The Adventures of Baby Boy Shaw

Well I just wanted to attempt at getting a post done all by myself. Don't know how it will turn out. I just want to first of thank my beautiful wife who went through so much to bring our son into this world. As many of you know we were one week overdue and had been scheduled to be induced today. Because Rach was not dilating at all the Doctor had her come in on Thursday night to give her Cervidil (sp? a drug to prepare the body for an inducible labor). She had been having contractions on and off for two weeks but was not progressing. The medication was placed at 9:00PM on Thurs. and was to stay in place 12 hours. Well we watched some free cable for a while and I tried to study amongst the excitement. That didn't go so well. At about 1:30-2:00ish Rach began to go into early labor. Her contractions were close and progressively getting worse. To bad to sleep. It didn't help that they pumped her full of fluids. At about 6:00AM this morning the midwife wanted to check her. At this point she had dilated from nothing to 2cm. The contractions continued to get worse and worse and the numbers on the pain scale were rising drastically. I learned quickly that touching her during a contraction was a nono but back rubs in between were a must. I kept telling her that she should ask for the drugs but she was determined to tough it out till the cervidil was removed. Dr. Metchler dropped in at about 8:00AM to see how she was doing. He said things looked great and he would be back at lunch to break her water and hopefully have a baby by 4:00. Well after looking at the clock after every contraction (which was about every min but must have seemed like 10 min to her) and wondering if she made it, 9:00 AM rolled around, then 9:15. I kept telling her just a few more contractions, as if removing the cervidil would stop them. Little did I know. About 9:30 I got a "where the HELL are they, I am done." I quickly hit the page nurse button. The nurse came in as if nothing was going on. I let her know that the wife had had enough and was ready for the wonderful epi. She said that she would page the attending to come and do a vag exam. Well after a few more sets of contractions and no attending the nurse paged the on call doctor. He quickly came in and removed the cervidil and checked progress. Fortunately she had moved up to a 3 which meant epi here we come. It was about 10:00 AM when the anesthesiologist came in and 10 min later BYE BYE pain. This gave Rach the first chance to get some rest. The nurse debated on wether to even give her the pitocin because her body was doing what it should by itself. They put her on a slow dose so that the epi wouldn't slow them down. I did some studies and then went to get some food with Rachel's Mom and Sister who were sweet enough to be here for support. We got done about noon and figured we had better get back up there if the Doc was coming in to break water at lunch. We walked in and Rach was awake. She had me page the nurse because she was starting to feel some cramping again. The nurse came in and said she better check her first because sometimes when this happens it either means that A. you have a full bladder, or B. you could be dilated and ready to have a baby. Well after quick examination we chose answer C. all of the above. The nurse quickly called Dr. Metchler to inform him he better get over here or he will miss the delivery. The Dr. gave the go ahead to break the water and begin pushing. Luckily he walked in in time to catch the baby. It was the most amazing miracle I have ever seen. Rachel was so strong the whole time. I have never felt more love or been more proud of her than at that moment. Those of you who have been there know exactly what I mean. There he was after 22 min of pushing a beautiful 7lb 13oz, 21inch baby boy. Born at 12:55 PM on Sept. 18 2009. This was one of the most amazing and spiritual days of my life. I want my wife to know how much I love and appreciate her for all that she went through. It was truly a miracle. So there you have it folks, the play by play action into the Adventures of Baby Boy Shaw. No we haven't decided on a name. We need a night to think about it. We will post as soon as we know. We love you all and thank you for your love and support through the whole adventure.