Raleigh's Arrival

Wednesday evening Nathan & I headed to Chickfila for one last dinner together before we headed to the hospital! We had been scheduled to try cervidil to get labor started in a more natural way. It's supposed to thin your cervix and in some cases begin contractions! We checked in & anxiously awaited the cervidil. They started it at 11pm. I had Braxton Hicks all night but nothing serious! The next morning they checked my cervix to see how the cervidil worked & I hoped to have dilated more too. 

Nope. Nothing happened! I was SO disappointed. 

My midwife went ahead & broke my water to start labor. When she did immediately she and the nurse made a sound... they informed me that they saw meconium. Our stinker had already taken his first poo! Yuck. This meant that he needed to come soon & that I would have to labor from my bed. No walking the halls or sitting on a yoga ball for this girl. I was disappointed again. 

They had to start me on pitocin to get things moving quickly & to avoid risks of Raleigh swallowing the nasty amniotic fluid with meconium! Again, disappointed. 

I went in wanting a drug free labor. I knew pitocin made contractions more intense with less down time between them. I labored for a little over 2 hours before they checked my cervix and I had only dilated one more cm. ugh! That put me at 2cm. Seriously? That's when I decided I needed the epidural! This was going much slower than I anticipated! I continued to dilate at the rate of pretty much 1cm an hour. That feels like foooooorever when you're trying to get to 10!! The epidural was a great decision!!! 

Either way, we were having our baby! Nothing about that was disappointing! 

Post epidural... FaceTime with Auntie Katherine & Whitney!! Thank goodness for technology!

Skip ahead through many contractions to roughly 9pm on Thursday August 22, 2013. My hands began tingling and I just didn't feel right. I called for the nurse & to my surprise she & my midwife Dana were in the room within seconds! Dana told me she didn't like how much Raleigh's heart rate was dropping during the contractions. He had been really low the entire day & his little head was taking the brunt of the contractions. She said she was going to check me again & if I wasn't at 10cm I was going to have to go to the OR!! Nathan says my face looked terrified & disappointed. I told everyone to pray I was at 10cm!!! (Not sure why we hadn't done this sooner....) She checked and said, "oh! Ok, let's have a baby!"

Immediately there was a completely different vibe in the room. Nathan came alongside of me & our parents were crammed into the closet bathroom area. There was a bunch of commotion & I remember Dana telling me to wait to push & not being sure if I could hold off.  

I began pushing. My husband was THE best encourager. I remember him saying, "you're doing great!! You were created to do this!" And he was right! 5 minutes later our beautiful son was born. It was 9:17pm and he had arrived! 

Because Raleigh had swallowed some of the meconium he was whisked over to the baby bed and I watched longingly as he was suctioned in his nose and mouth. 

I began to cry! Crying over relief & crying because I wanted nothing more than to hold my baby. Soon he was in my arms! 

We were in love. A love that hurts! It's a wonderful hurt. I held my 7 lbs 2 ounces perfect baby boy & fell harder and harder for this 21 inch long little man! 

Everyone took turns admiring Raleigh, he has quite the fan club! His Gramma Claudia, Grandee Carol & Papa John are over the moon!

I still can't believe how alert he was right after birth! 

He loves his fingers! Every ultrasound we had showed him with his hand near his face... the same is still true!

His feet are like his momma's! Long!!

Sweetness. Pure sugar!! 

My midwife Dana was so wonderful, I'm thankful for her!! This is after it was all done!!

We continued to stare in awe of this little baby we'd been waiting to meet for months! 

I hadn't eaten since 5:30pm on Wednesday night... I was starving but newly preoccupied with this adorable boy! My dad & Nathan set out for food. Sonic cheeseburgers were about our only option. One that I didn't mind!! That was the best cheeseburger I'd ever tasted!! 

We moved into our new room, just the 3 of us. We were exhausted but just wanted to stare at our son. 

We couldn't believe he was ours! Our lives were forever changed. The next morning we woke up to a handsome and alert Raleigh James. Every morning since has brought us so much joy!

We don't deserve this precious gift. We pray daily for him & for his soul! We pray that Raleigh would grow up & serve The Lord. We now know a whole new aspect of love. Love for Raleigh, love for each other & love for the God who created this amazing little man! 

Welcome to the world, Raleigh James Price!