A family of four

We are now a family of four.

Julian was born on Sunday, August 10, 2008. It was a quick labor and delivery. I was having contractions for a while, but on Sunday morning a strong contraction woke me up a little before 4am. I squeezed Jay's hand in bed and did my breathing exercises, which woke him up. I timed two more contractions before I realized that this was it. I called my brother to come over and watch Jordan, then called my mom and Jay called his sister to tell them we were leaving for the hospital.

We got to Kaiser SF after 5am, but since it was so busy we did not get admitted until 5:55am. During that time my contractions were getting stronger and stronger. The prenatal yoga really helped me out. I concentrated on my breathing and used the Kegel exercises to control the urge to pain. Our nurse at Kaiser was awesome! RN Sarah got all the paperwork and the room ready. She also checked how far dilated I was since all the doctors were busy. I was 7 cm!!! In an hour I was able to get 10 cm dilated and fully effaced. I told my support team that I was ready to push and RN Sarah got a doctor in the room. I only pushed twice. On my second push they told me to stop (apparently the doctor "in-training" did not have her hands in the correct position to catch the baby if he were to pop out). Ate Ling told me that he was almost out, so when the doctor said she was ready I finished that 2nd push and Julian was born. 2 1/2 pushes and my son was born at 6:57am.

Then after 9am we were moved to my postpartum room, which ended up being another L&D room. It was so tiny I felt claustrophobic. The nurses were great; the room sucked! I hated it! I wanted to go home! So the next day we were discharged.

This week has been crazy. Despite Julian's APGAR score of 9.9, we have been in & out of Kaiser to get lab work, see the doctor, lactation nurse, and worst of all, re-admitted to Kaiser SF for phototherapy due to Julian's jaundice. We're still not out of the woods. We have to go back to the lab for more bloodwork. But I'm happy that Julian's breastfeeding.

Life as a family of four has been tough. But Jay has been a supportive husband and father and Jordan has been an understanding brother, despite his age. I think we're going to do just fine. I just have to take my naps throughout the day and I will be able to survive.