10 days NEW!

It is hard to believe that 10 days have gone by since Ezra has entered our lives. 10 beautiful days of getting to know our boy! 10 days since his birth, one of the very best days of my life! It is bittersweet in someways. I am so thankful and happy that he is here! But man, time flies! The newborn stage is one of my very favorite things in life! I only wish it could last a little longer! We are enjoying our little guy, his sisters are IN LOVE with him, and he is such a wonderful, content baby!
I had the most wonderful labor with him. I wasn't quite sure I was in labor actually...but arrived at the hospital at 6cm. I really didn't have any pain until I started pushing. What a blessing that was! With the girls I always had an epidural, I even had them in London just to make sure I could have an epidural. I was so afraid of the pain.
I was so happy to have a midwife this time around! I absolutely LOVED IT! I cannot say enough about the care you receive with a midwife. BEST DECISION EVER! The epidural was in my birth plan this time around too, but when I arrived at the hospital at 6cm and NO pain, I started wondering if I would need it. We decided to go ahead and have it placed in case I did want it as I progressed. We could turn on the medication when needed. Once the epidural was placed and some medication started to test it's effectivness I had a major blood pressure drop to 70/33. This was super scary for me as I was on the verge of passing out. The anesthesiologist was paged and I was given a shot of adrenalin and the epidural was turned off. Thankfully I felt MUCH better! And thankfully my contractions were virtually painless. Shortly before pushing we had the epi turned back on at a low dose. I was so scared of having another reaction to the medication. I have always wondered what labor and delivery would feel like and I got to experience it this time ;) I don't think the epidural had enough time to take effect.
After pushing for about an hour and a half (longer than my last two babies by a longshot), Ezra Gary Pearson Kivell was born into his Daddy's waiting arms at 4:14pm on January 17th, 2011, weighing 8lbs 8 ounces and 20 inches long.
He had a bit of a hard time breathing at first, his respirations were 100/min. so my midwives decided to get him checked out in the nursery to be safe. He spent almost 3 hours down there but was doing well. He had a few tests done to rule out infection, but in the end his lungs were just a bit wet. We were so happy to have him back with us that evening, and his sisters were able to come up and meet their new brother! They were absolutely smitten with him! He is one very loved little boy!

BJ

Last belly shot :)


Daddy practicing for the big event!


My WONDERFUL midwife!


Melanie and I