I've been talking about this nursery remodel for months now. How we freshened up the room by putting up drywall, how we repainted and my Mom did such a nice job painting animals in the room, how I refinished the hardwood floor. The end result was quite nice if i do say so myself. But it was missing something.

Well, On Friday, August 13th, 2010, we finally got that one thing the nursery was missing.... The baby!

Things have been a little hectic since my last post. Where to begin...

Thursday, 8/12, we went to Jess's doctor like I mentioned last time I posted. 8/12 was her due date, and she still wasn't quite heading into full on labor. She'd been having contractions here an there, she was 2cm dialated, and her cervix was starting to soften, but she just wasn't moving along like the doctor wanted. So after a stress test revealed that the baby is in good health, we talked about what to do next. He offered to induce her, or we could wait it out, but they only like to let a mother go 1 week past her due date, so she'd be induced sometime this coming week regardless. So we opted to induce. The doctor then gave us a quick description of how this procedure works. First they give you a medication that is actually inserted right into the Cervix, called cervidil. This sort of preps things by fully softening the cervix. Then they give you an IV of something called petocin. Which, from what I'm told, is actually the chemical her body makes to cause cotractions, they'd just be bringing it on in a planned manner, rather that just waiting around for it. The cervidil is meant to be administered the day before the petocin. So she'd go to the hospital in the afternoon the day before the induction, and she'd stay there overnight. Then he tells us to report to the hospital 3:00 THAT AFTERNOON, as he plans to induce her the next morning.

So we went home, had some lunch, and tried to prepare ourselves. Jes got nervous, I don't blame her.

Then we drove on back to the hospital at 3 in the afternoon. They put her in one of the labor/delivery rooms, and got her setup with a bed, and a gown and the whole shebang. Then they did their checking, and testing and whatnot. The doctor on duty was busy in surgery, so we had to wait for him. We sat, and sat, and waited. All this time, they wouldn't let Jes eat, because theres a chance this cervidil could actually bring on labor. So they want her to get it, and then wait at least an hour before eating. So we waited. Eventually, Jes's Mom and I went down to KFC, to get some dinner. Jes still hadn't eaten. The nurses kept coming in to check on things, and the found something interesting. Jes had started having natural contractions! She was getting them relatively regularly, and they were pretty strong. So the doctor finally saw her, and told her that he wasnt going to administer the cervidil because she didn't need it! She would spend the night, and if things weren't moving along, they'd give her the petocin in the morning as planned, but the cervidil was not needed. Then they brought her some hospital food, and she was rather happy to eat!

We hung out with her until about 10PM. At that point, we got the scoop from one of the nurses, it was unlikely that she'd deliver naturally overnight, so we were clear to go home, and get some rest. So that's what we did.

The next morning, I got up, made coffee, got a shower, and headed to Jes's mom's house to pick her up. We stopped and got some Burger King breakfast to go, and headed to the hospital. We were there by about 7:20AM. They were just getting Jes's IV started. She started having contractions almost instantly. You'll have to forgive the lack of accurate times from here on, things moved relatively quickly, and i didn't exactly stop to take notes.

Around mid morning, Jes's contractions were strong enough that they gave her the epidural pain medicine that she'd planned on getting once it was necessary. The anaesthesiologist sent us out of the room so they could focus on getting a catheter inserted into her spine, and get the IV running to that. After that, her pain was gone, and she was happy. This also apparently speeds up the labor process because your body is no longer trying to fight the pain. Around lunchtime, she was 4cm dialated the last time she was checked, and we thought we'd have time to get some lunch. Jes hadn't eaten since her meal the night before, so to be nice, we went down to the cafeteria and ate down there. I got a message from Jes on my phone while we were eating that she was now 8cm! So we finished up, and headed back to her room. By the time we got there, Jes was starting to complain about some pain from her contractions, and the anaesthesiologist was in the room with her, and her nurse, talking about options. They gave her something for the pain. 10 minutes later, it wore off, and whatever they used in her spine had also worn off! I didn't think it was supposed to do that....

At about 1:00PM we called her nurse back because she was in a lot of pain. They checked her out, and found that.... She was ready to deliver! So they now had to consult the doctor before they could do anything about the pain meds. The doctor instructed them not to change the pain meds, and instead, start pushing!

The nurse positioned me at Jes's left, and Jes's mom at Jes's right. The proper position (according to todays medicine anyway) for child birth is to pull the woman's knee's up to her ears, and then do what's basically a crunch, bringing her chin to her chest, Then she pushes along with the contractions. So our job was to help her hold her legs up, because if they go back to their normal position, it pushes the baby back in a bit, and thats counter-productive. So i hooked my arm around Jes's foot, so it worked sort of like a stirrup for her, and did my best to comfort her, and keep her focused. And then... The butterflies started.

The first thing that I learned, that no one tells you about child birth, is that there's a LOT of blood, the second thing i leaned, that no one tells you about child birth is that there's a smell. I exaggerate when I say no one told me about the blood or the smell. My Brother in law, Jes's Brother, mentioned these to me after his first born, but I'd mostly forgotten them. He described them as something terrible, almost unbearable. I found that they were not so bad... Unpleasant, yes, unbearable? Hardly. If i had to describe the smell, it was not dis-similar from the smell of deer blood. Yes, that's an odd comparison. I'd guess that blood in general, when its in abundance, has this odor, maybe I'm wrong. It was however something of a surprise, seeing that much blood come out of my wife, the woman I care for so much, was a little unsettling. The smell didn't help. The butterflies started rolling around in my stomach.

I took a look at Jes, and realized how much pain she was in. She needed all of us to stick with her, to support her, and do whatever we could, no matter how little it was, to help her. I shut out the butterflies, I stopped looking down at the blood, and found that if i kept my head up toward Jes's head, the smell was almost unnoticed. She needed me, and besides, I didn't want the nurses to think i was one of those nancy-boy husbands that passes out at the sight of childbirth.

So we got started, Jes was in so much pain, and I felt so bad for her. She begged us to get the doctor to give her a C-section. We told her that it wasn't likely that he'd just do that, just because she asked, unless there was a really good reason. Pain isn't a good reason. Finally the nurse told her that he won't do a c-section unless she's been trying to push the baby out for at least 2 hours, and there's something wrong that is putting her or the baby at risk. Finally, she got the c-section idea out of her head, and started into the task at hand.

From this point on, she did such a terrific job. I'm so proud of her. I don't think she got angry, or even screamed once from here on, she just pushed when she had to, tried to rest when she didn't, and stuck it out. She just closed her eyes, and put herself into a different place.

After about 2 and a half hours, Kiera Anne Lager was born! 7lbs, 2.5oz., 20" long, at 4:07PM. Yes, she's a Friday the 13th baby, and I think that's kind of cool. I didn't cut the cord. Honestly, I'm not sure why i refused it. After what I'd seen that day, this shouldn't have been much of a task. Jes's mom cut it, and I think it made her happy, so that's fine with me.

Kiera is adorable! I keep saying, its dangerous how cute she is, and it's no exaggeration! We got to bring her home on Sunday, 8/15. We're getting used to her, and learning some tricks. She eats really well, doesn't cry a lot, and actually gained wait already! Shes 7lbs, 6oz now. We're still working on sleeping. We havent had a solid night's sleep since she came home, but that's to be expected, and I dont think any new parent could expect their newborn NOT to wake them up.

Well, thats it for tonights rather long post. We'll be sure to keep this updated.

- Very pleased daddy :D