Meet Rowan!

Morning! It's 6am and I *think* and I'll have time to get this blog post going.  We'll see if either one of the kids wakes up before then. Fingers crossed!  Rowan is finally here!  His due date is just under a week away but he was not waiting one bit longer.  Here's his birth story in as much of a nutshell as possible.

Wednesday morning I had a doctor's appointment and when the doctor checked me he said "that's weird" (not words you really want to hear at that point).  He then told me that my cervix was really long (has to be short to have baby, as in, they barely feel any) but that I was dilated to 4cm.  Wow! That's 40% of the way there!  With this information he told me that if I didn't have the baby before next Wednesday, he'd see me then and induce me on Thursday.  So that was the plan in my head.  Induction on Thursday.  Well needless to say, I went about my day having lunch with a dear friend, picking Rylie up from school, normal household chores.  I was having contractions all day though.  Despite my efforts, I was too busy to really sit down and time them properly...hey, I'm a busy woman!  By the time we put Rylie to bed and sat down to watch a Star Trek I decided to time them and then I started getting nervous.  They were regular and they were not backing off, but didn't seem to be getting worse.  Finally after going back and forth with Amy and Jason about what I should do I called the on-call doctor and she told me to come in to check them out.  Thankfully my Dad came down here to stay with Rylie and Jason and I were on our way.

 The triage nurse hooked me all up and said I was indeed contracting every 1-2 minutes (not the 3-5 minutes I'd thought...wow) and to calm down because my heart rate was faster that Rowan's.  She also checked and said I was at 5cm now.  At this point they admitted me, started an IV, got some labs from me and I went ahead and ordered my epidural.  The contractions were picking up and I didn't want to wait until I was in crazy bad pain before I got it (last time I got it at 2cm). It took awhile (as usual) and then I got my epidural.  Getting it this time was much different than last time. It took twice as long and honestly now my back is still a little sore, but hey, it worked!  The nurse started up the pitocin to kick my contractions into high gear and instructed us to try and sleep. Hahahahaha.  Like I could sleep!  My Mom and Amy (and Julianne) kept me company some, but Jason slept and I ate ice chips and tried to rest.

At around 5:30 the nurse checked me, I was about the same, then she sat me up to get my vitals better and my water broke.  From then until Rowan was born it was a little crazy. When the doctor finally came in she said she didn't think I'd have to push long, so I tried a few pushes and then she made me wait because Rowan's heart rate kept dropping during each contraction/push.  She told me that she'd have pediatrics come down just to watch and assist if needed because there was cord around his neck.  Suddenly there was about 12 people in the room all urging me to push NOW.  In about 30 minutes or less of pushing Rowan was here.  Jason had no time to cut the cord or gaze at the baby.  The doctor quickly cut the cord from around his neck and handed him to the nurses.  He was completely white and limp.  They gave him oxygen and continued to try and stimulate him to wake up and we got a few whimpers. After a few minutes he had great color and needed no more help.  

Rowan Carey Griffith

7 lbs. 1oz. 20 inches

7:07am

It was a bit of a whirlwind, just like when I had Rylie!  Rylie went from no interest in him to now semi-interest.   She now imitates everything I do with him with her baby doll. I don't know what it is but I seem to love her exponentially more now that Rowan is here.  Not that I don't adore him, I just treasure her every little expression, laugh and hug.  She is such a ray of sunshine.

Oh how I missed this girl.

So far my recovery seems to be about the same as it was with Rylie's.  My back is a little more sore from the epidural but otherwise everything seems the same.  Rowan looks (to most people we know) just like Jason. A complete mini Jason with the same features and expressions.  Sometimes I look at Rowan and think "you look just like your Daddy" and I look at Jason and think "you look just like my baby".  LOL.  We've had a few hard nights of adjustment, not because Rowan is a tough baby but because we forget how no sleep feels...or little sleep.  We've divided the night into two shifts the past 2 nights (because the first night we both got only 3 hours of sleep).  I'm quite proud of Jason for bravely taking the first shift alone.  He'll wake me up around 4/5am and I lurch out of bed feeling awful I slept so long.  LOL.  This kid definitely sleeps and eats better during the day, so clearly we need to switch up his body clock.

Maybe being a big sister isn't all that bad!

Thanks for all your prayers and comments.  I'm praying that over the next few weeks our family will adjust to the changes.  I knew there would be major changes but now I'm feeling them and I'm just praying that they don't seem overwhelming.  I love my little family SO much so I'm just praying that this transition goes smoothly.  Or as smooth as possible.  I cannot believe how blessed I am to be the Mom of two beautiful children!  Today we go for Rowan's first check up.  Friday he gets newborn pictures taken AND my wonderful mother-in-law arrives and Saturday we're having a small birthday party for Rylie because she'll be 2 on Sunday!  Don't get me started on that or I really will cry!  I hope everyone is having a great week and staying warm.  Please keep us in your prayers  =)