Wednesday, December 28, 2011

William Rivers Polsgrove Is Here!

I cannot believe that it has been two weeks since Rivers was born. I want to document our birth story so this seems like the place to do it.  SO, if you don't want to read about giving birth or hear terms such as dilated and effaced...then you might want to skip this post :)

On Monday, December 12th, I went for my weekly doctor's visit.  I was a little over 40 weeks pregnant and just knew that Dr. Young would tell me I was close to being in labor. Instead, I was still only 1 cm dilated and my blood pressure was high.  He recommended that we induce since each week my blood pressure had only gotten worse.  I debated and debated.  I called Russ from his office and we discussed this option.  I had said from the beginning that I didn't want to be induced unless it was medically necessary.  Well, my doctor strongly recommended we induce but also said he would give me the option of going a little longer as long as I got some testing done and came back in two days for him to check me.  So I sort of had the option which made it harder to decide.  But, I finally felt like I needed to trust him and his judgement so we would induce the next morning, December 13th. I came home from the doctor's appointment, packed our bags and spent the night with Lucy and Russ. Oh, and I cried all night.  I was so excited about meeting Rivers but so sad about leaving Lucy and life being different once we returned.  After all, she had only been home 5 months.  I snuggled with her as I rocked her to sleep and thanked God for her being a part of our family and prayed that she would respond well to Rivers.

Once she was asleep, Russ and I went into their room and prayed over both our children, the birth, and thanked Him for the adventure that 2011 has been.  Oh, and I cried some more. I truly think everything just hit me all at once - the long wait for Lucy, the trip to Ethiopia and having to leave her there, finding out we were pregnant, traveling to Ethiopia again, bringing Lucy home, the tough transition that followed, how far she has come, her first Christmas home, and now getting to meet our sweet son.  I experienced every emotion possible that night.

We then went to bed for the last night as a family of three....a journey that lasted only five months.  It was now time to become a family of four and we could not be more excited! I slept a total of about 2-3 hours.  We woke at 4 am to head to the hospital.  Here is our last picture before heading out.  We were so excited and so READY to meet our sweet boy.



....to be continued.