Joshua's Birth Story

Well, I've finally gotten around to updating the blog about Joshua's arrival.  As I type with laptop on my lap, he is nestled comfortably on my chest in a little tucked up ball.  His sighs and grunts are so precious.  He has really been a good baby.  We shy away from talking about it, feeling as if we are asking for trouble after our colic experience with Megan. Her first 6 weeks of life are usually described as 3 months because without really calculating it, that's how it felt.  Joshua on the other hand only seems to cry when he is needing to be fed or changed, otherwise he sleeps.  Everyday he has a little more awake time but not very much.  He's just been a precious little guy so far.

Towards the end of my pregnancy as most of you know, I was a big complainer.  I was just ready to be done.  Even knowing it would be my last pregnancy, I was done.  I think a lot of that was due to uncertainty of when he would actually be born and also in anticipation of seeing him, holding him and cuddling him.  After we were surprised with seeing his 3D ultrasound picture, the anticipation grew in intensity.  But with that, we never knew definitively how far along I was.  We kept getting different answers from ultrasounds about his size which meant he was either just a big baby or I was further along than we thought.  We just didn't know!  So I guess around my 38 week mark, I was expecting to go into labor at any time and that time just never happened.  I asked my doctor to strip my membranes which I've heard from friends has worked to put them into labor.  Well, after 2 appointments a week to do this, still nothing was happening.  My doctor was willing to induce me as long as I was "induceable".  This meant that my body needed to have progressed enough on it's own to even entertain the idea.  After appt. after appt. this still had not happened and then I actually went past my due date and had to go to my 40 week appt that I never imagined I'd have to show up for.  I told Josh on our way there that if I'm not induceable that day, I was going to stop going in for the biweekly appointments.  I was very pessimistic at that point and expected the same news.  When the doctor told me that I was ready, shocked would be an understatement.  He said we could schedule an induction as early as the next day.  After taking into consideration that I would not be able to deliver with my doctor, I still took him up on the offer and scheduled it for the next day at 9:30.

Josh and I immediately started planning, went home to pack and then took Megan over to Grandma and Grandpa's to spend the next few days with them.  We had a nice dinner together and then went home to try and get a good night's sleep before our big day.  It wasn't until about 11:30 that the induction actually got started with my IV and everything in place.  And it wasn't until about 5:30 that anything really started to happen.  My doctor stopped by on his way home to check on me and after some discussion, and my asking, he broke my water.  Once he did that, it was game on and my contractions actually became painful.  At about 7:45 or so, the doctor on call came to check on me and her assessment was that I would be there for awhile still.  She was a bit off because about a half hour later, Joshua was in my arms.  All 9 lbs. 10 oz. of him.  It only took about 4 pushes and he was here, compared to 4 hours of pushing with Megan.  I couldn't believe it was over so quickly. 

Josh said that as he was coming out, he wasn't sure of what he was seeing until he realized that little Joshua had a full head of dark hair.  One ultrasound tech had shown us hair on the ultrasound but I don't think I actually believed that was what we were seeing, or even had a thought about it possibly being dark.  But here he was, this handsome little boy with lips like his daddy, nose like his sissy and hair like.....well we don't know yet!  All we know is that he is a healthy, happy, wonderful addition to our perfect little family.

I was terrrible about taking pregnancy pictures, in fact I think the only pregnancy pictures I have were both taken in June.  How he grew up to that point, I guess I'll just have to tell him about.  This picture was taken the night before he was born.  40 weeks and 1 day pregnant.

During the slow induction process, I just had an overwhelming need to see Megan.  My parents were nice enough to bring her up to the hospital to visit for awhile.

The soon to be big sister.

And he's here!

Big sister's grand entrance!

Singing Happy Birthday to her baby brother.  She was so excited to kiss him and hold him.

Tickling his chin, one of her favorite yet not so gentle things to do to him.

Megan also got a big sister present from Joshua.  She got a baby doll that she can take in the bath with her.

Proud daddy and baby boy.

Our little family.

While mom and dad were in the hospital, Megan got to make It's a Boy cookies for our visitors.  I'm not sure what was more exciting for Megan, baby brother or the cookies.

Megan and Joshua checking eachother out.