Birthday.

As I'd mentioned here, Finnley Bryant Jackson was born Thursday night on May 24, 2012 at 11:55 pm! Yay! He is so lucky to get to share his birthday with his friend Declan Bourke who was born less than 12 hours earlier up in Charlotte, NC. His mother and I have been good friends for over 20 years from back home. 

Here are some more pictures for your enjoyment. I basically uploaded every picture from our visit at the hospital. No editing, sorry. I'll finish telling you his little birth story for you below.

 

 Wednesday morning (5/23) I went in for my 40 week check-up with my doctor. It was my exact due date; I was getting eager and starting to feel extremely uncomfortable. My lovely OB & I decided we would start induction to get things rolling to help me with my discomfort and to help work around Lyle's schedule. We scheduled for me to be admitted that evening at 5:00. I left feeling so excited but in a haze. Ahhh! Things were getting going and the arrival of our baby was imminent! I quickly called Lyle to let him know we were going to have a baby, "Are you ready?". I then ran around town to do a couple last minute errands, then home to make sure the house was tidy enough and my bags were packed. Time to go!

Induction started that evening and oxytocin started that next morning. I believe I would have ended up in the hospital Wednesday night or Thursday anyhow as the monitor showed prior to any medicine that I was having regular contractions between 5 & 7 minutes apart, however I wasn't feeling them. Hmmm.  Glad I was already at the hospital!

I labored all day on Thursday. My water was broken around 1:45 pm, contractions continued to progress and was happening 1-2 minutes apart for several hours. I just wasn't continuing to progress in dilation and Finn wasn't dropping anymore. I stayed at 4 cm dilation for 8 hours. At several points along the way the doctor mentioned my hips were very narrow and not opening. My instincts had been telling me for a while that this was going to end in a cesarean section. By 6:30 pm I decided to get an epidural to help me rest and relax a little as I was starting to feel a little exhausted. I remember asking Lyle at one point when I felt this labor bit was never going to end, "They can't send us home without our baby, can they?". I could hear all these babies being born around us throughout the day and was feeling very jealous. Where was my baby?

At about 9:30 pm, the doctor came in and checked me again, which resulted in no progress. It was then that we decided after another 1.5 hours if I hadn't progressed we'd go ahead with cesarean. I think we all felt we knew what the outcome would be. He said that he never throws in the towel on 4 cm dilation, but since we'd been stuck there for so long, he hadn't dropped any further, and with the status of my narrow hips it just seemed like the best decision. 

I was a nervous wreck! I knew this was the best choice, but I couldn't stop my body from outright shaking. Why was I so scared? People do this everyday and I can handle pain pretty easily? I remember my body practically shaking on the surgery table. All I could do was pray and ask for calming and a quick, safe & painless delivery. And sure enough, that's what I got. Finn did get a bit stuck and had a hard time getting pulled out. Apparently my abs were so strong it made it a bit difficult! Hmmm.  Good sign for later? 

Lyle got to be the first one to hold him while my incision was getting closed up. This seemed to take forever! All I wanted to do was hold my little baby! Lyle was so sweet with him and so very proud. I knew this moment would be my favorite: to watch him hold him for the first time, though I never imagined it to be quite as touching and amazing as it was. 

I feel as though I'd prayed & waited for this moment for such a long time. God is so good and does all in his timing. I'm thankful he was in control of this because I couldn't have done it so seamlessly and with such perfection. I mean, LOOK AT HIM!

Thank you everyone for your love, support & prayers. We are all so overwhelmed with everyone's generosity & care & meals! We are very blessed. 

lauren, lyle & Finn