Wednesday, September 02, 2015

He's Here!!! (WARNING: picture overload!)


Josiah Providence made his appearance on August 27th at 12:53AM! :) Most of you have seen lots of pictures of him already but I thought I'd share (lots) here, as well as his birth story. These are all iPhone pictures.

Eric went with me to my doctor appointment on Wednesday, the 27th. We met with the midwives first  while they acknowledged I was "overdue" they were not concerned. We then crossed the hall & went to doctor office (I was only seeing him because of my past history- all plans were for me to labor with the midwives). We were able to have an ultrasound done, as well as a "non-stress" test (I chuckled at the wording of that one). Both found Josiah & I healthy. No need to do anything. More waiting. When we saw the physical assistant, I mentioned again that I thought they were off on my due date. We did some digging & she discovered someone had inputed my date wrong in the system... YES, I was 2 weeks overdue. :/ The doctor came in & said that it would be okay to continue to wait but asked what I wanted to do. I said I was ready to have this baby! He smiled and asked if I wanted to be induced that night or the next morning. Eric chuckled- he knows his wife. TONIGHT!

After the doctor checked me (I was only 2 cm- very disappointing), Eric & I went straight home, called for my parents to come stay with the children, gathered my items, hugged & kissed everyone, prayed as a family & headed to the hospital... in traffic. LOTS of traffic. Oh, Atlanta! Eric mentioned how grateful he was that I wasn't in labor because the drive would have been nerve-wracking! :) It gave me lots of time to pray though. I was a bit nervous I was in store for a long, hard labor.

We arrived at the hospital at 6:52. A hospital we had never been to- another reason to be thankful I wasn't really in labor since we had to find our way around. :) (See how relaxed we were about having baby #9!) After lots of sorting over who was going to be my nurse (3 or 4 came in saying it was them) & LOTS of blood drawn (my past history stresses everyone out), my midwife came & a low-dose of pitocin was started at 8:50. The midwife left to see another woman laboring, promising to return later when my pitocin was increased. She came back at 10:35 to discover no one had increased my piton & I was only 3 cm. She broke my water (though not much came out- Josiah's head was SO LOW he was in the way!) & this time, the nurses began to steadily increase my meds. OUCH!!!! I was also on continual monitoring (errr- I find this SO ANNOYING & UNNECESSARY since Josiah wasn't in distress), which meant I had to stay in bed the entire time. OUCH!!!! (No water birth because I was induced. Insert sad face here.) I kept praying for strength & God was so good to give me a calmness. I labor very quietly- the nurse kept saying how easy I was & so calm. :) (If you freak out, it hurts more!)

At 12:05AM the nurse checked me- I was 7 cm! Yahoo! (My piton was know at 8 & I was fine leaving it there!) At 12:35 AM, I was 8 cm. I felt that overwhelming urge to push shortly after. When the midwife entered the room I was on my side so I tried pushing a bit. That position has NEVER worked for me, so I asked if I could move & Eric encouraged it- he knows me! That's all it took- Josiah was born at 12:52 AM. YAHOO!!!

He weighed 8lbs. 8oz & was 19.5" long. (I nailed it in guessing!) Josiah had a bit of brusing (remember that awful mandate to stay in bed- it doesn't provide for a smooth entrance into the world!) but after having Emily, he looked wonderful to us! He nursed like a pro from the beginning & if he wasn't nursing, he was sucking his fingers. We were so thankful that the hospital is "baby-friendly" which means they do all baby checkups in the room if at all possible & they let mama and baby bond. Josiah was able to nurse for an entire hour before they weighed him (& they did that right next to my bed). (They did check him but he never left my arms.) What a special time it was! The delivery ward was busy & several babies needed assistance so the nurse didn't come to give him a bath (another annoying thing in my mind- LEAVE THAT VERNEX ON- it will soak into their skin) & do his complete checkup till a few hours later. While we waited, Eric slept:

And I nursed some more, holding my precious son in my arms the entire time. :) When Josiah finally was checked before we headed to our room, they did so right next to my bed. I loved that:


It was a sweet time... but I was tired & ready to go to bed at 4:30 when I was finally in my room & everyone was done with their checks & questions. They all came back starting at 6. :/ This is the NUMBER ONE REASON I do not like hospitals- you can't rest. Everyone has one specific job & schedule & they all come in at various times. (WHY have nurses switch rotations at 6 AM??? Why not let mamas sleep & start a new rotation later in the morning?) Mamas & babies need rest after delivery!!!

Anyway, we stayed in the hospital till the 28th, when we came home. (We wondered if they would release us because Josiah's first test for jaundice came back high. A serum test provided lower numbers, however. Praise God!) Here's various pictures from our hospital stay:







Coming home is always so special, especially because our children were waiting to meet Josiah. It was sweet:





Our days have been sweet with this little man! :) I'm enjoying resting, as Eric is home from work till Sept 14th!!! (I'm loving all this extra time to read!) The children did start co-op last Thursday (Josiah's birthday- I missed the first day! I was very sad about this), so they are doing those lessons + Bible & piano and enjoying lots of free time. They've also been working hard to help as mama is resting. EVERYONE is eager to help with Josiah especially. ;) Here's a "few" pictures from the past few days:



Lessons from my rocking chair:


She totally melted down Sunday night when Eric was leaving for church. She needed some mama time (along with baby brother!):

After my milk came in, it was time to break out the pacifier! We went from nursing every 1-2 hours around the clock to longer stretches. Yippee!

Reading + commonplacing + newborn baby = PERFECTION!

This boy can frown! Eric and I think he looks like Benjamin here:

Phew. If you made it to the end, you deserve an award! ;)

5 comments:

Jeremiah and Stephenie said...

Congratulations, Tully Family! He is beautiful! I love his name.

Tully Family said...

Thank you! It always takes Eric & I a bit (ie, a lot) of time (debate) to decide on names! Lol!

Megan said...

Congratulations! Love seeing all the sweet baby pictures!

Courtney said...

I made it to the end no problem. ;) Thanks for posting! Such a sweet and beautiful story.

Unknown said...

How sweet it is to have another grandchild in our family. What joy and blessing it is . Need more Nanny and PAPA time together with them all. So thankful Heather that you are find. Love Mom and Dad