Bode's Big Day

I can't believe nine months has flown by so quickly! It seems like just yesterday that I was having blood drawn at the lab to find out in front of all my work friends that I was PREGNANT!

Towards the end of my pregnancy, my doctor kept telling me, "This is a huge baby. There is no way we are going to make it into October." But every week, I would catch up in average size a little bit and my due date remained the same. He finally scheduled me for an induction on Friday, October 10, 2008. We took the girls for a sleepover with their cousins at my sister Marnie's the night before. However, Marnie was at work all night, so Uncle Rob got to brave the storm of the Vincent girls! Steve and I went to dinner at Tepanyaki (a place we would NEVER take our kids) and then decided to see a movie! It was nice, but I was having strong contractions every hour. We tried to get some sleep, but I was too excited to meet my baby boy! We got to the hospital around 7:15 and by 8:00 I was in bed with Pitocin and my first dose of Clindamycin (for my Group B Strep). Then we waited...in fact Steve looked over at me and said, "So, we have some time, what do you want to talk about?" I started to get a little uncomfortable around 10:30 when my doctor came in to break my water. He told me that he and anesthesia would be in a C-section from 12-1 so I should get my epidural now. I had no problem with that! The anesthesiologist came in around 11:15 and it is amazing how well those can work! I was instantly comfortable and ready for a nap. My dad stopped by and took Steve for a walk so I could nap (and they could eat!) My nurse checked me around 1:30 to find me at a 6. Ten minutes later I rolled over to my side because I was feeling a lot of pressure. Another nurse came in to adjust the monitors and found me "complete". Luckily, Steve and my dad walked in just then and my doctor wasn't too far behind.
This was by far the easiest delivery I have had. In one contraction I pushed 4 times and out came our bouncing baby boy! He weighed in at 8 lbs. 7.2 oz and 20 inches long. Our biggest baby yet! Maybe I don't remember very well, but it sure seemed like the nurse kept him over in the corner for an awfully long time. It turned out his glucose was low and they had to instantly feed him some formula to try and get it regulated.
I was lucky to have my dad there with me during the delivery. I know my mom was there in spirit too. However, this time was a little different...my stepmom Terry was also there. She made it just in the nick of time and ran in just as Bode was born. They are such amazing grandparents and neither could be more excited to have another grandson.
Paige was instantly in love with her new brother and Claire gave the reaction I thought she would, "I'm done. I don't want him anymore." She loves him to pieces now! Nearly all the cousins were there, so I think both of the girls were distracted.
After my epidural wore off, I developed a terrible headache and a pain between my shoulder blades. The only comfortable position was flat on my back in the dark. It lasted through the night into the next morning. It killed me to hold Bode for feedings, and I couldn't bend my neck to look down at him. I felt awful. Here I had carried this baby for nine long months and now I couldn't even enjoy him? As it turns out, I had a small nick in my epidural space causing the pain. My anesthesiologist had gone home at the end of his shift Saturday morning, but felt so badly about my pain came back to help his partner give me a blood patch. (It sure helps that my sister knows them all! I love special treatment!) One of the doctors went back into my epidural space while the other drew blood from my arm to inject into my back. It was worse than getting an epidural, but by the time I sat up I felt instantly better. I was so glad to feel better and have the rest of the day to snuggle my boy!

He has been great here at home! The girls can't get enough of him and I am wondering if I will ever get tired of holding him and looking at him! For now, I am just loving every minute of it!