introducing...silas grey

As you may have guessed from our lack of blog posts, I did not go into labor on my own and had to be induced on Monday morning at 8:00 am. Going into it, I was not nervous or fearful, just excited that the wait would finally be over and our little Silas would finally arrive! Neither of us slept more than 3 hours on Sunday night; our minds were just too busy. This was not a good way to start such a big week!

They started me on Pitocin around 9:00. My contractions became pretty frequent but weren't hurting at all, just tightening. They continued increasing the dosage of Pitocin, and the contractions got gradually stronger. Nathan and I entertained each other with episodes of the Cosby show, reading, and TV. It wasn't until about 1:30 that I finally started getting strong contractions. At 2:00 our midwife, Tricia, broke my water. This was the most painful experience I have ever endured. (But apparently I was a very unusual case with a thick and strong sac.) Tricia also checked me internally and told me I had gone from 1 1/2 cm to 3 cm, which was encouraging. After that, the contractions became very strong and very frequent; sometimes I would not have a break from one before the next one began. I labored like this for two hours until 4:00, when I decided to get an epidural. Tricia checked me again; I had hoped to be up to 5 cm before getting an epidural. But I was still only 3 cm! This was incredibly discouraging. I had an emotional meltdown when, after contemplating my lack of progress, people were tugging at me from all directions, I was hugging a pillow preparing for a huge needle to go into my back, and I just wondered if this baby would ever come. That was definitely the low point of the day.

Well, the actual epidural wasn't as bad as I had feared. Once it began to take effect, everything was suddenly glorious. My lower body was numbed completely; I could only feel tightening with every contraction. I even slept off and on for about two hours. I decided that I was glad I had experienced a few hours of hard labor, but in the future I would go straight for the epidural!

Hard contractions continued (not like I felt them) until 10:00 pm. They checked me one last time and informed me that I still had not made any progress beyond 3 cm. After checking it out, the doctor decided that it was a positional problem; Silas's head was trying to enter the birth canal at an impossible angle.

I was incredible discouraged. After 9 hours of hard labor, I had absolutely nothing to show for it. I never thought I would have a C-section after such a picture-perfect pregnancy. I cried a lot, but Nathan was incredibly encouraging and supportive. I had to make a choice to put my trust in the Lord and in his good plans and purposes, despite my disappointment. In the end, I realized that it didn't matter how Silas came out; I was thrilled to have a healthy baby.

Nathan got all dressed up in some cute doctor scrubs with matching slippers (see below), and we headed to the operating room. Nathan encouraged me with some Scripture meditations, and I felt great peace as I anticipated the surgery. They gave me more medicine in my epidural, and I couldn't feel a thing. Thankfully, a curtain was put up to block my view of the surgery. Before we knew it, Nathan and I were hearing short, choked cries that soon turned into a pitiful wail. The doctors held him up for us to see- a bloody, wrinkled, screaming, beautiful baby. They weighed, measured, and checked him. Nathan and I just looked on with joy and disbelief. Finally, the nurse brought Silas over to Nathan, and Nathan held his son for the very first time. It was all so surreal; I couldn't believe that this child was actually ours, that he came out of my own womb. We praised the Lord for his goodness!

We were utterly exhausted when we finally were able to go to sleep at two in the morning. And now we just finished up our first wonderful day with our new son. He is terribly sleepy all the time; it is often difficult to get him to wake up and nurse. However, I had two great feedings with him today- one was 25 minutes, the other was 35. I am convinced that he is the best newborn in the hospital.

We had several visitors today: Karina Sherwood, Abigail Tanner, Tim, Carolyn, Christian, and Colson Lugbill, Daniel and Ashley Schreiner, Bobby and Kristin Jamieson, and Josh Coover. It was such a joy to celebrate this gift of life with our dear friends and family!

We are overwhelmed tonight with the Lord's goodness to us. Praise God for his faithfulness to work all things together for the good of those who love Him!

Here I am ready to go into surgery.

Here is Nathan is his really fashionable scrubs.

Encouragement from hubby

Silas's first moments of life outside the womb

Not a happy camper here

Do you see how much hair this kid has?? Also, he was quite a cone head upon birth due to the angle at which his head was trying to fit through the birth canal. Thankfully, he looks almost normal by now. :)

Sucking his thumb already

Happy mama. Please excuse the puffiness from excessive crying. It was an emotional day.

Proud papa.

Sweet family.

Still proud.

Precious.

Father/son bonding time. I think they're going to get along great.

Going for a stroll down the hall. Notice my attractive and oh-so-flattering outfit. They tell me that every day I will look less pregnant. :)