Jonah Christopher Weil -- 03.09.10

So it's only taken me about 6 weeks to update this thing. Apparently newborns are a giant time and energy suck. Who knew?

Well after many weeks of growing, waiting and growing some more - Jonah decided to make his appearance. 40 weeks to the day as a matter of fact. He really wasn't coming out until he was good and ready.

Midnight on March 9th, 2010 I started getting contractions. I first thought to myself it was a false alarm because I had gotten contractions before and obviously nothing came of it. After laying in bed for about an hour and the contractions not going away I started timing them. They were about 13 minutes apart. Since I couldn't sleep I decided to go out into the living room and see if they would stop. Changing positions can make false labor stop, so I was testing them to see if I was truly in labor. I sat out on the couch and they continued. They got harder, closer together at 12 minutes apart and didn't stop. I was IN LABOR! I was excited and nervous all at the same time. I wanted to wake Andrew up, but decided not to. I felt like one of us should sleep.

Around 3:00 am Andrew woke up to use the restroom and realized I wasn't in bed. He was thinking he must have been snoring and I took up residence elsewhere to get some shut eye. He came out into the living room and found me watching TV. He asked..."What are you doing?" and I replied "I am in labor." I then showed him my contraction timer and they were 10 minutes apart. I told him to go to bed and rest. I didn't figure we would be heading to the hospital until morning. The hospital doesn't want you until you are 5 minutes apart for one hour. I think at this point Andrew was in shock and rubbed his eyes and went back into the bedroom. After 15 minutes he reemerged and decided that we needed to get ready for the hospital. He needed to shower, so did I and he needed to run to work to wrap up a few things since he wouldn't be at work for the next week. I could tell he was really excited.

So he showered, shaved and headed off to work while I hopped in the shower. I figured I better not smell while I was at the hospital. Do the nurses and doctor a favor. :) Then I hopped in bed and turned on the TV and waited. For the next few hours the contractions grew in intensity and got closer together. Andrew was gone for a couple hours and they were getting pretty painful and I really wanted him there. I called him and asked him when he was coming back home because I really needed him. When you are having contractions your whole stomach gets really hard and tight and you can't breathe. I just tried to stay as calm and relaxed as possible.

It's now about 8:00 am and Andrew has come back home. The night before I thought that my water might have broke but wasn't sure. Andrew told me I needed to call the doctor's office and see what they think. At this time the contractions were 7 minutes apart. I called the doctor and they told me to come in to labor and delivery and they would check me out.

Once we made it to the hospital they set me up in a room and told me they were going to check to see if my water broke. Apparently it hadn't yet. The nurse left the room and said she wanted to call my doctor. After a few minutes the nurse came back in and asked "Do you want to have a baby today?" Well my response was "Of course!" So they decided to break my water and hook up the IV and give me some pitocin to augment labor. When they broke my water the doctor noticed that there was meconium in the water. Which means Jonah passed his first stool in the womb. This can be tricky because if he were to aspirate it he could get pneumonia. So this means we don't want him to cry right away and I won't get to hold him and nurse him right after he is born. I would have to wait for the NICU team to suck him out and then clear him so I can hold him.

The realization that Jonah was on his way and I was going to be a mom that day set in and I was really excited but VERY exhausted. I haven't had any sleep and it's now 10:00 am. Around 11:00 I got my epidural. THANK God! Those contractions were SO hard. I needed something. Note to all you future moms: Don't be a hero. Get that epidural. You will be glad you did. The epidural I had didn't numb me but it took the edge off.

The nurse came in and out, checking vitals, checking to see how Jonah was doing and checking to see how I was progressing. After I got the epidural in 30 minutes I went from a 4 to a 7. I was shocked at how fast I was progressing, but that is a good thing. I was ready to have that baby! She told me in a couple hours I would be pushing and to rest up. Yeah right! How do you rest when you are getting kicked in the gut every 2 minutes. I mean I am just laying there, it's not like I was going to go run a marathon, but your whole body is working and exhausted.

Then around 4:00 the nurse came in, checked me and I was a 10. Wow! She told me she was going to go get the doctor and we were going to start pushing soon. The doctor was in emergency surgery at the time, but the nurse assured me that my body would do most of the work and I wouldn't have to push as much. That wasn't how it went at all.

The doctor finally made it in around 4:30 and we started to push and push and push. Oh man! The nurse, doctor and Andrew were cheering me on but it wasn't helping. I was getting exhausted. I kept pushing and he still wasn't coming out. An hour and forty five minutes later I thought I was going to die. So the doctor got out the 'plunger' (vacuum extraction) and tried to help me along. Even though she was using the vacuum, I still had to push. Every muscle in my body was completely exhausted and aching. I felt like I had been run over by a truck and still no baby to prove it. For another 15 minutes I continued to push and FINALLY little Jonah slide out. He was born at 6:31 pm.

Right after Jonah emerged he started crying. So this meant he possibly aspirated the meconium. The NICU team was already in my room and they took him out and started sucking him out. I could hear him crying and I just wanted to hold him SO bad. Then the NICU team let me know that he was breathing but very raspy so he would have to go up to the NICU and I wouldn't get to hold him. I was heartbroken. I worked so hard to get him out and I couldn't even hold him.

After 45 minutes in the NICU they cleared him and Andrew talked them in to bringing him to see me before getting his bath and other nursery stuff done. So finally around 8:30 I got to hold my precious little boy. He was so sweet and beautiful! I couldn't believe how awesome he was. It's really amazing how big the love is for these little things and right when they come out you are tethered to them. I only got to hold him for a few minutes and he was taken to the nursery to get bathed and checked out.

So after many weeks of growing, waiting and many hours of contracting and pushing, our sweet little guy made his appearance on March 9th, 2010 @ 6:31pm. He was 8 lbs 7.6 ounces and 20.5 inches long and absolutely beautiful. :)

Here are some pics to prove it.