On Thursday, December 17th, 2009, at 10:31 a.m., Jonathan Cole Davis entered the world; he weighed 7 pounds and 1 ounce, and was 19 3/4 inches long. Unlike his big sister, who came into the world with her eyes wide open (and has scarcely shut them since), he chose instead to snooze his way through his first day on earth. Also unlike his sister, he actually knows how to CRY. She screamed. Or shrieked - or squealed at the top of her lungs. But not cry. He cries nicely - although he hasn't really seen a need to to do much of it (at least not until this morning, but that's another story entirely.)
We arrived at the hospital at a few minutes past 4:30 in the morning; they admitted us, and sent us straight to labor & delivery. Once there, we were put in a room, and they started IVs (it took 3 tries to actually get the thing in my hand, leaving rather painful holes...ow.) and the nurse expressed her suprise - she said she usually doesn't have people walking in there who are over 4 cm dialated and totally effaced who aren't actually in labor already! :-) Oh, well, I guess I just have to be different! Anyhow, we sat there for the next 4 hours or so - they increased the pitocin drip every 15 minutes or so, until around 9 when they came and broke my water -"to get things moving a little faster" - and did they ever! In the space of about 20-30 minutes, we went from 5 cm. to 9! So, they called the Dr, he said go ahead and start pushing, so they all came in and started getting things ready, had me push a few times 'just for the fun of it', and then the nurse left the room. We sat there minding our own business for a few minutes, when all the sudden, the Doctor came flying through the door and said, "we've got to get this baby out of there NOW!"
Ok, now we were scared!
Apparently, his heart rate had started dropping, and though it wasn't dangerously low, they wanted to get him out quickly. Dr. Darby checked, and said he was too high for him to reach with the forceps, but said to try to push once and see if he'd move down far enough, otherwise he was doing a c-cection immediately. I pushed a couple of times, and he said he thought he could reach him. During this exchange, the baby's heart beat had gone up a bit, but after those pushes, it started dropping again.
Talk about going into high gear! Without any warning, the Dr. said, "Dad, I need you to help. You hold her shoulders with one arm, and push on the top of her stomach with the other arm. She's going to push like she's never pushed before." With Brad pushing on my stomach, me pushing, and the Dr. pulling, he was out in about 5 minutes! He told Brad he got to cut the cord since he'd done half the work getting him out, and they quickly got him under the warmer. Thankfully, he immediately started breathing and protested mightily about the treatment he was getting!
Remarkably, Mommy only tore a tiny bit - even with all the jerking and pushing that was going on - and only had to have ONE stitch!
Other than bruise on the side of his head from the forceps, baby Jonathan is in perfect shape! Not quite being 38 weeks, they had warned us that there was a slight possibility that his lungs wouldn't be totally developed and he might have to have some oxygen at first, but his lungs are in perfect shape! In fact, the pediatritician came in to check him out yesterday morning, and when she came to talk to me, she walked in the door and said "I am SO confused!" His gestational age (according to my due date) was 37 weeks, 6 days, but his developemental age, according to her testing was over 39 weeks! She said he's perfect...
But we knew that already!
God is soo good!
Juliana immediately said that we could keep him! In fact, when we asked her what she thought of her new brother, she said, "he's so cute - I lubs him!" and gave him kisses! She has been very good with him. While Im typing this, he's on my lap sleeping, and she come every few minutes to crawl up beside me -'can I see the baby brudder?'- and rubs his head or pats him. She also loves to hold him.
Now for pictures...
We arrived at the hospital at a few minutes past 4:30 in the morning; they admitted us, and sent us straight to labor & delivery. Once there, we were put in a room, and they started IVs (it took 3 tries to actually get the thing in my hand, leaving rather painful holes...ow.) and the nurse expressed her suprise - she said she usually doesn't have people walking in there who are over 4 cm dialated and totally effaced who aren't actually in labor already! :-) Oh, well, I guess I just have to be different! Anyhow, we sat there for the next 4 hours or so - they increased the pitocin drip every 15 minutes or so, until around 9 when they came and broke my water -"to get things moving a little faster" - and did they ever! In the space of about 20-30 minutes, we went from 5 cm. to 9! So, they called the Dr, he said go ahead and start pushing, so they all came in and started getting things ready, had me push a few times 'just for the fun of it', and then the nurse left the room. We sat there minding our own business for a few minutes, when all the sudden, the Doctor came flying through the door and said, "we've got to get this baby out of there NOW!"
Ok, now we were scared!
Apparently, his heart rate had started dropping, and though it wasn't dangerously low, they wanted to get him out quickly. Dr. Darby checked, and said he was too high for him to reach with the forceps, but said to try to push once and see if he'd move down far enough, otherwise he was doing a c-cection immediately. I pushed a couple of times, and he said he thought he could reach him. During this exchange, the baby's heart beat had gone up a bit, but after those pushes, it started dropping again.
Talk about going into high gear! Without any warning, the Dr. said, "Dad, I need you to help. You hold her shoulders with one arm, and push on the top of her stomach with the other arm. She's going to push like she's never pushed before." With Brad pushing on my stomach, me pushing, and the Dr. pulling, he was out in about 5 minutes! He told Brad he got to cut the cord since he'd done half the work getting him out, and they quickly got him under the warmer. Thankfully, he immediately started breathing and protested mightily about the treatment he was getting!
Remarkably, Mommy only tore a tiny bit - even with all the jerking and pushing that was going on - and only had to have ONE stitch!
Other than bruise on the side of his head from the forceps, baby Jonathan is in perfect shape! Not quite being 38 weeks, they had warned us that there was a slight possibility that his lungs wouldn't be totally developed and he might have to have some oxygen at first, but his lungs are in perfect shape! In fact, the pediatritician came in to check him out yesterday morning, and when she came to talk to me, she walked in the door and said "I am SO confused!" His gestational age (according to my due date) was 37 weeks, 6 days, but his developemental age, according to her testing was over 39 weeks! She said he's perfect...
But we knew that already!
God is soo good!
Juliana immediately said that we could keep him! In fact, when we asked her what she thought of her new brother, she said, "he's so cute - I lubs him!" and gave him kisses! She has been very good with him. While Im typing this, he's on my lap sleeping, and she come every few minutes to crawl up beside me -'can I see the baby brudder?'- and rubs his head or pats him. She also loves to hold him.
Now for pictures...
The official 'First Photo'
Cleaned up pretty nice, huh?
Big Sister meets Little Brother
Daddy finally gets to hold him 
The whole family
Sweet Baby Boy 
Kisses!
Tired Dad
Getting ready to go home
Going home at last!And, just for reference:
Juliana at 1 day
3 comments:
Such a handsome little guy!! Congrats! So sweet that JuJu has taken to him so fast. :) Merry Christmas!
Gillian, I love reading about baby's birth, it is such a miracle!Glad all went well, you have such a cute family, now you all need to come to Pennsylvania so we can see him.
Congratulations, Gillian. I am so thankful that everything went well for you. I hope you have many great years with your little family.
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