Xander's Birth Story & the past 7 years

Today we are celebrating the birth of my 3rd child, my son!  I can still hardly believe that it has been 7 years since he was born!  7 years ago at this time, I was checked into the hospital and going through the process of induction.

I had been having Braxton-Hicks contractions on a regular basis for the past month, and at my last check up I was already 4 cm dilated.  My doctor suggested that I be induced because I was steadily and continually dilating which meant a couple things; 1) I could "pop" at any time and then we would have a mad rush to the hospital while in labor.  2) being dilated left my cervix open and increased the chance of infection... to both me and Xander.  So I (happily) agreed to go in and be induced 2 weeks before my due date.

When I checked in, I was already 5 cm dilated, which is considered "active labor" even though I wasn't having any contractions.  They hooked me up to a low IV drip of Petocin to get the contractions started, and then took me down the hall to get my epidural, which I had opted for.  My oldest child was born sans-meds and I am sorry, but once was enough for me!  Unfortunately, the anesthesiologist had trouble getting the epidural in, and it must have been crooked or off center, because the left side of my body went numb, but not my right.  I could move my right leg, but not my left.  I couldn't feel the contractions on the left side of my body, but I COULD feel them on the right.  Very strange sensation!  We gave it some time, but nothing changed and I could still feel contractions on my right... though the contractions were very mild.  By this time I was 7 cm dilated and they felt it was too late to try and fix the epidural so we all just agreed to move forward.

My doctor came in and told me she was going to break my water, and then she was going to go have lunch.  I told her I didn't think that was a good idea.  She said she would be right downstairs and not to worry.  Lady, this is my 3rd child!  First of all, with my previous two children, once my water was broken, things moved along very quickly!  Secondly, this is my THIRD child, so I am expecting things to go a bit faster than before!  But she insisted that I would be fine, AND that she would have time to eat lunch. HaHaHa!  As she left the room I told her, "You're not going to have time to eat lunch."

She broke my water, checked my cervix and everything again, (still 7 cm) and left the room.  Right after she left, I had three HUGE contractions.  I knew he was coming.  My husband went and got the nurse, who came and checked me... and guess what?  10 cm dilated and the baby's head was crowning.  They paged my doctor, who had just gotten off the elevator on the lower floor at the cafeteria.  When she came back into the room to find me surrounded by delivery nurses who were scrambling to get everything set up, she said, "Wow, you weren't kidding, were you?"

I only had to push 3 times, and Xander was born.  7 lbs, 0 oz, and 19 1/2 inches long.  He was just beautiful!  We looked at the clock and it was 1:00 pm... only 15 minutes had passed between when my doctor broke my water and when my husband cut the umbilical cord.  I realize I am blessed with quick, easy, uncomplicated labors!  And I continue to be blessed in many other ways in my life every day!  Here is a look back over the past 7 years of Xander's life....



Me, Hubby & brand new Xander

Little Baby Boy!

6 months old - chubby crawler!

Age 1 - swimming



Age 3

4th Birthday

Age 5 - doing some preschool homeschooling

Age 5 - starting Kindergarden

Age 6 - Graduating Kindergarden

Age 6 - this picture was taken just a couple weeks ago.