My first Birthing Experience

Yesterday morning my friend was induced to have her baby. It was the first birth that I was able to see myself. It was so neat. It's so much different than what you would see on the Discovery health channel or anything. It was really cool.

They started her pitocin at about 7:30...I arrived at about 7:35 after dropping Leon off at daycare. When I got there, she was already having mild contractions and dilated to 4. (the contractions had nothing to do with the pitocin yet) Like they should have been, they kept getting stronger and stronger. Around 12:30 I decided to leave to grab something to eat really fast. I went right across the road from the hospital to Fazolis and came back to eat it there. When I left, she was 4 cm and 80% effaced. So, we had time...right?? I got back and she was dilated to 6. Not even 30 minutes after I left, she had progressed by 2 cm!! I couldn't believe it. By the time I was done eating at about 1:40-ish, the doctor came in and said that she was 9 1/2!!!!! So, I started to get really ancy. She said she'd come back in about 20 minutes and check her again to make sure she was at 10. So, at 2:00 the doctor came back in and sure enough, she was dilated to 10. The pushing began right about 2:00 too. By 2:23 she had a beautiful baby boy!!!! There weren't really any complications or anything. He wasn't breathing quite like they had liked so they had the NICU nurses come and look at him. He really hadn't "cried" yet either. He cried when he came out, but not a full blown cry. He had a slight fever so they wanted to do some blood work and he screamed throughout this. It broke everyone's heart that was in the room...especially mom's heart! The blood work came back normal and he is breathing fine now. He hasn't had any problems, and he is an excellent nurser so far!! He had a TON of dark hair too...just like his mom!! Enjoy the picture:



Welcome Anthony James!! 7 lbs 14 oz 21 1/2 inches long.