How it all went down....

After being overdue for a week in the hottest part of the year here, walking what felt like a million miles to get things rolling (especially since my mom had flown out for the big occasion a week prior and had yet to see a new grandson), my doctor approved to induce and get Mr. Man out and about. 
The morning of my induction, I was dilated to 3cm and having contractions but they weren't time-able at all (so frustrating when you're in pain and know something's going on, but know that you'll get sent home because it's not a SOMETHING something).  at 8 o'clock on August 4th we packed up our hospital stuff and headed out to get the labor party started!  I was so nervous because I had no idea what to expect - my sister was in labor for 19 hours with her first born, my sister-in-law was in labor for 42 hours with her first just this last March... and of course all the horror stories I heard from customers, friends, family, strangers, and people who really just wanted to scare the living daylights out of me.  How was my body going to react to pushing a small human being out of it?

We got to the hospital, they checked me in, attached all kinds of monitors to me along with an IV, gave me a pill to thin the cervix out and then the Doctor said "See you tomorrow!"  Brandon made himself right at home bringing his own bedroll and pillows.  The pull out beds there were a nice attempt at making the soon-to-be-dad comfy, but they missed the mark.

brandon sleeping while he can

waiting waiting waiting... and needing drugs

I spent most of the night waking up off and on due to the contractions getting worse through the night.  I don't think either one of us slept very well - and by 5 am I was ready for some serious drugs.  After they got the epidural going, I was relaxed and watched TV with my mom and B, and by 2pm I was wondering why I was so tired because I didn't do anything but sit in bed (i guess I forgot that I was in labor???)  I watched the monitor as contractions would come, and not feel a thing - so awesome.

me after the epidural

By 3:30-4:30pm, I was dilated to the full 10cm and ready to go but Mr. Man hadn't dropped down far enough yet, so I had to get ready to push him into place to be pushed out - and that's when his heart rate started dropping.  Luckily I had AWESOME nurses that were right on top of things and moved quickly.  I think I pushed for a total of 30 min, with only 10 to 15 min of pushing him out.  At 4:58pm on August 5th (our 4 year anniversary) baby boy Parkinson came into the world.  Unbeknown to me, the umbilical cord got wrapped around his neck as he was coming out and he had a hard time breathing after that was removed.  Brandon got to cut the cord, and they cleaned him up still trying to get his sats to where they needed to be.

It was decided that he needed to go to the NICU to make sure everything was ok - the Doctor reassuring me that he shouldn't be in there too long.  The nurses brought him over so I could see him - I wish I had a picture of his face - it was a look of "WHAT just happened???" and was so adorably cute...

our first family photo

LOVE this picture of Brandon and Jack

He was in the NICU for a total of 30 min., and everything was just fine with him.  So they brought him back to us and we got to bond as a family.  My mom was there for everything - so glad she was!  She took all of the pictures documenting his birth - i think it was her first grandchild that she got to observe being born, and not have to be the coach.  Brandon was awesome and was a total rock at my side.  He later told me that he had prepared to be insulted and called awful names and was very disappointed that I didn't deliver.  I'll have to remember that for the next one...

Nana with "baby boy" Parkinson

Grandpa Wally with baby  boy Parkinson

Nana (my mom) was so tickled to be there too... I loved watching her with Mr. Man (at this time, he still had no name) and so glad that she was able to be here for it.  She was a big help in just being there and holding him when I was too exhausted to even remember my own name.  We didn't have too many visiters - Brandon's dad and little brother and sister were out of town, my family doesn't live here and were expected within the following week...  Brandon's two sisters that live in town came to visit, but only stayed a little while.  We got to have just the three of us together for the two days we were there.  We needed that time to figure out what the heck we were going to call him.

When we found out we were having a boy, agreeing on a name was not happening for us.  We decided to wait until we met our kid and see what would suit him.  All the bonding time we had in the hospital didn't bring us any closer to a name...all the names that I fought hard for didn't seem like what we should name him... so by Saturday morning when we were suppose to leave, we had was a few names we liked but still weren't sure.  Luckily for us, the hospital doesn't send the paperwork off right away so we had a few more days.

Jack was a name we had tossed around and it was growing on us... and then we decided to use Brandon's name for the middle name - Jack Brandon Parkinson has made us a threesome and has brought us so much happiness to our family.  It's like he's always been here even though he's brand new.