Introducing...

He's here!!  We are excited to announce that Grady Robert was born on Wednesday, August 24th, at 5:59 PM.  He was 8 lbs 3 oz and 22 inches long!  We are adjusting to being a family of three and are loving every minute of it!

Grady's Birth Story

On Monday afternoon I went to the doctor and we scheduled a 6 AM induction on Wednesday at Fairfax hospital.  By Monday evening I was starting to have contractions that were coming in at every 9 to 10 minutes apart.  I was also having some bleeding too and I called my doctor.  He said that we should head to the hospital, just to make sure everything was ok.  We checked into triage and of course my contractions stopped and the nurse checked to see that I was only 2 centimeters dilated.  My doctor said I should go home and we'd continue with the Wednesday induction schedule.

Matt and I went home and I continued to have contractions ranging anywhere from 8 minutes to 12 minutes apart and lasting about 50 seconds to over a  minute and half long.  These contractions lasted all Monday night, all day Tuesday, and Tuesday night.  Even though my induction was scheduled for 6 AM on Wednesday morning, I had called one of the doctor's on-call and she advised me to go to the hospital.  We arrived at the hospital around 3 AM and I was only 3 centimeters dilated.  I couldn't believe it.  How could I be having consistent contractions for over 24 hours and only be 1 centimeter more dilated than Monday evening? 

We checked into the labor and delivery room around 4 AM.  At 6:30 AM they started the pitocin drip.  At 9 AM Matt noticed lots of liquid on the floor near the pitocin drip.  Apparently the evening nurses hooked up the pitocin, but didn't put it into my IV!  Once the pitocin drip was actually hooked in, my contractions started to become more frequent. By 12 PM I had my epidural and it was wonderful!  The epidural didn't hurt, just felt like a pinch and then I felt so good.  Seriously I don't know why anyone would want to go through labor naturally.  At 12:40 PM my doctor checked that I was 4 centimeters dilated and broke my water.

At 3:30 PM I felt pressure and the nurse checked to see that I was fully dilated.  I started pushing a little after 4 PM.  I pushed for almost 2 hours and during the last 30 minutes I had a fever of 101 degrees and needed oxygen.  Grady also pooed in my uterus so the NICU nurses were called in.  Grady checked out perfectly healthy and we are so in love with our little guy! 

First family photo right after delivery