bomb! My nurses were phenomenal and took such good care of me. In a world, where many women don't have the opportunity to have such great hospitals where they live, I was counting my blessings. I am so grateful to Dr. May. He was so supportive and Dillan was his 9,453rd baby he has delivered in his 40 years of practice!
3.) The friends and family we are surrounded by are a pure gift. From the time we were admitted to the hospital to when we were discharged 3 days later, I think we had about 50 friends and family come see and support us. This is unreal! Thank you to everyone who came out and loved on us. Our immediate family was there every step of the way. Every parent and sibling was present and that meant the world to us.
Okay.....that is one LONG post, but I figured I would write it all down, and that way I have access to it at any time in case I forget any of the details:) Below are a few pics of the event that has changed our life. Thanks for reading!
My "To bring to Hospital List"
Just got dressed in my gown and got into
our "birthing suite"
Look at that belly!!!!
The giant meatball making his first
appearance into the world
Purest love I have ever known.....
perfection
Read it and weep...9 lbs and 15 oz!
We are a family of 3 now....crazy
Skin to skin is my favorite.....
I love his little nudie body:)
My chunk a monk
The two loves of my life
Time to go home! All dressed
up in his going home outfit
from PJ
We were so ready to leave the hospital
and get home. We had such a great experience!
Car ride home. His cheeks were shaking from
the vibrations of the car....I was dying!
Papa and Yaya had this sign delivered
to the house so everyone knew he had arrived.
Dillan LOVES his bouncer seat from
Auntie Jordyn and Karly
First Bath! He wasn't too sure about it,
but I loved every second of it....especially
how good he smelled after:)
My little Prince
