Nukequist Farm: He's Here!!!

Russell Ryan arrived at 1pm on Saturday, June 28th. He weighed 7lbs 8.5oz and measured 19.5 inches long. Ryan and I went arrived at the hospital just before 7:30 in the morning for my scheduled induction. I filled out the requisite paperwork, changed into my hospital gown, and they began administering antibiotics at 8:30. At about 9:30, the induction began with some Pitocin. When I arrived I was having contractions every 2-5 minutes, but wasn't feeling any pain (I had been experiencing painless contractions for weeks leading up to delivery day). With the Pitocin, my contractions started to become more regular but they still didn't hurt. At 11, my doc arrived and broke my water and I requested an epidural (because I figured there was no reason to be in a lot of pain unnecessarily). That is when things started to get real and the contractions became painful. The epidural was inserted and I became hopeful that the discomfort would subside. But, the contractions continued to become more intense by the minute. I told the nurse I wasn't feeling any relief. They began working on a second epidural. The contractions were almost continuous at this point, and still no pain relief. They tried administering some additional narcotics, yet still no relief. I began to feel an intense urge to push, or rather, I should say, my body just began to push. I heard them page my doc who had stepped out to check on some other patients. She came running in as they asked me to lay down. Three pushes later and Russell made his grand entrance! This was by far and away the most intense experience of my life. I am thankful that labor and delivery happened so quickly since I had to suck it up without pain medication (that worked). I find the yellow tag (epidural catheter) in this picture a bit ironic.