It's a BOY!

On the afternoon of Monday, June 30th, I went to the doctor for a regular appointment. Dr. John checked me and I was 4+cm and about 75% effaced. After some discussion, we decided I should be induced the following day (my due date). Mostly because my body was SO ready to go and doc was concerned about how fast it might happen and either him or I not making it to the hospital. I didn't believe him or fear things would happen fast, but was fine with the decision. I went home from the appointment and started contracting every 10 minutes ALL afternoon/evening. I was in denial that this was true labor because of the false labor episodes I had prior...but these contractions were much more legit. I just kept working through them--preparing dinner, writing instructions for boys for coming days, cleaning up the house, etc. I noticed the contractions got closer together at one point, but then late evening, around 11 pm, they slowed down. I talked to Dr. John and around 11:30 pm and he recommended we go to the hospital at midnight (that way I was checking in same day as scheduled induction) and just get settled in and rest there for the night...just in case something happened. I was hesitant, but followed his advice since we were already planning to be there in 6 hours anyways. I thought we might could actually get more sleep if we went ahead and went up there. So, we arrived shortly after midnight. The nurses did all my initial work up, but I told them I didn't want an IV or anything since we were just there to sleep. As soon as I settled in the hospital bed though, I noticed my contractions had really picked up. They were monitoring me and could tell they were all of a sudden every 5 minutes. Nurse was still doing all my assessment though, so I was somewhat distracted during that first hour. Around 1:00, I was starting to hurt! Nurse checked me around 1:15 am and I was still 4 cm. I couldn't believe it because my contractions had become pretty painful and frequent. I realized I WOULD need that IV and possibly an epidural sooner than expected. I still didn't completely realize what was happening, I just knew I hurt and it was getting worse by the minute. It took the nurse 3 tries and about 5-10 minutes to find an IV site....by this time I was in severe pain--contractions were pretty much constant and EXTREMELY intense. Dr. John arrived around 1:45 am (Alex texted him to say I was hurting bad; and he said his intuition told him to get there fast) and checked me. I was 8 1/2 cm and in transition! Everything happening around me was a blur because of the pain I was in, but I remember hearing that and thinking "Oh my word, I'm about to have this baby totally naturally". The anesthesiologist had arrived though, so they went ahead and gave me epidural. I had been BEGGING for him to get there the prior 25 minutes, so I wasn't going to turn him away even though I knew I would be 10 cm and ready to push after sitting up for the procedure. The epidural caused baby's heart rate to dramatically drop and not recover, so after I laid comfortably for about 3 minutes, it was all of a sudden emergency "get the baby out" mode. Thankfully, it only took 3 pushes for him to be delivered. As soon as his head was out, Dr. John announced that baby looked perfectly fine, pink and healthy. I was able to relax a little at that point and just a moment later I heard "It's a boy!" The prior 45 minutes had been such a crazy, intense, scary experience that it took a while to process what had just happened. I mean, we had just showed up at the hospital to rest....I did NOT expect to have the baby at that time, and especially in that way. It all happened SO fast, just like Dr. John warned me. I'm thankful we went to the hospital when we did, or who knows what would have happened!
Right when baby was being delivered, Dr. John said, "Better get your camera ready". Ahhh, it hadn't even crossed our minds. I'm so glad he said that! Here are the first moments of meeting our sweet James Oliver.

 Alex cutting the cord

 We love Dr. John

James Oliver Burke

Born July 1, 2014

2:09 am

7 pounds 11 ounces

18 1/2 inches

Perfect!