In which Sheri gives birth to a boy named James

So it all began 9 months ago when finally, FINALLY, we decided the time was right to have a kid. I'd been not so patiently waiting for about 2 years. I mean, come on, babies! We'd thought about it before and even tried a month or two... then I would kind of freak out and decide it wasn't really the time. But one of these attempts ended in an early miscarriage in March 2010. But 6 months later I was ready to try again and the timing was better. Jamo would be a college graduate and we'd have a more time, energy and resources to take care of this kid. So after one month of trying, we were pregnant. I think it was God not letting me have time to freak out and second guess this time. It just had to happen quick.


Fast forward 9 months (we've read all the in betweens). June 26th came on a Sunday. Did the usual, church, nap, dinner. But dang it, I was bound and determined this kid would come soon. I tried all the tricks... ball bouncing, walking, mexican food, and we even walked up and down our apartment stairs for while. And then we worked some more on the babies room, getting the clothes all in order and unpackaged. We went to bed. And then I had crazy dreams, cause I do that. And I thought I might have felt a few contractions during the night. That's nothing unusual as I've been having Braxton Hicks contractions since about 26 weeks. But in a half dream, half conscious state I had one and I thought the kid might have kicked me really hard too. And at 10:30 am I woke up, was going to change sleep position, and thought I pee'd myself. I ran to the bathroom and by the time I got there I decided I had just better stand in the tub. And a good thing I did. My water had officially broken. So I yelled for Jameson to wake up. I took a shower and we got ready to go.

I was admitted directly. And a cervical check concluded that I was STILL sitting at 2 cm. So then we got to hang around the hospital while the contractions picked up. I sat, walked around, stuff like that. And after 5 hours there I was sitting at 3 cm (woo, one whole cm more). So they gave me the option to get potocin to speed the process along. And can I say that that stuff hurts! It sure does speed along and make the contractions crazy fun (hard and made me want to cry). So about an hour after that we had them start the epidural. At this point I am crying. K, I'm kind of weak sauce, but at least I know it. And then 10 minutes later I wasn't feeling a thing. It was kind of amazing. And then the waiting began, the slow waiting. No contractions to distract me anymore. The epi did have a few side effects I didn't realize, or maybe it was just me. Man was I cold. So I'm all cuddled in blankets during labor. And a wee bit shaky, cause of the coldness. But overall, I wouldn't change it, it was crazy smooth and I was awesome.


They told me I could start pushing at 10:30 pm. They lied. There was another person who had to have an emergency c-section right before me. So I got to wait until Midnight to start pushing. But once I got going, it took about 50 minutes. Jamo got to be more involved than he had planned on being. They had him hold on my legs when the contractions came and it was time to push. The interesting part is that I had been in the same laying position for quite a while there at the end of labor and my back starting to kill me. And then my bladder kind of hurt. And so when I was actually pushing I could tell when to when my bladder hurt extra bad on the left side. But man, I didn't feel anything else really, which was pretty awesome.

At 12:50 am, June 28th, James Rigby Pulley was born.

And boy was he the most amazing thing you could have ever seen in your life. And guess what? I MADE him. I grew that thing in me for 9 months and then all of a sudden, he was there! A real live person. And isn't that AMAZING?

And then they put him on me. And then they cleaned him. And checked him. And then gave him back again. And I got to hold him some more. And I cried. And it was awesome. And I had a baby boy. And you know what? He's pretty dang cute. And I'm not just saying that cause he's mine. But as far new borns go, mine was ridiculous cute. Not all swollen and puffy and blotchy. Just perfect. That's all.


And then the fun for me began. The part where they make you get up and go the bathroom. And they clean up while you're up. And holy moly do they need to clean up. I'm just glad that I was at the top end of all of this. But back to the bathroom. At this point I'm shaking like crazy. I don't know what exactly it was, I think it was maybe my body went into a bit of shock after delivering and maybe partly a fever I had going. But I could not stop shaking. And I couldn't pee. Do you know what happens then? Tmi? They catheter you. Drain you right out. Good stuff. And then if you've ever had a baby you know what kind of fun bathroom routine you get to enjoy for a while. And then they stood me up. And then I got really HOT, like burning up all over. And then everything was going black. And then I'm sitting back on the toilet, clothed and trying not to pass out. Meanwhile, the nurses are asking me all sorts of questions to which I just stare at them. Which leads them to ask, "Are you still with us?". In which I give a slight head nod in reply. I mean really, all my energy is being focused on not passing out, I don't have time for all your questions. And really, you're going to ask me if I can walk to the bed? When I can't even talk? Eventually I got enough strength to make it to the bed, while almost passing out again. A little bit later I was still freezing and shaking and they got me some more meds. The motrin finally kicked in at about 5 am and I was sweating like a beast for the next couple of hours. Baby was sent to the nursery during this. I couldn't hardly function. But after a few hours of sleep and my fever breaking, I got my baby back.


The next couple of days went by in a kind of blur. Medication every few hours. Family and friends coming to visit. Napping with my baby. I put on real clothes and just hung out. I was set to leave Thursday. And we would have gotten out earlier in the day, but around 10 am I started getting killer pains in my bladder, like stabbing, making me cry they hurt so bad, kind of pains. After convincing them it wasn't just my uterus contracting, they decided to once again, catheter me. I didn't think I had been fully draining my bladder. And you know what? I was right. They said that normal people have about 150 mL of pee left in them after going. They drained 400 mL out of me. That's pretty much a full bladder people. Needless to say, I felt a bit better after that (and when the pain meds kicked in). And the tested and I had a UTI, no big surprise considering my history. So they sent for meds and then I waited around for them to discharge us. And so at about 5 pm we were finally freed.

And then we had a baby with us. We sure didn't come to the hospital with one of those. But we sure were leaving with one. W-E-I-R-D.

But we're home now and enjoying every stinkin' minute we have with this little guy. And it still doesn't feel real. But we love him.

PS - I'll bombard my blog with pictures of baby for all to drool over soon.