Introducing Isaac

By now, most of you have already heard the good news, that Isaac finally made his grand entrance. Ta-da!

As for those of you who want a little more info, here are the details of the day's events.

I had a regular 40 week appointment on Wednesday and found out I was still dilated to a two. My OB was going to be on call on Thursday, so we decided to go ahead and schedule the induction for Thursday morning, at 5 days past due. I'm not a big fan of inducing for the sake of convenience, but in this case, they would have induced me on Saturday anyway, so I figured that doing it two days earlier wasn't the end of the world.

Tim's family came to town on Wednesday night, so Tim and I headed to the hospital at 8am on Thursday, and the Evanses, mom, and Alex met up with us a little later. Here's one last belly shot before we left for the hospital - the fog on the lens should give you an idea of how hot it is in Dallas at 9am in June.

They started the pitocin around 9:30 to get things going, and the doc broke my water a couple hours later. I had planned on holding out for the epidural as long as possible because I didn't want to prolong things, but around 12:30, the nurse convinced me to go ahead and get the epidural since I was planning on getting it eventually anyway, and she explained that it wouldn't delay things any more than 30 minutes anyway. Sold.

As a matter of fact, it probably ended speeding things up. Since they didn't have to worry about my pain level, they just cranked the pitocin up and things really got moving. Over the next few hours, our nurse kept asking whether I felt pressure or if I was ready to push, to which I responded, "I don't know, I can't feel anything". Oh epidural, how do I love thee?

She finally checked me at 3:30, just to see how things were progressing, and discovered that I was at a ten. TEN!! While I was lying around comfortably, reading about this season's jewelry trends and Real Housewives going bankrupt, my body was hard at work preparing to usher a child into the world. I was shocked. So this was what it was like to have an epidural that works!! OMG, did I get ripped off last time or what...

Our nurse (who was FABULOUS, btw, and I plan to schedule my next induction around when she is on call) paged my doctor and started to gather the childbirth-related-paraphernalia. When she had things organized, she suggested that we attempt a "trial push" just to see where we were at. When she peeled the sheets back and saw what we were working with, the look on her face was what I would describe as "restrained panic". Apparently Isaac was ready to fall out on his head. Literally. Meanwhile, my doctor was totally m.i.a., and the nurse attempted to maintain some composure as she called for the nearest CRN or CNM or whoever else would be qualified to deliver my baby.

Luckily, my OB arrived just in the nick of time. She barely had time to don her gown and booties before the nurse exclaimed "Contraction!" and told me to start pushing. One push would have done the job, but the peanut gallery insisted that I "slow down" and push again. Another half a push later et voila!! Isaac Glen Evans was born on Thursday, June 17th, 2010 at 3:44pm, weighing in at 7lbs. 15ozs. and 20 1/2 inches long.

We brought Alex in alone to meet his brother before anyone else. He was elated to finally see the baby we'd been talking about for ten months. He asked to hold him right away and we got the cutest video of their first moments together, which I will post in the next day or two.

The rest of the family was waiting eagerly outside the door for a glimpse at baby Isaac. And yes, those are "Team Isaac" shirts you see. What you don't see is that the back of my mom's shirt says, "Just call me BM Grandpa". I could explain why, but I'd rather leave it open to interpretation.

From beginning to end, my labor lasted about 6 1/2 hours, and to say that l&d was easy this time would be a vast understatement. I didn't know what to expect this time since my expectations were completely blown to pieces during my l&d experience with Alex, but I am very pleasantly surprised at how things turned out. I really have no interest in opening the natural vs. medicated childbirth debate (although I am running that risk just by making this statement), but I do know that having a relaxed and comfortable "medicated" delivery has left me feeling less exhausted and more prepared to care for a newborn than I did after an 18 hour labor that ended with an "unmedicated" delivery. And that's all I'm gonna say about that.

By the time Saturday morning rolled around, I was ready to get the heck out of dodge. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed my stay in the hospital and my experience at Presby couldn't have been better. The nurses, the doctors, the "accommodations" - everything and everyone was so nice and professional and efficient. However, when it was time to go, I could not get out of there fast enough.

We finally were discharged and got to go home. It was the best feeling to walk through the front door with my three boys and finally have a use for all of the baby stuff that has been sitting around our house for months. Now we are just settling in to life with a newborn and a toddler, many more adventures are sure to come, and I will do my best to blog about them!