Baby Brother

Jesse Bryant McNeill

3-25-10

8lbs. 15oz. 21in.

3:41 a.m.

Im finding it hard to find a place to begin, so I guess I’ll just jump right in. Wednesday morning (3-24) I had an appointment with the Dr. He told me a week ago that he would induce me…I was very excited about that. So, the appointment went well, I was still dilated to a 2, but my cervix was more favorable than previous weeks. (TMI? Get over it, there is more TMI to come) My Dr. kept to his word and said “should we send you over right now? Or would you rather wait another day or two?” I was ready to go! Besides we had made arrangements with my parents to watch Curtis that day.

After getting to the hospital about 10:30, they got me started on my first dose of cytotech (the inducing drug). And I quickly found out that there is nothing on daytime tv. By 3 pm they gave me my 2nd dose…still only dilated to a two. I was walking a lot to try and help moving things along, but I felt like I wasn’t in enough pain to really make things move. Well, by 7pm I was due for my 3rd dose of cytotech, but I had only progressed to 3 cm!!! (get that…1cm in 8 hours!) At 7:20 the Dr. broke my water…that was one of the strangest sensations I’ve ever experienced! Besides the initial rush of water, with every contraction after that for an hour it was a constant flow! I estimate that I lost 3-5 lbs. of just water in that hour! I got to get up and walk around for an hour after that (again, to try an make things happen). At this point I started to get really frustrated that the labor wasn’t moving fast enough. I might as well have been walking around the store because I could walk through the contractions! At 10:30 pm I was 4cm and the nurse started me on pitocin (sp?). 12 hours of labor and only 2cm…awesome. Here’s where it gets interesting! The pain was coming!!! I had been waiting all day to feel like I was in labor and almost instantly with the pitocin, the contractions were stronger and more painful. I received my epidural at midnight and it couldn’t have come at a sooner time. I was beginning to shake uncontrollably and vomit from the pain. But I was at 5cm…half way there! From this point on, time seemed to fly. I went from 5cm to complete in 3 hours. 3 am, and the nurse asked me to try some practice pushes. I pushed twice and she told me to stop because it’s best that the Dr. is there for the delivery! By 3:20 (ish) I was pushing. In between contractions/pushing, the nurses were taking bets on the weight…they were all off. At 3:41 Jesse was born, and I couldn’t have been more relieved! The cord was wrapped around his neck once but other than that, it was a very uneventful delivery…of which I was grateful for.

He is named Jesse after my great grandpa Jesse Addison Udall, and Bryant is Clifton's mother's maiden name.

Since being home (we got home at noon on Saturday 3-27), we’ve loved our time with him. He really is an angel! Curtis in anxious to help out too! I told him it was time to feed Jesse, and he ran to get a bottle! I then had to explain how I feed him, but so far I’m grateful for Curtis’ willingness to help.

We love our new baby! We feel so blessed to have him in our home.