It's a Bouncing Baby Boy!

Hopefully this isn't news to anyone, but - we had a baby boy!!

Thierry (tea-AIR-ee) James Parr was born at 8:26 p.m. on Sunday, August 15 in Modesto, CA, he weighed in at a robust 8 lbs, 4 oz and was 21 inches long...and he's quite a looker, if I do say so myself :) He has his daddy's lips and chin and his mommy's eyes and long arms/legs/fingers. I stare at him a lot. It's not creepy, though, 'cause he's my baby.

Wait...What's that? You wanna hear about D-Day? Okay! Here goes...

4ish a.m. - I awaken with that familiar middle of the night feeling...I have to pee. Ugh. And what is this crampy ache in my abdominal region? Sweet. Thanks for the pleasantness, pregnancy.

5ish a.m. - I have to pee again. And why does my stomach-area still hurt?!

6ish a.m. - OMG, really?! Pee, AGAIN?! Ow...this pain is not subsiding. Looks like my good friend Braxton (Hicks, that is) is here to ruin my morning. I have trouble falling asleep.

7ish a.m. - I awaken from a fitful doze and in my sleepy haze decide to get up and move around to get rid of these ridiculously strong Braxton Hicks contractions.

So I pick up the house. And, it didn't work at all.

I take Miley for a walk. The pain did not subside.

I stretch. No dice.

I realize...These are not fake contractions.

By this time it is almost 9 a.m. and I use my crack deductive reasoning skills to review the mornings events...I had experienced Braxton Hicks plenty of times before, had even been woken up by them, but they had never felt like this and they always went away as soon as I got off my duff and started moving around. The pain I was experiencing was also pretty rhythmic - coming and going in a consistent pattern, and had gradually gotten worse over the past few hours. Sooo...really?...Great Odin's Raven! I'm gonna have a baby today!

9 a.m. - Tommy began to stir from his rock-like slumber, fighting through a moderate malaise after our big night at karaoke the evening prior.

Me: "Good morning sunshine!"
Him: "(indecipherable grunt)"
Me: "I'm gonna need you to perk up mister, cause we are having a baby today..."
Him: (pause...eyes open...left eyebrow lifts quizzically) "Yeah right."
Me: "No, I really think this is it! I've been having contractions for hours!"
Him: "Really? It's not another false alarm?"
Me: "No way dude, that was amateur hour, this is the real deal, promise."

The malaise disappeared...And so the day began.

(I didn't blog about the second false alarm that had taken us to Labor and Delivery the week prior. I thought my water broke so we got all of our stuff together, grabbed some pillows, stopped at the store for snacks and headed to the hospital only to find out I had merely pissed myself. It's okay...go ahead and laugh. Yep, get a nice hearty chuckle.)

2ish p.m. - Fast forward a bit, we headed to the hospital at about 2 in the afternoon. By this time my contractions were consistently about 50-60 seconds long and coming every 4-5 minutes. We had talked to both of our moms and informed them, much to their exuberance, we were having a baby today. The car ride to the hospital was one of the most painful parts of the whole experience...I dunno why, but I did not like riding in that car. I refused to ride in a wheelchair up to Labor and Delivery...it felt so much better to be up and moving around. I had two contractions in the hallways. Probably pretty fun for the passers-by to witness, haha.

Upon arrival to L&D we went to stop #1 - observation, where they hooked me up to a couple monitors to check the baby's heart rate and the strength of my contractions. It was a paper skirt kind of observation and we were informed that I was fully effaced, already dilated to 5 cm and had a "bulging" bag of waters. 5 cm?? Sweet! Halfway there! I was incredibly encouraged to learn this, as we seriously wanted to have a natural childbirth.

We were quickly escorted to stop #2 - our own personal delivery suite, where I would continue to labor until the baby arrived. Our nurse, Johanna, hooked me up to a couple portable monitors so I could move around and inserted my IV line. It was at this point we made it clear, under no uncertain terms, we wanted a natural childbirth and no painkillers or drugs were to be offered. After about 10 minutes of meandering around the room, I changed into my bathing suit and proceeded to the steamy, relaxing comfort of the shower...where I stayed for nearly five hours.

Tommy was fantastic, to say the least. He was present, but didn't hover, he was supportive, but not in the annoying cheerleader-y fashion, he was happy to serve my every whim and he provided perfect counter-pressure in just the right spot when I had contractions in my back. He kept me relaxed and laughing between contractions, and repeated my mantra of "I can do this...I can do this" with me while I grunted, whimpered and breathed my way through the countless chaotic contractions. Can't say enough good things about the man and his support - especially when the going got tough later in the game. He was definitely my rock.

7:45 p.m. - I had to get out of the shower to get "checked" by the mid-wife, who informed me I was dilated to 9.5 and while she was checking me, my water finally broke. And the real party started.

8:10 p.m. - We started pushing. I'll just spare you the gory details. Quite possibly the most disgusting 16 minutes of my life ensued.

8:26 p.m. - The final push, aaaaaaand...Tommy lets go of my hand, performs some sort of muted jumping action and excitedly exclaims "It's a boy! Oh my gosh, it's a BOY!! Baby, IT'S A BOY!" Seconds later a slimy, whitish creature was placed on my belly, where he promptly pooped on my leg while Tom cut his umbilical cord. Our minutes-old child was then whisked to the corner of the room to be cleaned up, with Tomas close behind. No one bothered to wipe up the poop on my leg, however. They're lucky I had other things on my mind...Well, I suppose they were lucky I was too overcome with emotion to care, would be a more accurate assessment, but whatev :)

The next hour or so is one I will never ever forget for as long as I live. Tommy and I held the baby. And stared at him. Counted his little fingers and toes, kissed his little head and decided which parts of him looked like who. We listened to music (we had downloaded several "baby day" songs specifically for this time) and marveled at the fact that we were now someones parents. We texted friends and family, passing along the good news and sharing first pictures. The baby started fussing at one point while I was texting, and I received my first scolding from Tom to stop ignoring the baby in favor of firing texts :) We did it, and were beyond happy and proud. We made it through the 16 hours of labor beautifully, and had accomplished our goal of a natural childbirth, to welcome a happy, healthy baby boy. The song below is my favorite one from our baby mix, and I'll think of this first hour with our baby everytime I hear it...



10ish p.m. - With mom and baby fresh, clean and diapered we moved on to stop #3 on the Kaiser assembly line - the postpartum room. This is where we would remain until we left the hospital. The baby slept in the room with us in a little bassinet on wheels, I got a sweet hospital bed that moved like those old people beds in commercials at the touch of a button (it was complete with a waterproof covering!), and Tom was stuck on the crappy "pull out" foam pad couch in the corner...his own private post-partum depression.

The first night was moderately exhausting, albeit uneventful. Thierry woke up several times, and a nurse came in to check on us nearly every hour. I was still too smitten to care about sleep, though, and emerged in the morning still wearing a smile. Tom got us breakfast and we hung out with the baby. And hung out some more. And more. And eventually (around 10 a.m., I think) decided we had had enough of the hospital and wanted to get home as soon as possible. Apparently this was odd to the hospital staff, who seemed taken aback when we told them we wanted to head out that day. What can I say...it was boring! We completed all the formalities, TJ and I were both medically cleared to go home, and we made the short trip down 99 to 510 Lottie Ave., and welcomed our baby boy home for the first time :)

And that's the story of how our own little miracle came to be. I hope you enjoyed reading it, we definitely enjoyed living it!

More to come, so stay tuned in - I'm going to do my best to keep the blog train rolling!

CP...Over and out :)