The birth of James...

Many have asked about James' birth story, and before I forget the entire event all together I figure I better get it documented.[Induction Day]

My midwife (the 2nd one anyway) decided that I should be induced on Monday, February 11th because the baby was getting big. "It" was measuring right around 9 pounds, and I was just over 38 weeks at the time. She said, "the baby is measuring 9 pounds and frankly, your belly looks even bigger than that". So we flew in my doula sister, Keely, and did everything we could to get ready for baby #2 (cleaning, finishing the nursery, making Henry arrangements etc.) Monday morning came along, and I arrived at my midwife's office at 9:30 am to put in a catheter balloon to ripen my cervix. I was dilated to 1cm and was "high and thick". Keely, Preston and I headed over to the hospital to start the induction process. We checked into our cozy suite at 11am, but due to a nursing shortage the Pitocin wasn't started until noon. The next few hours consisted of talking, joking, walking, and just waiting for things to really get going. At 2pm my midwife came to take out the balloon and break my water. I was dilated to a 5 and was 75% effaced. That balloon worked wonders!...I hadn't even felt a thing yet! By 3pm the contractions were coming hard and fast, but with Preston's fist grinding into my lower back to lessen the back labor and Keely's words of encouragement to lessen my doubts, I was able to relax through them. I was checked again and only dilated to 6cm and 95% effaced. I thought for sure I had progressed more than just one centimeter.Preston began his strange comments about "acting like steamed asparagus" while I tried not to laugh and continued to relax every part of my body and let my uterus do all of the work. Over the next half hour things got really uncomfortable, and I knew I was in transition. At one point the contractions were one on top of another and I moaned out, "I'm not ready for another one" to which my sister laughed and replied, "Yes you are!". She thought I meant another child when really I meant another beast of a contraction. At 4pm I was checked again and was 7 centimeters dilated. Suddenly I was beginning to feel the urge to push. The midwife was called, the nurses rushed in, tools were put in place, the baby's warmer was turned on, and it was all becoming real. Without a doubt I was fully dilated and now all I had to do was get this beef of a baby out of me. With the next contraction I said, "I'm pushing" to which a nurse responded, "don't let her push"...I guess she's never birthed a baby because when you gotta push, you gotta push. The midwife made it just in time to tell me that "it" had a lot of dark hair. I pushed for just a few contractions, felt the "ring of fire" for the first time (Henry came out in one flying swoop), and gave birth happily and naturally at 4:22pm to a 9 pound, 6 ounce, 20 inch chubber of a baby. My first words were, "What is it, babe?" to Preston, to which he responded, "It's a boy!" very proudly and with a big grin and a tear in his eye. All of the nurses just kept saying, "What a big baby!". I got the prize for the biggest baby born that day at the hospital. One of the nurses had just delivered a 5 pounder, so she thought James looked absolutely huge.I got stitched (ouch!), Preston held James, and Keely took pictures. I couldn't believe I now I had 2 boys and would soon be saying things like "my boys" or "the boys" regularly. We called family and friends, gave them the stats, but still didn't have his name picked out (we still struggle with that, as you've read). He immediately began breastfeeding like a champ and barely cried at all (a welcome change from Henry).

We had lots of visitors. It was nice to celebrate with others right after his birth, unlike the last time around when we were all alone in Texas. Here's James' original "birth-day" party... I then feasted on my much deserved Cafe Rio dinner. Not knowing the gender of the baby was pushing power, but so was the thought of eating this delicious follow-up. I was starved! After all of the visitors left I snuggled up with my little guy and tried to take it all in. I didn't want to be induced because I knew it would be more intense, but looking back everything went just the way I would have hoped. Some say that you have to forget about the past birth before you'll agree to have another baby, but each of my baby's births have been amazing and miraculous. Messy, hard work, and overwhelming, YES, but very much worth it. Thanks to Preston and Keely for making the day memorable and just the way I wanted it!

And that is how Stillman "James" entered the world.