I have so many posts to catch up on. I've been a slacker on this blog but then I look back over the years and I'm grateful to have documented so much of our life. So, hopefully I can catch up and be better about updating this little family journal of ours. But, before I forget the details, I wanted to write down about the birth of our little man, Harrison!
Harrison Jay Blackburn
December 1st, 2020
Born at 2:47PM
19 inches long
6 lbs. 15 oz.
Since we had so much success when Sammy's induction, we went that route again. I was scheduled to go into the hospital on December 1st, 2020 so at 6:30AM, we walked into the hospital to have our baby!
Last picture of me pregnant...ever!
As soon as I had changed, the nurse asked what my birth plan was and I told her my only request was to have an epidural as soon as they allowed. ;) And they delivered! Within the hour, the anesthesiologist came in to give me an epidural and I hadn't even had Pitocin yet. Can I just say it was soo nice delivering a baby and not feeling one contraction? Ha! Soon after the epidural kicked in, they started the Pitocin and then we waited. I guess the hardest part was the fact that I kept getting lightheaded when I laid on my right side so the epidural didn't kick in as much on that side since I mostly stayed on the left side. But that also meant I could feel when the contractions were picking up(not enough that I would say I was in a lot of pain, just enough to feel that things were happening and to be a little bit uncomfortable). By 2:00, I was feeling the baby dropping a lot and at one point, I asked Jon to make sure the baby's head wasn't coming out since it felt like he was so low. By 2:30, I paged the nurse and told her I was pretty sure it was time to push. :) They came in, did a couple test pushes while waiting for the doctor and as soon as Dr. Codd got there, we were ready to go.
As with all my other babies(except Aiden, I believe), Harrison was faced the wrong way so my first two pushes didn't do much. Dr. Codd started to turn the baby and told me to push while he did that and Harrison came out within a couple pushes. It was all so fast and then it was over! Which was a huge blessing because after my first push, the baby's heart started to drop and as soon as the umbilical cord came out, Dr. Codd realized there was a full knot in the cord. So, we were lucky/blessed/watched over that Harrison came out within just a couple pushes.
Honestly, this pregnancy has pushed me beyond my limits. The physical and mental toll it took on me was beyond what I could handle and it took angels in heaven as well as on earth to pull me through. Another baby isn't even something I can entertain so when Harrison was born, we already knew he was the last. But the amount of relief I felt when he was born was overwhelming. I was done! It's the first time I've cried after a delivery. Partly from being so happy to meet Harrison and the love I felt for him, but partly because it was the most relief I've ever felt in my life. Anxiety has been a constant companion for the last 9 months and I felt myself relax for the first time when he was born. I was exhausted and I could finally relax. It was a great moment and it made Jon tear up because he felt and saw the change come over me as well. We had made it.
Going home!
Since then, Harrison has been amazing. He loves to snuggle, he eats like a champ and he even knows his days and nights! He only wakes us up once in the night to eat and is very predictable. Like me, he loves a routine. Him being so predictable has been a blessing. It was a fight to bring him into this world but soo worth it. He's an angel baby and I suppose I feel such a connection to him because of what we went through together. I probably won't ever go into detail about what this whole year entailed, but I am grateful that a higher being knew Harrison was meant to come into our family. He completes our family and I look at all of my kids and feel so blessed.
