The Story of Joseph Thomas Ickes

It was my intention to do this much sooner b/c I was waiting with baited breath to use this blog to brag on my family and provide pictures to those of you who are interested. I found however that I wanted to spend as much time with my baby when I was home and so I had little opportunity to sit down at the computer until I returned back to work.

So starts the story of Joseph Thomas Ickes (JT for short). JT was not due until April 23 but we knew that he was coming early b/c I started dialating at 37 weeks and was having prelabor craps the week before he was born. I was ready for him to come. I was swelling and felt like death warmed over. JT decided to kick things into gear on Monday April 12 while I was at work. I noticed that my mucous plug was coming out and I called my doula to confirm my suspicions. I managed to make it through the day at work and when I got home and lied down on the couch the contractions started. They really kicked in around nine in the evening and so we called the doula again and started timing them. They got more regular and the doula came to our house to be another support. Finally around 2 AM Tuesday morning we went to the hospital hoping that we were well on our way b/c the contractions were 3-5 minutes apart. Unfortunately, when we got to the hospital I was only dialated to 2 cm but was effaced to the point that they kept me at the hospital. So began the regimen of walking the halls, sitting on the birthing ball, standing and bathroom runs. This continued for another 13 hours. I eventually had to have some pain medicine b/c JT and I were getting tired and needed to rest. We labored and eventually had take some pitocin to try and get dilated from a 7 to a 10 with the doctor saying that if it didn't happen within the hour that it would be a C-section. Well, it finally came and we started pushing. Unfortunately, JT got a little crooked and it was 3 hours of pushing. I was a little disheartening when the lady in the next room started pushing at the sametime as me and 45 minutes later had a baby and mine felt like an eternity to get out. JT finally graced us with his presence at 2 AM Wednesday April 14, 2010. He was perfect!!! He was healthy and one of the first things he did was pee on the nurses. He is his father's son :) Unfortunately for me, my placenta was stuck and the doctor was not able to get it out and so after 30 hours of labor and 3 hours of pushing I had to go into surgery in order for them to get the placenta out. So I held JT and tried to nurse really fast before I had to go have a D&C. Apparently, I was losing a lot of blood and almost had to have a blood transfusion but by the grace of God I did not. I was finally in my room by around 4 AM and never been happier b/c our baby had gotten here safely and was healthy. I would have never been able to get through it without Rusty and my doula being there through the whole thing.

There were about a million things I was thankful for on that day. I was thankful that Rusty's parents and my parent's were able to be there when he was born and have time to get each other better. I was thankful for the two nurses that I had. They were awesome!!! I was thankful for Rusty and how well he did through the whole thing. I was thankful for my doula that walked and walked with me and helped to support Rusty and I while we were in the trenches. I was thankful for the special time I had with JT just him and I Wednesday morning while his daddy slept. I was thankful for all the visitors and gifts that we got. What a blessing!!!