He's Finally Here

Since my last post we have had a lot of excitment, fun & exhaustion!

On July 31st at 7:30 AM we went in to the hospital for our induction. Everything looked good, around 8 my Pitocin was dripping & soon afterwards contractions began. Boy, do I give props to those women who do it all natural. Definitely not for me!!!! However, I did hold out much longer than everyone would expect. Around lunch the doctor came back and broke my water, and soon afterward I was asking for my epidural. The whole epidural experience gave me a new appreciaton for my patients who receive them. Boy, did it hurt going in...but part of that was the fact that the anesthesiologist put it in without numbing my back. The whole time I was laying there...I was thinking wow I didn't know it was supposed to hurt this bad. And come to find out he left out the lidocaine part...what a jerky thing to do!

After the whole epidural part, things got a bit interesting & scary. I started progressing fairly quickly & in return contractions were getting stronger. However, with every contraction Maddox's heartrate started dipping down way too low (into the 50's & 60's). I'm so thankful that I have such wonderful coworkers who took such good care of me & Maddox. I felt like I was in the best of hands! The pitocin was stopped (which was great being the epidural wasn't doing it's job completely). My doctor (who was aboslutely WONDERFUL) attempted to do an amnioinfusion, which puts fluid back around the infant to hopefully relieve any pressure that might be causing the decelerations. No success! Maddox just wasn't tolerating labor. Come to find out he had a nuchal cord (umbilical cord wrapped around his neck). So off to the OR we went for a STAT c-section.

And at 5:47 PM Maddox Renn Houghton was born. I'm happy to announce Josh & I now have a very healthy little boy.

Daddy cutting the umbilical cord

7 lbs 12 ounces/ 21 inches long

Seeing my little man for the first time. It was a bit frustrating to be so numb that I couldn't touch or hold him. In fact it was several hours before I actually held him. Due to nausea issues, I received quite a bit of meds which in return caused major sleepiness.

A very proud Daddy! Whom I might add did absolutely fabulous during the whole process.

Look at that face!

All set to go home (on Monday August 3rd)

Thanks again to such a wonderful group of nurses. I could not have asked for a better group. I felt like I was in wonderful hands the entire time.