Joshua's Update Express ! Delivery is Today.

Hello everyone, Joshua Crispin here with a running update of Sijah's delivery at Baylor hospital. Jennifer here commenting in yellow. It is 10pm and I have some time to write.

6:30 am:
We arrive 30 minutes late at the hospital.
Talked with nurses and the doctor.
Lots of questions and papers to sign, after they put the IV start in my right hand. :) I am not a good lefty.

7:30 am:
Doctor breaks Jennifer's water. Took a long time....quite painful for her.
Doctor says she has never experienced such a stubborn water membrane.
Oh my! Was that ever painful. Sijah was held in good!

8:30 am:
Jennifer focusing on the eventual pain a lot. I am trying to keep her thinking about baby names etc.
I was trying to stay positive. :)

8:45 am:
Jennifer talks to Doctor about all the pain management alternatives...asks for the anesthesiologist to speak with him.
Basically there are not alternatives to an epidural, so the nurse was saying.

8:50 am:
Anesthesiologist talks with us. Jennifer has decided not to do epidural....may take Tylenol....thinks Tylenol won't do any good. I think its better than nothing if she is this worried. She has never been worried during the other 4 births.
My Dr. tells me that I can have Tylenol. :) TYLENOL for delivery pain! I don't think so. I need something stronger that that. :)

9:05 am:
Dad (David Crispin) calls to talk on my cell phone. (the speaker phone) To both of us.
May bring some breakfast for Joshua.....we'll see.

9:12 am:
Sijah is moving around alot..heartbeat speeds up on the monitor when he moves...up to around 175 bpm. We are still talking about the middle name for Sijah.........nurse just came into the room...shut off the cell phone real quick and hid it with my super swift spy skills.
even though I am online via wireless access...so the cell really shouldn't matter....

9:20 am:
Jennifer is hungry now....Jennifer, judging by the past births, thinks Sijah might arrive by 12 Noon....we are taking bets now... :-) ...... Jennifer says the temperature is too cold....Turning up the heat.....
At this time I was thinking that my contractions were not coming like normal. They were not regulated at all.

9:25 am:
NURSE: suggests taking Pitocin to start delivery... Jennifer says lets wait a few hours. She really does not want a HARD-FAST induced delivery. I agree. Contraction again.....
The Nurse noticed it too. I really do not want pitocin!

9:27 am:
NURSE back from talking to Doctor...Doctor says we should not wait too long to start Pitocin....Jennifer tells the nurse IF we need to do pitocin, then she wants the epidural.....???....so the nurse is convincing Jennifer to get hooked up to an IV in case we do an epidural.
Pitocin is not natural - I am not going natural! :)

9:37 am:
Nurse hooking up the IV bag.... sent emails out to more people about these updates....Outlook not working from the hospital.... IV is now in. Jennifer comments that she doesn't like how IV's make her feel....makes her mouth feel funny.....still no major contractions.....approaching 2.5 hours since water break.
I don't like feeling something going threw my body. Very unnatural. :) I hope that I'll be able to email everyone tonight...

9:45 am:
AOL IM not working from hospital either...I'd log in if I could for REAL-TIME chat.
NURSE returns, talking with Jennifer, giving medicine so epidural does not make Jennifer sick....Jennifer very verbal about saying she really does NOT want Pitocin.....
No one ever talks about the drink that you take before you get an epidural. Well, at least not that I know of. I've never had to drink something before the epidural with the cerclages. It is like an orange sweet tart on steroids. Yuk!

10:00 am:
Two contractions only within the last 30 minutes....maybe three..... nothing steady yet.....sent a few more emails....if you are reading the posts live....please email others who may be at home (or check email often) and are interested in staying updated.....
Started to feel more intense contractions.

10:10 am:
Jennifer says "Yeah, I really don't want the pain." She says it's really just uncomfortable..not pain really. An associate from Dr.Crow's office is talking to Jennifer about hospital services we denied...getting her signature on the paperwork. Vitamin K only for the baby. No un-needed procedures to be performed.
Yeah, not really into the pain. :) These contractions were pretty hard and long. Not hard enough to squeeze Joshua's hand. I was signing the waver to not have the eye ointment put in Sijah's eye.

10:20 am:
ANESTHESIOLOGIST arrives....epidural about to be put in....Jennifer making sure he knows she needs him to be verrrryyyy careful. Been hurt before with epidural for surgery etc....
Checking charts from cerclage procedures....etc.....
This was Dr. Fox. Very good! He was nice, funny, and best of all - he didn't hurt me. I was feeling very strong contractions now and they were lasting about 1 to 2 minutes.

10:33 am:
Epidural is in....no pain. Jennifer is just bombarding them with questions....how do I use the button..what will I feel?....can I push with my muscles?......is it already working....
Very different and not sure if I wanted this and well, just very different!

10:51 am:
Catheter put in.
NOW AT A 6 or 7 DIAMETER.....
Pitocin NOT being used yet.
Doctor says to wait another hour before trying Pitocin.
I am so glad that Pitocin was not used!!! Very glad! I think that getting the IV started and my body being introduced to something new jump started the labor even more.

11:05 am:
Nurse is preparing table for delivery. Jennifer usually delivers extremely fast once reaching eight centimeters. Feeling no pain and talking about the different sensations with the drugs working. ( Druggie ) :-) She'll probably erase that part later.
This was so weird! Knowing that I was at a 6 or 7 and knowing what that should feel like... it was so weird to not feel anything. I could feel slight pressure. Very weird. I didn't like not being able to know what my body was doing, but I did like not feeling the pain. :)

11:13 am:
7 or 8 centimeters on her own. No Pitocin. Jennifer says its much better not to feel the nurse checking her progress because it's usually very uncomfortable. Jennifer is also glad her body is not needing the Pitocin. Now she asks "what are you writing?" :-)
No pitocin! So so so glad!

11:26 am:
Doctor Flowers comes in to check progress.
9 centimeters! Getting ready to start pushing within 20 minutes.
I was at a 9 and couldn't feel it! So weird! I know that I don't like not knowing what my body is doing but I really like not feeling the pain.

11:41 am:
New nurse to check progress.
Jennifer thinks she is ready, but the nurse says a few more minutes until pushing begins.
I can feel more pressure. The nurse checked me and said that Sijah had not yet dropped completely and that he needed more time to come down before we pushed him. I really liked this nurse.

As I felt more and more pressure the nurse said that she'd check me again. She asked me to do a "practice" push to see if Sijah would come with a push or if he needed more time. He was coming. But how do women do this with an epidural? It was like pushing nothing. I didn't know when my body wanted me to push. All I could go by was the pressure and just tryed to push that. It was so weird.

12:35 PM:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIJAH !!!!
Weight: 7 lbs 15 oz.
Length: 20 3/4in.

Jennifer pushed 3 or 4 times and walla! Here he comes. We will post some pictures soon.

I used a mirror! I saw his head coming and then his body just flop out. It was very neat! I didn't have a desire to watch the other children being born, mainly b/c my eyes are closed while i concentrate on breathing. But I figured that I wasn't in much pain and it might be neat. It was so cool. I almost cryed out of joy when I saw him coming. What a miracle!

He has light hair and I haven't got a good look at his eyes yet.

The coolest thing is that the nurse did everything in the room with me for Sijah! She bathed him and did the VK shot and the PKU and everything, there with me! I was disappointed in the epidural at that time b/c I would have been able to bathe him. But I still loved that they had him stay with me. They didn't take him away at all! When we got to our new room the nurse took him to get weighed and then brought him right back. He's been with me ever since. It is so neat. I'm getting tired now. I'll take more pictures tomorrow and post.