Baby Isaac is here!

Jason and I are so happy to announce the arrival of our baby boy! Our son Isaac Samuel was born 10 lbs. 15 oz. and 23 inches long at 5:04 pm on Monday, January 25. We are so excited and thank God for a safe, delivery and a healthy, happy, strong baby!!!!

Me with my doctor (leaving out her name for privacy)...She's GREAT!

We arrived at the hospital to begin the process of being induced. I was three days past my due date and my doctor and I discussed when we should induce. I was feeling some discomfort from the weight of the baby and was willing to be induced because I didn't want him to get much bigger. At the time, I of course, did not know how BIG he really was--I just knew my back hurt, it was uncomfortable and awkward to sit, and walking caused a lot of pressure and pain on my pelvis area. So, I began having a dose of citotech (a medication to soften the cervix) on Sunday evening. Then, when I had dilated to about a 4-5 cm, they began a steady drip of Petosin (to create contractions) in my IV. It was Monday morning by then, and I was not in very much pain yet. As the contractions grew stronger, I asked for an epidural (anesthesia to numb from the waist down) to ease the pain until I would deliver the baby. Around 2:00 pm on Monday, I was fully dilated to 10 cm and ready to push our baby boy out into the world!! I pushed for two hours and as the doctor and nurses checked my progress, they had little to report. In other words, they could feel his head coming down, but it was not budging from where it was perched. After two hours of pushing, there was still not any progress. My doctor said that I could try to push for one more hour or we could do a C-section. She said that if we did the third hour of pushing, then it would be necessary to do a C-section if he had not come out. I was very exhausted after two hours of pushing, and because there had been no progress up to that point, Jason and I decided to do the C-section and not push for a third hour.

Shortly, after that Isaac arrived via C-section!

The nurses, surgery techs, and doctors in the operating room were SHOCKED by how big Isaac is!! My doctor exclaimed, "He's HUGE!" when he came out. She also immediately said that I could have never pushed him out vaginally, because he is so big and his shoulders are so wide. I am thankful that we made the choice to have the C-section, because if he had come down farther into my birth canal he could have gotten stuck or caused me and him some trauma that could have been very scary or even dangerous to either of us. I know some people say that they've heard of babies being born vaginally that are 10+ lbs, but it must be that the person having a baby that big is built larger than me in that area. I could not have pushed him out, because I am too narrow down there, and that is why Isaac was not "dropping out" when I pushed for 2 hours earlier that day.

Isaac's sized and weight and length was much larger than average babies that the nurses and doctors at my hospital had seen! He became the talk of the hospital--a nearly 11 lb baby! Even the security guard at the front entrance had heard about the "GIANT" baby that was born. Jason went to get some things from the car, and the security guard said...oh, you're the one with the HUGE baby! It was pretty funny... Some of the nurses and doctors were joking that I gave birth to a "toddler" instead of an infant. Even some of the other new Moms I met had heard about the BIG baby...

His hair and eyelashes are fairly light. They aren't quite blond, but more of a light brown. He has a medium amount of hair--not really thick and full yet, but it is definitely covering his head.

Here is Jason in his scrub outfit that he wore into the operating room. He got to see Isaac before me, and really had a "bird's eye" view of the whole experience. I was soooo HAPPY when I heard Isaac cry, but I didn't get to see him until he had been cleaned up and measured and weighed. I didn't get to hold him until I was back in my labor and delivery room a little later in the afternoon.

This photo was taken the night we took Isaac home. He is wearing "real" clothes, a 3-month old size, for the first time. We took him home on Wednesday, January 27.

All ready to go home from the hospital! They let us go home a day early, because everything was going well and both me and the baby were doing good. We will have follow up appointments soon with Isaac's pediatrician and my OBGYN. Now, we are just learning how to take care of the baby on our own at home! It's going to be FUN! We will get a lot less sleep and by VERY busy, but I'm sure the experience will be wonderful! We are so thankful to God for giving us this precious gift of our son! It is an amazing miracle, and every time I look at Isaac, I still can't believe he was in my stomach and that God created him in there all these last nine months. --AMAZING!