It has been 7 weeks since Anzel joined our family in the outside world, and I'm now ready to get back to the blog. So, first thing is first... I've shared our birth story below and plan to share with you the exciting developments that we keep seeing with each passing day as time goes on. But for now, you can just read about how he made his way into the world.
For the next 7 hours I labored through the night at home with the contractions greatly intensifying and becoming much more frequent. We held out as long as we could before going to the hospital, and by 5:30 am we were ready. Contractions were about 3 minutes apart and I was trying to breathe through the pain as we made our way into NYU For delivery.
We drove over the Manhattan Bridge into the city and watched the sun rise over the East River and the Williamsburg Bridge. It was a beautiful day to be born, 5/15/15!
Upon arriving at the hospital I was 5 cm dilated, and apparently it was a busy day for babies to be born because we were in the triage room for the next 5 hours as I labored loudly next to two other women who had epidural and were quietly waiting behind their curtains. We found out that our OB on-call that morning was the ONE doctor out of seven in the practice that we had not met. At first, this made us a bit nervous, but as it turns out she was the absolute perfect person to help guide our baby into the world.
Liz was a champion birth coach who kept me hydrated, breathing, and continued to provide comforting words of encouragement. After being in a confined space while contracting every 2-3 minutes with no access to a shower for calming for 5 hours, I was a bit cranky. So, Liz kept asking nurses and our doctor when we could get into our own labor and delivery room, and they kept telling us that we would be in our own room when the next one was vacated. Around 10:30 am, our doctor checked and told us that I was 6 cm dilated, and she facilitated breaking my water. And WOAH... the gush of huge amounts of liquid was such a surprise and a temporary relief! Around 11:00 am, we were finally given a room. At this point, my contractions were incredibly intense and less than one minute apart. Upon entering our own room, Liz suggested that I take a shower. That sounded like something that might feel good, so I stripped down and got ready to take a shower when I began feeling the overwhelming urge to push and when checked I had dilated to 7 cm. I could've sworn he was ready to come out right then, and I started doubting if I was able to make it all the way to the end, but I just kept taking one contraction at a time and listening to the amazing support from Liz, our incredible nurse, Emma, and our wonderful doctor, Dr. Ufberg.
By 12:00, I was 9 cm dilated, and we began to push. This exhausting process gave hope that he was actually going to be joining us on "the outside" soon, and I knew we could make it happen together (me and him). So, after 16 hours of labor and 1 hour of pushing, his tiny little head full of blonde hair emerged and Liz was as to guide his little body into the world. He cried instantly and was placed directly on my chest. I immediately fell head over heals in love and knew that my world was now more complete because he was in it.
For the next two hours Liz and I laid in bed snuggling our beautiful baby boy to our bare chests and crying tears of joy over how grateful we are. Our hearts were filled to the brim and overflowing with love, and we hope our little Anzel Oliver feels our overwhelming joy and gratitude every day for the rest of his life.
The past 7 weeks have been amazing, exhausting, joyous, and intense... our little Anzel is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen, and if you haven't met him yet, we are so excited to make the introduction.
Newborn (10 days old)
1 month old on June 15th
No comments:
Post a Comment