The Birth Story

I know I know, everyone is dying to hear this.
Well, maybe not, but this is for my own record keeping. This is really long, so skip ahead if you're just here for the pictures.

The week before my due date, my doctor, Dr. Weight, was out of town for the week. So, I tried my hardest to either have the baby before he left (unsuccessfully) or wait until he got home. We had a scheduled induction for the day after he got home, on Monday, July 1st. All week I tried, well sorta, to take it easy and luckily I did not go into labor early. I really wanted my doc to deliver. He delivered Devin and it was such a great experience.

Late Saturday night, Anne, Matt's mom, flew in. Matt was working a 24-something hour shift, so I went and picked her up. Thankfully, a friend of mine came and sat at my house so I didn't have to haul the other two along.

Sunday, I layed in bed most of the day and felt like crap. My pubic symphysis was separating (and had been for the last 2 months) and doing most normal things, even laying down, made it really hurt. Anne woke up early, got my boys ready for church and I drove them to church. Matt eventually got off work and we all enjoyed a quiet Sunday. Anne entertained the boys all day and they were in heaven.

Early Monday morning Matt and I took off for the hospital at about 6am. I was really nervous. I'm not sure I like the idea of scheduling an induction. I think I prefer the unexpectedness of going into labor on my own (this was my first induction). We checked in and everyone was so excited to see us there, ya know, since Matt works there and all.

At 7:30 am they started the Pitocin. They had a busy day of C-sections and other surgeries so they encouraged me to get the epidural as soon as I needed to, so that I wouldn't miss the anesthesiologist.
I started feeling like I should get one, thinking "yeah, it's starting to hurt." I thought for sure I was maybe a 5 or so. (I was a 2 for weeks and a 3 when I got there). I joked with my (awesome) nurse, Bridget (who was also my nurse last time-score!), that I was probably just being a pansy and wouldn't be that far along...and sure enough Dr. W checked me and I was only a 4..."almost a 5." Gah!

I got the epidural. It started working really well on my left side. I was having a lot of pain and pressure on my right hip. I layed on my right side and prayed the medicine would start working on my right. It didn't. The attending for the Anes. team came back and felt so bad that it wasn't working (mostly because I told him I would rather he do the epidural than a resident). He decided that it just needed to be redone. Not cool, buuuut, I really wanted it to work. It hurt the first time, but not at all the second time. The worst part was when they had to rip off the tape twice! The second epidural was a success.

Dr. Weight came back to check me and to break my "bags of water." He came, he checked...I was a 5. He broke the "bags" and we waited...

They turned down the lights, so I could get some rest...or maybe so Matt could peacefully enjoy watching The Avengers on our iPad. I could not rest. Not long after was when things started getting interesting.

I started feeling a lot of pressure and was extremely uncomfortable. Matt took a break from his movie to go to the restroom. Before he went, I looked at him and said, "NOOO!" I paged my nurse. She came in quickly and said, "I came quickly because you haven't paged me once, so I knew it had to be serious this time." She checked me and I can't even remember...I was like a 7 or something. Then she emptied my bladder and BAMB! Baby was coming now!

All I remember is crying because it hurt!!!! And seeing the look on Matt's face wasn't very comforting either. It was this, "Oh crap, here comes the baby...I think I'm going to have to catch this one!"

Things got a little crazy. My nurse jumped up and paged my doc, who was in clinic across the street, and paged overhead "Delivery in room 7!" I looked down and Matt was tearing open the delivery kit and getting things ready quickly. Then in runs Rachel Barron, Matt's fellow 4th year resident, she quickly slips on a gown and gloves and sits at the end of my bed. Then her and my nurse tell me I can push if I want to. I told them, "no! I'm waiting for Dr. Weight!" I mean, come on, I waited all week for him, I can wait 2 more minutes!!!

Well, James had a different idea. Two quick contractions came and no pushing whatsoever...and there he was. Dr. W came running in as his feet were coming out. He took over and finished everything. He asked me again if I wanted to see the placenta....No! Thank you!!! Mister James came out so fast I had a small tear, needing a couple of stitches.

They placed him on my belly (which, I think, is always a really weird feeling). Matt cut the cord. They wrapped him up and let us hold him for a while. Then, Bridget took him across the room to weigh him and everything. I for sure thought he'd be bigger than Dev (who was 8lbs 6oz), but no. James is my medium baby, weighing 7lbs 14oz. He is a long one though. And has the sweetest fuzzy, old-man hair, mostly on the back of his head. It's a light brown color, but I'm thinking it'll be reddish like Devin's. He also has the smallest head of all the boys, and that says something! He even had a little bit of a cone head after delivery.

The first day or so we all thought he looked exactly like Devin. But soon enough we could tell he didn't really. He looks more like me (YAY!!!) than my other two boys. I think he looks the most like a Johnson. Luke is all Clark...Devin...well, I'm not really sure.

Since Anne and Rob were here, they came to the hospital with the boys later that day. We've never had family visit us at the hospital before, so that was kind of fun. The boys were tired, but they were happy to see us and meet their new brother. Matt stayed overnight with me at the hospital, which made everything so much easier.

The following day a couple of my close friends came for a visit and late that night we finally got discharged. Most people stay two nights...but we like to get out of their as soon as we can.

We're loving our house full of boys. We just love little James to pieces! Luke and Devin especially adore him. James is a good eater and growing boy. He's almost 4 weeks and weighs 10 lbs already!
He's a pretty good sleeper. He wakes only once to eat at night. He eats pretty well, though he swallows lots and lots and lots of air, so the poor guy has lots of tummy aches-we're working on that one. We're so thankful to have a healthy baby boy and to be blessed with 3 wonderful little guys running around this place.

Picture time:

I realize some of these are not very flattering photos...but oh well!

My nurse Bridget. 

Friends who came:

 Bekah

Jane and Kassie

 Bree

The following photos are from my phone..

 Grandma C is always so much fun.

 Before leaving to the hospital...at my largest!

First morning home with these crazies...