Judah's first day

I asked Tripp to take my last
pic with Judah, oh yeah

We've had Judah in our arms for 2 weeks now. The details of his first day are precious to me and I wanted to share them here before they blend in with the foggy blur of newborn days.

Judah was born on Friday, July 13th at 11:46am at Prentice Northwestern Women's Hospital downtown Chicago. Thursday evening after an exhausting day of flu I, Laura, could not have gotten to the hospital faster for my 39 week elective induction. Our appointment time was 12:30am on Friday morning, and Tripp and I wanted to head down as soon as my parents arrived at 9pm. Thankfully Food Network had a decent show on, Chopped, and we were entertained through departure at 11:45pm.

This birth experience was so different from David's from the start. Arriving at Prentice, I checked in at Triage and was directed to take myself to the 8th floor via elevator. No rush and no assistance. Once escorted to our delivery room and hooked up to the necessary labor inducing drugs, Tripp and I still had the birth-day jitters and couldn't believe we'd be meeting Judah soon. We though surely at sunrise.

dawn

Around 4 am, contractions were starting to pick up. My nurse said to call for the epidural when they'd reached an 8 on the pain scale. However, she and my doctor also advised I be 'hooked up' prior to the first dilation check and breaking water. The doctor on call was Dr. Katz, which was a blessing since I'd seen her the most during this pregnancy. When Dr. Katz stopped by around 5am, she said that I should expect things to really move once my water's broken.

5:30am, I was ringing the nurse for the epidural and bracing myself for labor to take off. 6am, Dr. Katz broke my water and checked dialation... 3cm! WHAT?! My doctor could not have been more pleased and said, 'I think we'll have a baby here by 10am.' Thank goodness for her positive encouragement, I had translated that number as, 'What were you thinking being induced, this guy's not coming for another week!' Tripp also was discouraged thinking, 'What happened to my wife the speedy labor woman?'

I can't remember the exact time, but possibly around 9am, Dr. Katz came in for a second dilation check since her shift was almost up. Dr. Ericson was on next and I hadn't seen that woman in years. Assessing my dilation at 3.5 and 80% effaced I was again discouraged! Dr. Katz assured me that we'd be seeing the baby soon and she was going to stay to meet Judah. Her sweetness and professionalism were just what I needed to keep a light heart in anticipation for Judah.

Sun's up! No Judah...

As 10am passed, Tripp and I had watched in completion Cars 2 and Mars Needs Moms. Who'd have thought we'd be twiddling our thumbs this round?! Well, I eat my own advice at this point, 'every labor is different and has everything and nothing to do with the mom!' Yes. True. Dr. Katz came by again to check dilation and said that there was another mother in labor about the same stage and scenario as myself. I was at 5cm.

5cm meant another 5 to go and maybe multiple hours to me. To Dr.Katz that was just enough information to prepare the baby catching supplies. Encouraging again. In my mind, I recalled a conversation with a dear friend who's doctor told her that 2nd babies often just slide into the birth canal via uterine contractions in the final moments. Was definitely hoping for that!

Since the pain was manageable on the epidural, I had opted to not press the 'trigger' button very often to deliver doses. Right about the time I had started to feel 'pressure' in my bum bum, the anesthesiologist came by to check in on me. I told him I had good movement of my legs and could even 'clench' certain muscles :) He then advised that I continue to press the epi button to make sure that I'm not playing catch up when I am in greater pain. Ooops.

By 11:15 the sensations to 'push' were heightening so I asked my nurse to get Dr. Katz to asses and it was go time! Unfortunately, or fortunately I had lots of feeling in my bum bum so I engaged and pushed with all my might. Haha, I will spare details for uninterested readers - but Judah was born before Dr.Katz had to hit the road! With one look before they wiped him down I saw that he looked just like David, yay another cutie bootie!! At 7 lbs 1 oz and 20.5 inches long, he was one sweet baby boy - not sure what happened to my womb ninja.  Following delivery, we thanked her profusely and she informed us she was onward to vacation. We were onward to our recovery room.

My sweet sleepy Judah Bug

Judah's here! We're recovering...