Asher's Story

So, for those who are interested... here's the story. We were told to be at Swedish American Hospital at 8 am on Wednesday for the induction. We show up at 8 am only to be told that they didn't have room for us and we'd need to go home until something opened up. This was not what we were wanting to hear after getting all ready to meet our baby. We were hoping that it would be just a few hours, so we headed to the church so we could both stay busy. Andy was able to get some work done and I attended a ladies' parenting Bible study that I've never gone to before. We kept waiting around but didn't hear anything so I called my doctor's office around noon, and again around 2. They got back to me around 2:30 and told me that Swedes wasn't opening up, but they were trying to get me into another, nicer hospital that said they'd take me. We were just waiting to see if our insurance would cover it. I gave up and went to the Dirkse's to pick up Liam. Before I left with Liam, the office called me and told me to head to St. Anthony's and they'd start as soon as I got there! The insurance had okayed it!

I picked up Andy from church and we went to the hospital to find that it was just me and one other lady on the whole labor and delivery unit! It had quite a different feel from our experience with Liam in LA. Let's just say that we like health care in Rockford better :)

At 6 pm, they started the pitocin to get my contractions going. By 10 pm, my contractions were painful and the doctor was coming to break the water. He had said I could get a epidural whenever I wanted, so even though I was only at 3 cm, I decided to go for it. Some of this decision came from my experience with Liam-after I got an epidural and my water broken, I progressed very quickly. I've heard its faster with the following babies, so I thought I might as well get one when I knew I still could. The doctor broke my water after getting an epidural, but I was finding that the epidural wasn't working well. I could feel my whole left side and I could definitely feel the contractions.

Around 1 am, they checked me again and I was only 4 cm!!! I didn't know what to think about that not-so-exciting news since I was having quite painful contractions even with my epidural (and since the epidural and AROM was what seemed to progress me rapidly with Liam). The anesthesiologist came back up and readjusted the epidural catheter and gave me a bunch extra medication. This took the edge off a lot for about 30 minutes and I was almost able to sleep between contractions (and had told Andy to get some sleep too while he could), but after that blessed 30 minutes, those contractions started getting nasty again! And this time, I was feeling a lot of pressure with each contraction. After about an hour of intense contractions, I told the nurse that I had been feeling a lot of pressure for awhile. Yes, I definitely should have mentioned that earlier. She checked me and I was at 10 cm and she was calling the doctor to come in. I woke up Andy and told him it was time, which understandably confused him a bit since just about an hour ago I was only at 4 cm. The doctor got there at 3 am and by 3:36 our little man was born looking good at 8 lb 1/2 oz and 21.5 inches long with a 14 inch around head!

Asher and I stayed in the hospital until Saturday and Andy stayed with us until Friday night. The Dirkses and Provosts watched Liam for us for days so Andy could stay and enjoy the experience! We appreciate them so much and Liam is loving his time with them! He's definitely at home with these two wonderful families!

Asher is super laid back. He barely ever cries, basically only if he is hungry. He picked up nursing from the first time we tried and has been so easy ever since. We love our mellow little boy!