Introducing Mr. Chesley

So I finally made my way downstairs and I'll try to sit at the computer for a little while. Introducing Mr. Chesley Jefferson Phillips. He was born January 9, 2009 at 12:10 pm at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Beaumont, TX. He was delivered by Dr. Victores as our regular OB was out of town.

We went to the hospital Thursday night after I had been having contractions since Wednesday evening. Around 6:30 pm Thursday the contractions got to be 5 mins. apart. We waited until 9:30 pm to go to the hospital. We live about 5 mins away and I wanted to stay home as long as possible. When we got there, I was only 1 cm dilated, but my blood pressure was 185/115. They admitted me and started an iv with magnesium sulfate to lower bp. My contractions got stronger, and I was in lots of pain. At 3:00 am, I got my epidural, and things got a little better. Then, the magnesium slowed the contractions down, so they started pitocin.... OWWWWW. The contractions got worse, and I got feeling back in my belly. So the epidural worked in my bottom and my legs were dead, but I felt everything in my belly. It was excrutiating. I really didn't think I was going to be able to do it. Then around 10 am, I was fully dilated, and the dr said I could push... but I didn't feel the need to push. By this point the contractions were so painful that I was screaming my head off every 2 minutes. Finally, the nurse convinced me that pushing might feel better. And it did. Then the baby was about to come and the dr wasn't there... But he made it. I screamed and pushed and screamed and finally he came out. The dr had to do an episitomy, which is why I'm still feeling so crappy. Baby had some mucus in his lungs, so they brought him to the nursery for a little while, then they brought him to us for a few minutes, then they took him back. Those few minutes where we first got to hold him were so precious. Nothing in the world could have prepared me for that moment. He is the most beautiful baby in the world.

So I had to stay on the mag iv for 24 hours after delivery, which meant I had to stay on the catheter too. They were very concerned about pre-eclampsia, but the dr said it was probably just chronic high blood pressure. My bp stayed high my whole hospital stay. So Friday night was rough. Episiotomy + catheter = PAIN. It was bad. Plus they were checking vital signs every hour. Saturday I got to get off the iv, take a bath, put on real clothes and keep the baby all day. Saturday night we kept the baby in our room till 3 am when the nursery nurse came to check on us and the baby had not gone to sleep at all. She saved me because I would not have called and asked for help. Then Sunday we had to stay till late afternoon because we had to wait for the dr to do the circumcism.

Our first few nights at home have been pretty good. He is a good baby. He eats, then sleeps, then eats, then sleeps... He loves breastfeeding and is very good at it. We went to the pediatrician for a weigh-in this morning. He was down to 5 lbs. 12 oz. when we left the hospital Sunday. He was back up to 6 lbs. 4 oz. today!! Very good boy.

I saw my OB today for her to check my bp and see what she wants to do with me. She also checked my stitches and some were not quite right. She pulled a couple out.... So I'm really hurting now, but hopefully things will start getting better. I'm still pretty miserable from pain down there. I'm not too tired though. I try to get a long nap during the afternoon if I can. Well that's about all the torture of sitting in a chair I can handle. Sorry formatting is crappy on this post. I will fix later.

I'm so thrilled that my little boy is here. He is so precious and sweet. He's everything I ever dreamed of and more.