Hey everyone...yes, I am finally fulfilling my paternal obligation of satisfying all those bloggers out there that are hungry for pictures of our little Jamo. First, a little recap of the events up until his arrival. Well, it was a Thursday morning and that's when Ashley started to get back cramps. I was a little unnerved because up until this point there had been no symptoms of labor, and I had a couple interviews with some firms that day, as well as a lunch meeting with some partners downtown, so I wasn't sure if I could leave her, but she assured me that she was okay and the whole day I had my phone in my hand in the meetings waiting for it to buzz. When I got home Ashley had been having back pains every 7-8 minutes all day so we decided to start tracking them around 4pm thinking that maybe they were contractions. She wasn't having any pain in the front so she kept saying, "are these contractions?" Ashley's mom was scheduled to get in that night at 10:30, so we kept tracking it until then and decided to pick her up and then swing by the hospital to check things out. By the time we picked her up from the airport the pains were less frequent at about 10 minutes apart, so Ash said, "I might as well go home and get some sleep...they are getting further apart...so I don't want to go to the hospital and have them tell me I am still dialated at a one." Plus, Ashley didn't want to go to the hospital and be at a one, because she didn't want them to tell her she couldn't have food. So we drove home, and I cooked her a meal in case it was her last one before the birth...and we tried to get some rest...but none of us could sleep. We kept tracking them until 3:00 a.m. and they started to get back to 4-6 minutes apart so we thought, we might as well just head to the hospital for some peace of mind. Ashley walked into the hospital and the nurse asked her some stuff and then checked on the baby. Suddenly, the nurse got a shocked look on her face as she checked Ashley to see how far dialated she was. She ran and got a nurse and they both checked her out and told us that she had dialated to an 8!! We all were scampering around the room by then pretty hyper, as we were anticipating that she was just having some back pain...not that she was about to have a baby soon. We all gave Ashley some major props for doing all her labor at home without an epideral. She is quite the warrior for doing all her labor all day at home! That's my girl! Good thing we had gone to the hospital instead of trying to sleep, or little Jamisen might have been born right there on our bed at home! Ashley immediately asked for an epidural as she was afraid that she would have to do the crowning part "au naturale". By the time she got the epidural it as about 5am and our doctor couldn't get to the hospital until 7:30am to deliver him. So we decided to wait and hang out for her to come. We sat around and talked, watched TV and Ashley had a popsicle. When the doctor got there a little later they broke her water and said she was at a 10 and ready to start pushing. Unfortunately, the epidural made the contractions slow down and each push wasn't as effective as it needed to be. They gave her some pitocin and after 2 hours of exhausting pushing....our little man was born at 10:27 a.m. on Friday morning October 16th. 3 days before his due date. Words cannot describe what a miracle it is to see your baby boy for the first time. It was an amazing experience, and we both feel blessed and excited to be parents. Welcome to the world Jamisen! We love you little dude...
Post-epideral bliss................Ashley's nurse just happened to be LDS. She is a traveling nurse from Arizona and just happened to be in Houston that same night...........small world
