Introducing...

Collin Michael Coon

Born Wednesday, October 16, 2013

8 lbs 15 oz

21.25 inches

Our little boy is finally here! Its been a month already, yet it feels like he has always been a part of our family. We love him like crazy. We love watching him grow, but can't believe how much he has already grown in such a short time. Slow down sweet boy! 

I wanted to be sure to write down the details of his birth before I forgot them all! 

He was due on Monday October 14th. I had an appointment that day and an ultrasound, just to make sure that everything looked good. The ultrasound tech predicted that he would weigh about 7 lbs 10 oz (boy was she wrong!). When my doctor checked me I was measuring at a 2 and 75-80% effaced. Since I was at 40 weeks she stripped my membranes and we decided to schedule an induction for that Thursday the 17th.

last belly shot taken 8 days before he was born

Moving along to Tuesday, Michael was getting really anxious for our little boy to get here. He insisted that I run up and down the stairs and do some jumping jacks. I felt silly doing them and didn't think that it would do anything, but something must have worked! We went to bed around 11 that night, but I never fell asleep. Around 11:30 I started having some cramping, that just kept getting worse. I started timing them around 12:30, they were about 6 minutes apart, and just kept getting closer. I woke up Michael around 1-1:30, and we got things together for the hospital. We checked in at 2:22 am. When they checked me in triage I was measuring at 3 cm, nearing 4 and was 100% effaced, with contractions about every 2 minutes apart. The nurse could tell that I was pretty uncomfortable so she was kind enough to get the fluids started right away so I could get my epidural ASAP. I just have to add that Michael nearly passed out while I was getting my IV. It was pretty funny! I don't like needles and was nervous for the IV so I was looking the towards Michael and holding his hand. I think I had my eyes closed, but all of a sudden I sensed that Michael was leaning forward, over the bed a little more. Sure enough I open my eyes and he was totally leaning towards me. At first I thought he was just trying to get a better look, but then I noticed he was a bit pale, and swaying. Thankfully he recovered quickly after sitting down. He thinks that he must have locked his knees. I guess I'm not the only queasy one in the family.

I got to my room and met my nurses and by 4 am I had my epidural! It was wonderful, instant relief! My nurse Mandy (the best nurse, I was so sad that she was off before the delivery) was so reassuring and calming during the whole process. I was nervous about getting it, but knew that the pain would far out weigh the pain of labor. Turns out the IV hurt more than the epidural! I highly recommend them, but applaud the women who do it natural (like my dear mother!) Oh, and word had gotten around with the nurses that Michael had nearly passed out. So they made sure he was on the other side of the room while I got the epidural :) After that everything progressed pretty consistently and quickly. I will just list those details out:

4:40 am dilated between a 4 and 5

6:45 dilated to a 7

6:49 water broke

7 our favorite nurse Mandy left, and Diana came in. 

8:05 dilated to a 10, an at a +1 station (I think that's what it is referred as). They wanted me to get to a +3 before starting to push

9:10 started pushing 

9:56 He's Here!!!

Overall labor was a pretty good experience and I won't mind doing it again in the future. Even if I didn't get any sleep the whole night! I was really relaxed, but just too anxious and excited to sleep. Pushing was way more chill than I expected. The epidural let me feel just enough pressure that  in between pushing with the nurse we just chatted. It wasn't until those last few minutes when the doctor showed up that the excitement picked up. My doctor was at the practice's other office that day, so another doctor at the practice, Dr. Bryan Cox, delivered Collin. He was awesome, very energetic (great for pushing), and even sang happy birthday when Collin was born. Michael got to help pull Collin out once his shoulders were out and cut his cord. I chose to have the mirror when pushing, which was very motivating for me. And I loved getting to see Collin's full head of hair. I was hoping the whole pregnancy that he would have lots of dark hair like I did when I was born. 

As it got closer to him being born I was more excited than emotional and didn't think I would cry at all.  But as soon as they put him on my chest there was no stopping the tears. I can't really describe the emotions I was feeling. I was in awe, excited, amazed, exhausted, etc. There was so much going on that I don't remember much from the moment. I just couldn't take my eyes off our beautiful, perfect baby boy. I wish I could more adequately describe how I felt, it was just simply an amazing and miraculous moment!

Since then we have been loving our little boy. Sure there have been some ups and downs. And a lot of "maybe we should try ____" But I couldn't imagine our life without sweet Collin! (And in all honesty it really is hard to remember life before we had him, but maybe that's the result of lack of sleep) As his Aunt Corinne said in a text after he was born, "Welcome to the family Collin!"