Our new addition arrived!

So I haven't been keeping up with writing on this blog at all. I was so exhausted my entire pregnancy that some days it was a victory to be upright! The first 17 weeks were the most stressful for me since I was sick every day. David would come home and I would be on the couch with a nice green tint to my face. Medication helped but it was not a perfect solution. The rest of the pregnancy was alright, I enjoyed food again. I may never look at a banana the same way again. Once we had the anatomy scan and found out it was going to be a boy, I knew immediately what his first name would be: Joseph after my paternal grandfather and uncle. The middle name was more of a debate - we could not pick one and had several in mind the rest of my pregnancy. Even when we checked into the hospital on November 17th for my induction there were still two names on the table: David and Anthony.
I went past my due date of November 13th. At the appointment on the 14th, our doctor scheduled our induction. We ended up getting the 17th since the original date was "full" - University Medical Center does not like to schedule more than 3 inductions on a day. By agreeing to do the evening, we were given the option of using Cytotec to ripen the cervix overnight before getting Pitocin the next day. I honestly did not sleep in the hospital at all that night. Our doula came by in the morning to help out. I was so glad she did. Back labor is no fun. I was doing everything right but the pain was killing me. After 12 hours, I was physically and mentally exhausted - we went for the epidural which gave me enough relief to sleep for 2 hours and dilate to 9. I started pushing around 5 pm and managed to get him most of the way. It was discovered once he was on the pubic bone that he was facing "sunnyside up", which explains the back pains. We ended up needing some assistance at the end since I pushed for 3 hours. Forceps were used. I did tear, I knew I tore, but I didn't feel any pain.

Just born!

First meeting and it was love.

New family

But of course it was well worth it. Joseph David was born 8:53PM after a long labor. I did not get to hold him for another 30 minutes or so - the doctor was busy removing the placenta and stitching me up. David was definitely in love at first look. He'd been such a wonderful support to me during the whole labor and he was holding my hand during the stitching until I told him to go look after Joseph. I worried he was alone since I could not see the four nurses surrounding him (there were concerns with meconium after they broke my water earlier in the day so they had four nurses from nicu come up to check him out). The room was filled with people: my doctor, the attending, the head nurse, my nurse, a resident, the 4 nicu nurses, the anesthesiologist resident who helped with my epidural (and topped it off when it wore off during pushing so I could focus on pushing instead of the back pain), and of course my doula. Even though it was crowded, I never felt overexposed or crowded. In fact, it was nice since every one kept encouraging me.
We ended up staying in the hospital until the 20th and didn't arrive back home until around 7pm in the evening.
We're adjusting. So far Joseph seems to an easygoing infant unless you get between him and food. I can't walk away (even to go to the bathroom) if he is hungry. He is not a huge fan of diaper changes right now but the could be because the mat is chilly on his back. Probably the same reason why he hates changing his clothes - he gets chilly and fusses a bit. He usually doesn't scream, unless it is before I feed him. Again, anything that gets between him and food makes him really upset.

My little man today

Otherwise, we're all adapting well. David has taken to fatherhood like a duck to water and is enjoying being home with us right now. He loves to hold Joseph and talk to him. We've gone a walk around our complex which Joseph seemed to enjoy (wide-eyed wonder the entire time we were outside), had Thanksgiving at Traci's house, and had two doctor appointments already. He has grown quite a bit these few days already! I am feeling pretty good - my back was very sore the first few days due to the counter pressure used for my back labor pains. I had bruises, now gone, and some odd hip pain that comes and goes. My parents are coming to visit so the next blog post will probably have lots of photos of little guy and them. I am so thankful that everything went well, even if it wasn't exactly the way I wanted it to happen. And I am so glad that my little man is out in the world. There is nothing better than holding him and seeing him look at me.