BIG NEWS!

Ok, so let's just say that maybe the pregnancy hormones were getting to an all time high when I wrote my last post because it wasn't long before our Big Day. What a difference a few days makes. So, ignore that last blah and depressing post and focus on our BIG NEWS!

We welcomed Graham Ivan Lowe into our family at 12:34 pm on September 2, 2008. He weighed in at 7 pounds, 10 ounces and was 20 1/2 inches long. Graham has a head of brown hair and more hair than big brother Keegan has at 16 1/2 months old! He is a really sweet boy and we are so happy that he has joined our family.

If you want the full story, here it is. If not, just skip this section.

For most of you, you know that Keegan was born at 37 weeks after 30 1/2 hours of labor and a lot of stress. So needless to say I was very nervous about the whole labor thing again. We had planned to be induced on Tuesday morning since my due date was the day of Andy's national board exams and we felt that missing those was probably not a good idea. At my check last Friday I was dilated to 2 cm and the doctor didn't seem too concerned about it. I had been feeling fluish, tired, and crampy for about 2 weeks. So we just moved forward with plans for Tuesday.

We got up at 3:45 am on Tuesday morning to shower and get ready to go to the hospital for a 5 am induction. We finally made it there at 5:20 am and checked in. The nurse started IV fluids and paperwork. Then at about 7 am she checked me. She said, "Have you been having contractions?" I told her nothing consistent, just cramps continuously and feeling fluish for a while. She said, "Well you're about 5 cm dilated!" What?!? I was shocked and excited. She called the doctor to let her know since this could definitely change plans for pitocin. Hooray! So Dr. Lungren came to the hospital around 8 am and broke my water. I was waiting for an epidural because the anesthesiologist was in a c-section. They said it'd be about 20 minutes. Within those 20 minutes my contractions became really hard and were coming 2 minutes apart. About 1 hour and 45 minutes later I finally got my epidural! I was quite nauseated and not feeling well after that and tried to watch TV. Just before the epidural I was at somewhere between 6 and 7 cm. About 11:30 am the nurse said, "I'll just check you again since it's been a few hours." Ok - no big deal. The nurse looked up and said, "Are you feeling pressure!?" I said not really and she said, "You are a 10 and your baby's head is right here!!" Oh! I had no idea because with Keegan I felt so much that there was no doubting it was time to push. She called Dr. Lungren who was in a meeting and asked if I was uncomfortable or if I could wait for her to get there. I was okay so we waited about 45 minutes for her to arrive. Once she got there I started pushing. By the 3rd contraction Graham's heart rate had dropped drastically and she called the NICU and for forceps. Andy and I both said "No forceps!!!" She said I had one more contraction to try and then she had to get that guy outta there. So I gave it all I had and he was out on the 4th contraction. He is quite bruised but beautiful. Andy and the doctor both told me he had more hair than Keegan as soon as they saw him so I was anxious to see that. He has his own look which is so fun. We are thrilled he is here safe and sound!

Enjoy some photos of our Graham.