Labor & Delivery

William Joseph Kessler was born on April 30, 2010, at 5:39 PM. He weighed 9 lbs. 9 ozs. and measured 20.5 inches!

I think I was having contractions all throughout the night, but just thought my stomach was hurting because I had to go to the bathroom (since the pains went away after I went to the bathroom). However, I woke up at 7:30 AM and was having contractions 5-10 min. apart, so we decided to wait it out until my scheduled doctor appt. at 9:30. The Dr. said it was "go time" and that we could go over to be admitted into the hospital. She did an ultra-sound first because she had a hard time getting Will's heartbeat, and at this point she thought he was going to be about 7.5 lbs.!

Next, we went over, got admitted, and Dr. Puckett came down to break my water around noon. That is when things started getting more painful. I was wrestling around with getting pain meds around 5-6 cm because my nurse had me laying on my side, which was extremely uncomfortable, and hard to breathe... but, then I got up and she gave me a bean bag that I could lay on my stomach on, and things began progressing quickly from there. I felt better, and Will really started moving down. I began pushing, out of instinct, and my nurse didn't want me to yet, but I didn't really feel like I couldn't.

Then I pushed for an hour and half, and Will came - naturally, with a little help from the vacuum! :) I was beginning to think I wouldn't be able to push much longer, and luckily Will came soon after that! It was a crazy experience, and I still really can't comprehend it.

Now, Bo & I are adjusting to parenthood, and sleep deprivation - which I think is harder for me than Bo. However, like in this entire event - God was extremely gracious and faithful, and I wouldn't have been able to get through it without remembering that amidst the pain! Bo was a great coach too!!! I was in such a "zone" during labor that I just knew that his hand was there to hold and squeeze, and his encouraging words kept me going! I pretty much stopped talking once the labor got hard...

So after all that - Praise the Lord for our little chunky monkey!!! He's so sweet.