Friday, July 24, 2015

Finn Christopher Allen

It's been a few months since I've written on my blog, and I wonder if anyone still reads it. But this is a great way to keep track of my kids' milestones and I really want to keep doing it.

On June 16 at 1:53 am, we became a family of 5! Here's the story:

As with Molly, I was scheduled to be induced a week before my due date (because of some of the issues I had when Graham was born). I went to the hospital at 6 pm on June 15. The midwife planned to give me medicine overnight to prep my body for labor. However when I got hooked up the monitors, they discovered that I was already having contractions 5 minutes apart, although they weren't painful. And I was dilated 3 centimeters. So the midwife decided to go ahead and start pitocin. 

For the first few hours, my contractions continued to be pain-free and I watched TV. The nurse came in periodically to turn up the pitocin. Suddenly, very suddenly, I had a very painful contraction. I immediately called the nurse and told her I was ready for my epidural. But it would take a while for the anesthesiologist to arrive. I was in hard labor, vomiting and writhing in pain. Finally he arrived and I got the epidural - sweet relief! I started to doze a bit. 

I've never before delivered with a midwife and I really liked it. I quickly reached 10 centimeters, but the midwife didn't ask me to start pushing. She took everything really slowly. I actually then dozed for about 30 minutes. I woke up suddenly, ready to push. I pushed 3 times and he was here! They put him directly on my chest and ended up leaving him there for several hours. The nurses did everything they needed to do to him right there on my chest. My mom and Chad were in the room for the delivery.

He weighed 8 pounds 1 ounce, and was 21 inches long. He had the most beautiful dimples! And we immediately noticed his long fingers and toes. 

Graham and Molly LOVE having a baby brother. They actually argue over holding him! They both love to kiss him, sing to him, and touch him. 

I will upload pictures later, and I have lots more to tell about the last few months, but for now this will do. Stay tuned!