Thursday, February 26, 2009

Gabriel is Here!!

Gabriel Christian Rasch was born yesterday, February 25th at 9:39 p.m. He is 21 inches long and 7lbs, 12 oz. Labor and delivery went exceedingly well and we are so excited to welcome Gabe into our family!!!






We arrived at the hospital at 8 a.m. Shawn dropped me off at the entrance while he went to park the car. I checked in and the nurses helped me get ready for my induction. They hooked me up to an IV and Dr. Howick came in to check on me. In the mean time, Shawn and I started a game of Scrabble. About an hour later the nurses came in and started my Pitocin. After about an hour and a half of absolutely no contractions Dr. Howick came back and broke my water. I quickly became a smaller version of Niagra Falls. The 24 inches + of fluid that was in the amniotic sac seemed to flow en masse forever. My contractions then began almost immediately. They weren't bad, but by no means were they comfortable. They started about a minute apart and then quickly went to about 20-30 seconds apart. I didn't have time to breathe. After about an hour the nurses came in and suggested that I get the epidural soon as I needed to be able to hold still for it to be done. I agreed and within a half hour the CRNA appeared to give me the fabulous drugs. It didn't take a whole lot of time, though she did comment that I was the first patient that she had who giggled when she was having contractions. Within five minutes I couldn't feel a thing. It was beautiful!! The next 9 hours were lovely and pain free. I napped and watched sit coms all day. I also starved. The last few hours they decided to put me on oxygen to try and help Gabe as he was becoming stressed after most of my contractions. In the last two hours I rolled back and forth and back and forth as we attempted to find a position that would help me finish dialating while at the same time reducing Gabe's stress. Eventually, I began to feel the pressure of Gabe pushing down on my pelvic floor. They checked to see if I was ready, but unfortunately the right side of my cervix seemingly refused to finish dialating that last half centimeter. Dr. Brown (the on call doctor) came in and was contemplating a C-section when I seemed to finish opening up and they decided I should start pushing. It was about 9:05 p.m. at that time. So I started. Eventually the room filled. Shawn, Aunt Patty and I, my nurse, the doctor, a couple of other nurses, the resident, and a med student were all there. While I pushed, my nurse stretched me and counted and Shawn stood at my head helping support my back and also counting. Eventually the med student and resident also began counting as they didn't seem to know what else to do. (I think they felt a little awkward just taking up space.) They even became my own little cheering squad. It was quite entertaining. I was having a hard time not laughing as I pushed because of it. (I should note at this point that I was feeling absolutely no pain whatsoever, it was quite beautiful.) After about 8 pushes I felt Gabe head down my pelvic bone and stop after just crowning. Then I had the longest wait for a contraction I had had all day. I was honestly a little worried that another one wasn't going to come. He started moving though and they told me to push. I started, he started to come out, they told me to stop (his cord was wrapped around his neck once). They fixed the problem and told me to push and in one push Shawn and I had a new son!! They handed him to me for a moment before taking him over to measure and weigh him.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

After having my own children and this insane love for the birthing process I have this habit of crying anytime I hear or see this process in action. I am so happy for you that your labor was so very easy. I was praying you would have a wonderful and blessed delivery and it really sounds like you did.

That can be the scariest part of the whole ordeal and under unfortunate and challenging circumstances, a lot of women decide never to have children again. Personally, my delivery with Jeht was a very traumatic and horrifying experience because of the hospital staff and policies at the time. Nonetheless, I would have done it over and over again just to have him in my life. I can honestly say that the delivery is one of my favorite parts of the entire pregnancy. I too am blessed with shorter, less painful labors and it really isn't fair that all labors aren't that way. I'm truly happy that all my hopes and prayers for you have come to pass in this life event.

As you look back you will continue to cherish the photos you were able to get and the time you took to journal the moment. I wish you all the best blessings in life now and always.
Much Love,

Anonymous said...

ok now I'm crying...
told you it was sort of the coolest thing you'll ever do:)

jobeen said...

Yay hello Gabe! Congrats new Momma and Pappa :)