Happy Birthday Jayce!!

Well, now that we are home a little settled I thought I would tell you all about Jayce's Birthday and how we've been doing since. 

Early last Tuesday morning, just after Cam left for work (that makes it before 5 am), I felt like I was leaking fluids.  I wasn't sure (since I was induced with Riley and don't remember much about my water breaking other than the intense pain that soon followed!!), but I couldn't fall back asleep so I just sat in bed thinking, trying to decide what to do next.  Well, as if God knew what I was thinking (and he does of course!!), about 20 to 6 my water broke - I WAS SURE THIS TIME!!!  So I called Cameron at work and he came right home.  We packed everything up, woke up Riley and took him to our neighbor's house and headed for the hospital.  We arrived a little after 7 am, but my contractions weren't anything to speak of so they ordered me to walk.  And so I walked. . . and walked . . . and walked . . . and walked some more!!!  My doula Cj walked with me; we also tried a birthing ball and some massage.  But by noon I was only at 2 cm.  So I got into the jacuzzi tub (Fabulous invention - my next bathroom WILL have one of these!!) and they hooked me up to pitocin.  Since my water broke they needed to speed things up because of the concern for infection.  After an hour in the jacuzzi tub I got out and was starting to feel the effects of the pitocin. 

By 4 o'clock the contractions were intense enough I was ready for an epidural.  Cj was helping me to breathe through them, and the Doctors and Nurses said I did a great job lasting as long as I did.  I credit Cj.  By the time the anesthesiologist was doing the epidural, the contractions were so intense I couldn't even feel what he was doing.  They said that's when you know you got the timing right!  We did have some issues with getting the medication right and the next half hour or so was still pretty painful.  The doctor checked me again around 5 and I was already at 7 cm!!!  Woo-Hoo - Jayce was on his way!!!

It was this time that Cameron started prepping for his job as photographer . . . except for one problem:  He couldn't find the camera!!  In all the hustle and bustle that morning he had left the camera bag (and the diaper bag we later discovered) sitting in the living room!  While I panicked, Cam tried to figure out what to do!  Again, my fabulous doula Cj to the rescue!!!  She drove all the way to our house (25-30 min drive each way) to get the camera, so that Cam could stay (just in case!) 

Just after 6:00 the doctor checked me again and I was at 10 and Jayce was ready to come out!!  But I was determined to make him wait for that camera!!  It wasn't easy, but we held off until about 6:20 to start prepping everything and I knew that Cj was on her way up the elevator!!  Cameron got the camera about 30 seconds before I started pushing and Jayce was here about 20 minutes later!!  Phew!!!  It was a whirlwind!! 

They wanted to hold off on giving him a bath because his temperature was a little lower than they liked, around 97 degrees.  They gave him to me to do Skin-to-Skin and try to warm him up, but after an hour of it not working we determined that the problem was because MY temperature was low!!  They put him under the warmer and everything was fine!  He held that temperature just perfectly!  I was finally able to eat something, and we were in the post-delivery room by 10:30.  It was a crazy day!! 

Jayce is absolutely perfect, just like his brother!!  And he looks a lot like his brother too!  He doesn't have as much hair as Riley had, but still a full head of it!  I wanted to post some comparative photos, but we are still dealing with computer issues and I don't have access to Riley's pictures right now.  But you can see the pictures from Jayce's birth, and the following couple days at the hospital in the Kodak album posted at the right. 

We came home Thursday afternoon, and my wonderful neighbor had made dinner for us!  So once again we didn't have to cook!  Grandma & Grandpa Louie arrived Friday afternoon, and have been loving every minute of time spent with Riley and Jayce!  It's been nice and relaxing (other than some last minute Christmas gift details we are working on) and we are looking forward to the next few days at home!  Because Cameron got all last week off, he has to go back to work tomorrow, but only through Thursday since he gets Christmas Eve off already!  Grandma and Grandpa will be here til Thursday too, so there's lots more family time ahead.  Next post will probably be about our wonderful Christmas as a new family, so for now enjoy the pictures of Jayce's birthday!!  Have a Merry Christmas Everyone!!