Our sweet boy was born on November 14th at 9:54 am. He weighed 7 lbs, 12 oz and was 19.5 inches long. We are so excited that our little guy is finally here!

His Birth Story...
November 13th was my last day at work. It was a fun day full of surprises! My 1st period AP Economics class threw me a surprise diaper party. I walked in to find our table covered in diapers! Later that day my freshmen advisory group threw me a surprise luncheon. They reserved our private dining room, decorated it and had lunch brought in! I finished the day with a faculty send off party. All in all, it was a fun last day. My school’s football team had a playoff game at home that night against our rival, MBA, so of course I had to go. I joked that hopefully the game would send me into labor. Turns out, I was right! By the end of the first quarter I noticed that I had been having contractions that were definitely not Braxton Hicks. Curtis and I timed them for a while and they were about 8-10 minutes apart. We decided to leave at halftime just in case this was the real thing. We got home and relaxed for a few hours. By 11:00 pm my contractions were about 6 minutes apart and somehow I managed to doze off for about three hours. I woke up at 2:00 to a painful contraction and my water breaking. At that point I decided to time a few contractions just to see where things were. The contractions were about three and a half minutes apart and much more painful. I definitely could not talk through these so we decided to head to the hospital. I was checked into my room by about 3:30 in the morning, was dilated to a 5 and contractions were fast and strong. By 4:30 I was dilated to a 7 and contractions were about 2 minutes apart. I was having intense back labor and decided to go ahead and get the epidural. I was a bit hesitant, but the epidural didn’t slow my contractions or affect the baby at all. Most of all, I felt wonderful. I could still sense my contractions but was totally relaxed and finally enjoying my labor. Curtis even caught an hour or so of sleep. I, however, was way too excited to sleep! At 7:00 am I was fully dilated but the baby’s head was turned so they tried different things to move him. At 8:15, I started pushing. With each push, the nurse tried to turn Peter’s head. After an hour of pushing the doctor came in and decided that c-section was my only option. Peter was determined not to turn! It’s possible that they could have tried the vacuum but Peter’s heart rate was as high as they wanted it to be. He was almost in “distress” after an hour of pushing. I was hoping to avoid c-section but I really felt at ease after talking with the doctor about it. It was actually quite an amazing experience. When the decision was made, they had me in the OR within 10 minutes. My anesthesiologist came by to up my epidural. He happened to be an MBA grad, and joked that he’d relieve my pain only because Ensworth lost the football game that night. The doctor who delivered Peter also happened to be the doctor that delivered a colleague of mine’s children, who also happens to be our head football coach. Needless to say, I was distracted by all the football/rivalry talk. I needed the distraction because the OR was a bit intimidating. I remember it being cold and brightly lit. There were at least 10 people in the room prepping things. I wasn’t really nervous, though I started shaking uncontrollably the minute they moved me to the operating table. Once I was prepped, they brought Curtis in to sit with me above the curtain. All the doctors and nurses were aware of Curtis’ tendency to pass out at the sight of blood so he was carefully watched so that he wouldn’t see any. About 10 minutes after entering the OR, they were tugging Peter out. Oddly, I stopped shaking the minute I felt the doctor make the incision. It was a very weird feeling. I could feel significant tugging but the minute I heard Peter’s cry, I was perfectly content. The doctor held him up right away so that we could see him and Curtis was able to snap a photo. As soon as he was cleaned up and checked out they handed him to Curtis who brought him to my face. One of the nurses then took our first family photo. They finished sewing me up. Again, it was a weird feeling. I could still feel significant tugging. They quickly brought me back to the labor and delivery room and I was able to nurse Peter. He was and still is a great nurser! About an hour later they took us all to a recovery room where we spent the next several days. Peter spent most of his time with us, though he did pay a few visits to the nursery at night. I have to say that it was a great experience. Things definitely didn’t go as planned, but I have no regrets. I have a happy, healthy boy!