The Best Day, 2018 Edition
My attempt to bring the blog up to date was not successful. However, I do feel compelled to chronicle at least one event from 2018. On March 26th we welcomed Nathan James Conley into the world. The following is a brief accounting of the labor and delivery of that sweet baby.
Nathan was due on March 24th but that day came and went without any sign of impending labor. I got a pedicure, went to a fundraising auction, and hoped for the baby come. I started having contractions the next morning, Sunday, but they were intermittent and fairly mild. Josh's mom was in town and we had plans to eat dinner with his sister and her family at their home. The thought being that, if I was in labor, Josh's mom could take Eli to dinner and if I wasn't in labor, then we could all go together. The contractions were still not particularly strong (read: painful) or frequent so we all went to dinner. After we got home things started to pick up a bit more and Josh and I left for the hospital just before 1 am. A brief aside: when Eli was born we couldn't give a very accurate accounting of the times things had happened (when I was moved from triage to my room, when I started pushing, how long I was pushing, etc) This time around Josh attempted to keep track of when different milestones happened, which is helpful in the retelling of the events. Back to the story. At 1:48 am the triage nurse determined I was 6-7 cm dilated, she put in an IV and took blood samples. Around 2:15 am I was wheeled into my hospital room. As I was being wheeled into my room the triage nurse was getting my nurses up to speed and mentioned that she thought I was in transition and that my pain management was quite good. I appreciated that she said this as I was in a fair amount of pain and I appreciated that she thought I was handling it well (aka not screaming or shouting or moaning, etc) The next few minutes were a little crazy. While nurses were still bustling around getting things prepped and ready, I told them that I felt like I would need to push on my next contraction and I did not think I could hold back. This was a new sensation for me. With Eli I felt in control of how hard I pushed during the entire delivery. I was certainly pushing with a considerable amount of effort, but I felt in control and could have pushed more or less, as I wanted. This felt very different. I sensed that on my next contraction my body would take over and there would be no stopping it. The doctor was still not in the room nor had they rechecked dilation, so I did not think they would want me pushing yet and I attempted to give them notice that I would be pushing, ready or not. The nurses said that it would be fine if I started pushing and they called for the doctor (2:20am). As I thought, on my next contraction my body went into autopilot and pushing commenced. My water broke during that contraction right as the doctor walked into the room. The doctor came immediately to me, and Nathan was born two minutes later at 2:22 am. It was fast and crazy. My water broke and Nathan's head was crowning and I pushed 2-3 times and he was here. After he was born I felt amazing (which was quite different from how I felt after Eli was born). He weighed 8lbs 5oz and was 19 1/4 inches long. Oh, how we love him!
Eli has been so good with him and is such a good big brother. I'm sure at some point they will start having brotherly quarrels, but it has been pure joy to see how much they love each other. We sure love our boys.
Nathan was due on March 24th but that day came and went without any sign of impending labor. I got a pedicure, went to a fundraising auction, and hoped for the baby come. I started having contractions the next morning, Sunday, but they were intermittent and fairly mild. Josh's mom was in town and we had plans to eat dinner with his sister and her family at their home. The thought being that, if I was in labor, Josh's mom could take Eli to dinner and if I wasn't in labor, then we could all go together. The contractions were still not particularly strong (read: painful) or frequent so we all went to dinner. After we got home things started to pick up a bit more and Josh and I left for the hospital just before 1 am. A brief aside: when Eli was born we couldn't give a very accurate accounting of the times things had happened (when I was moved from triage to my room, when I started pushing, how long I was pushing, etc) This time around Josh attempted to keep track of when different milestones happened, which is helpful in the retelling of the events. Back to the story. At 1:48 am the triage nurse determined I was 6-7 cm dilated, she put in an IV and took blood samples. Around 2:15 am I was wheeled into my hospital room. As I was being wheeled into my room the triage nurse was getting my nurses up to speed and mentioned that she thought I was in transition and that my pain management was quite good. I appreciated that she said this as I was in a fair amount of pain and I appreciated that she thought I was handling it well (aka not screaming or shouting or moaning, etc) The next few minutes were a little crazy. While nurses were still bustling around getting things prepped and ready, I told them that I felt like I would need to push on my next contraction and I did not think I could hold back. This was a new sensation for me. With Eli I felt in control of how hard I pushed during the entire delivery. I was certainly pushing with a considerable amount of effort, but I felt in control and could have pushed more or less, as I wanted. This felt very different. I sensed that on my next contraction my body would take over and there would be no stopping it. The doctor was still not in the room nor had they rechecked dilation, so I did not think they would want me pushing yet and I attempted to give them notice that I would be pushing, ready or not. The nurses said that it would be fine if I started pushing and they called for the doctor (2:20am). As I thought, on my next contraction my body went into autopilot and pushing commenced. My water broke during that contraction right as the doctor walked into the room. The doctor came immediately to me, and Nathan was born two minutes later at 2:22 am. It was fast and crazy. My water broke and Nathan's head was crowning and I pushed 2-3 times and he was here. After he was born I felt amazing (which was quite different from how I felt after Eli was born). He weighed 8lbs 5oz and was 19 1/4 inches long. Oh, how we love him!
Eli has been so good with him and is such a good big brother. I'm sure at some point they will start having brotherly quarrels, but it has been pure joy to see how much they love each other. We sure love our boys.
Eli holding Nathan for the first time.
Checking out his hands.
First bath.
That cowlick right in the middle front could cause trouble later when he has more hair.
Smiling in his sleep.
My two boys.
So grateful for your blessing of another beautiful boy. Pure joy.
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