Ezra James Christensen

Ezra is here and we are loving it!! I want to write down the story of his birth before I forget the details.

I had a doctors appointment on Tuesday the 9th where the doctor stripped my membrane. He offered to induce me the next day but I told him no. When I got home and told Drew we talked about it for a little bit and decided we would go for the induction after all. My mom and Ashley came that night to watch Darcy when I went into the hospital early the next morning. I didn't end up going in the next day at all or the day after that. Friday afternoon my mom decided she would go back home and get some things done there, and of course they called me that night and told me they could get me in so she had to come back. Waiting was really hard for me because there was so much anticipation, but in the end I am really happy it took as long as it did because my body made progress on it's own which is what I wanted to happen originally.

We got to the hospital at about 9:30 on Friday night and they took us straight to our room and had me change. My nurse Kim got me all situated and the doctor came in around 10:00. She checked me and I was dilated to a 3. They told me I was having contractions about every 8 minutes which I was really surprised about because I didn't even know I had been having contractions at all. I thought they were just Braxton Hicks. They didn't even hurt! The doctor immediately asked the nurse for the hook and I kind of yelled, "WHAT?!" because I knew that meant she wanted to break my water and it really startled me. I just wasn't expecting things to happen that quickly at all. The other thing that surprised me was that the doctor asked me right after she broke my water if I wanted an epidural. I hadn't even had any pain at that point so I declined right at first. The nurse told me when I felt something I didn't want to feel again to ask for the epidural. Contractions started getting stronger and closer together quickly so about a half an hour later I asked for the epidural. The nurse anesthetist Bill came in soon after. He was so friendly and nice and he worked quickly and was careful to wait for a moment when I wasn't having a contraction to do his work (unlike the man that gave me my epidural with Darcy). After he gave me the epidural he started talking to Drew and we found out he knew all of Drew's Christensen side of the family so that was kind of fun. About an hour after my pain began it was gone, and it wasn't even very serious pain. That was basically all the pain I experienced the whole time. It was amazing. I keep saying I feel like I cheated the system because of how little pain I had.

After the epidural Drew and I fell asleep. About an hour later they gave me some pitocin and I went back to sleep. Around 1:30 in the morning the nurse came in to check me and we were both surprised that I was dilated to a 6 or 7. The babies heart rate had gone down a little, which the nurse said was because of how quickly I had progressed so she went to get the doctor. About ten minutes later the doctor came in to put a monitor on the baby, but I had already dilated to a 9 so she said she couldn't do anything. At this point I woke Drew up to tell him I was about to push. He had slept through the whole thing and was really surprised at what was happening. I dilated quickly to a 10 but wasn't totally effaced so we had to wait for that for about a half an hour. I pushed for 15-20 minutes and some of that time was just waiting for the doctor to get there. At one point the nurse said, "Now you're just showing off" because I was such a good pusher. :) Ezra James Christensen was born at 2:49 in the morning on August 13, 2011. He was 8 lbs. 1.1 oz. and 20 1/4 inches long. I know that is a decent sized baby by most peoples standards but he just seemed so unbelievably tiny. At first we didn't think he really looked like Darcy at all but over the last couple days as he has filled out we think he looks more and more like her, but they have slightly different noses. He is tongue-tied like she was (I'm so sad that is a feature I have passed on to both of my babies so far). Oh, and he has huge feet with the longest big toes I've ever seen! They look like fingers. :)

I feel like I am recovering so much faster this time around and I am so grateful for that and how smoothly the labor went. I feel so blessed to have two beautiful healthy babies.

We came home from the hospital Sunday around noon and my mom stayed with us that evening. She made an amazing dinner for us, which I so appreciate as a newly nursing mom. I feel starved all the time! She made us fried chicken, some perfectly mashed potatoes with gravy, corn on the cob from her garden (which basically tastes like candy) salad, peas and carrots, watermelon, and a lemon bunt cake. YUMMO! Drew ate like a king, and I ate like a hog. :) I am so grateful to have family so close and so willing to help. Thanks mom!

Of course we were a little worried about how Darcy would handle this change but she has been a champ. At first she was only slightly interested in him but now she talks about him all the time and loves to help us with him. Drew's parents got her a cute Cabbage Patch doll so she would have a baby to take home from the hospital too and she thinks baby Edwina is pretty awesome. Yesterday she asked if she could hold Ezra so we put her on the couch with him on her lap and she grinned the whole time. I asked her after a minute or so if she wanted me to take him and she said, No! It was so sweet.

She did have a hard time Saturday night when my mom took her home from the hospital and we didn't go with her. She cried and cried all the way out of the hospital, the car ride home, had a little break while she got to drive an awesome cart at the grocery story, and then cried again until she went to sleep. It broke my heart and my moms. I am happy to be back at home with her and for us to get into the swing of things.

We had a really good first night. Ezra woke up a couple times to eat of course, but I just laid him back down and he went right back to sleep. Darcy didn't wake up until 8 so we all slept until then and I woke up feeling rested, which I didn't expect to do the first night. He hasn't been awake hardly at all today though so that might mean tonight will be a little different.

Drew is going to be home this whole week. He gets to work from home Wednesday through Friday and I am so happy about it. We are so enjoying this new addition to our family. Thank you to everyone who has had us in your thoughts and prayers over the last few days. Thank you for your love and support.

Getting settled in before everything got started.

Ezra just after he was born.

Drew with Ezra.

Darcy getting acquainted with Ezra.

Family of four! (Darcy flashing gang signs)

I think it was my dad that first showed Darcy this fish tank down the hall from my room. She wanted to go back and check it out every few minutes.

Snoozing.

Stretched out.

About to sneeze.

A close-up of his sweet face.

I hated the pictures of me with Darcy in the hospital because I looked so ragged, so I got up and did my hair and put some make-up on to have some pictures of me with Ezra in the hospital before we left. Drew said that was proof of how easy the whole delivery had been on me. :)

Right before we left Darcy got up in my bed and she seemed to think she was pretty cool.

Ezra in his civilian clothes ready to go home.

Ready for the ride home.

Darcy holding Ezra at home.