Weston's Birth Story

Here it is...I could go on and on about Weston's birth and how wonderful it was, and I can't wait to share my birth story with people who are preparing to have little ones, because I truly had the best experience that I could have asked for, and I'm so grateful for how everything went. For anyone who is in the Athens area, St. Mary's hospital and the nurses were amazing, and they were so helpful. We've had a great experience. Our pediatrician has been great, as well, and he has come by the past two mornings to check on him and to just talk to us, and I'm so grateful for that. He makes us feel so comfortable and answers all of our questions!

Right after he arrived with his full head of hair! :)

Anyways, on to the birth story...
Grant and I arrived at the hospital at 6:00 PM on Tuesday, January 19th, and we had to check in through the Emergency Room. The ER was completely full, so we had to wait in line behind four other people before we were able to check in. Thankfully I wasn't in labor, because I don't know that I would've been able to wait. We finally got checked in and upstairs around 6:30 PM, and they didn't have a room for us, because ALL the rooms were full. We had to wait in a holding room until they had discharged someone, so they got things started in that room. They got me hooked up to all the monitors, and they gave me the Cervidil. Around 11:30 PM, we were able to move into our new room. We stayed there overnight, and I didn't get much sleep. I was so ready to meet my son.

Our room at the hospital

Around 8:30 AM, my nurse came in and took out the cervidil and checked my cervix. At that point, I was 4 cm dilated, so they had my doctor come and break my water. I started contracting on my own, so they let me do that for about an hour. At about 9:30, they started the pitocin to speed things up. I got the pitocin, and I started feeling terrible contractions. Once your water breaks, you feel EVERYTHING, so the contractions were awful. I had tears in my eyes, and I couldn't talk, so I immediately asked for the epidural. The anesthesiologist came around 10:30 AM, and he gave me the most amazing epidural. I didn't feel a thing!! It was awesome, so I relaxed and hung out with our families while we waited for it to be time. At 2:00 PM, they came in and checked me and I had jumped up to 9 cm dilated, so they called the doctor, and they told her to head our way, because it wouldn't be long.

Grant & I waiting for the arrival of Weston

At 3:00 PM, they asked everyone to leave the room, and the doctor still hadn't arrived yet, but they got my room ready for me to push, and they got me ready. At 3:17 PM, I started pushing, and they were telling me that I was doing so great. I reached down and could feel his head. At that point, they told me to wait again, because the doctor wasn't in the room, and I was making such good progress. Around 3:35 PM, the doctor arrived, and I pushed two more times before Weston made his debut at 3:42 PM. He came out with a head full of beautiful blonde hair, and he was just beautiful.

My sister waiting with us for Weston

I was so lucky that I didn't have any tears, so no stitches, and they were able to get everything back together in the room quickly. I wasn't able to get out of bed until 11:00 PM, because the epidural was so awesome that I really couldn't feel my legs until then. But that's okay, because my family brought us food and gifts for Weston, I was able to breastfeed and everyone was able to hold him. He is doing great now! He is latching on and feeding like a champ...he is such a natural. We had to stay in the hospital overnight tonight, because he hasn't gotten circumcised yet. They are planning to do that this morning, and we'll get to go home this afternoon. We can't wait and are looking forward to reuniting with our puppy, Banks, and for him to meet Wes! :)

Right after his arrival...I'm looking rough, but so elated! He's beautiful!

I've got lots more photos from the past couple of days to share, but I don't want to overload and post all the pictures at once, so I'll post more over the weekend or early next week! Thanks everyone for your well wishes and congratulations!