James Finnegan aka Finn

Soooo...after many months of waddling, horrible acid reflux, hemorrhoids,  and a few episodes of choking on vomit while sleeping, the end has finally come.  Mr. Finn was born on February 3rd and is the sweetest little boy ever!

I was supposed to be induced on February 5th - Superbowl Sunday this year.  I had my last Dr.'s appointment on the 2nd.  The night before, I woke up around 3 a.m. gagging on vomit because I had eaten cereal right before I went to bed - seriously horrible.  Anyway, I guess I looked desperate at my Dr.'s visit, because he decided to induce me the following day without much begging on my part.

We arrived at the hospital around 7 a.m.  They had me all hooked up to IV, Pitocin, everything by 8:30 a.m.  Since having Julia naturally a couple of years ago, I decided I wouldn't go that route this time.  Before I had any pain, I asked for an epidural.  The anesthesiologist had great bed side manner.  I have a problem with the epidural medicine, but he made me feel at ease.  Unfortunately, my blood pressure did drop dramatically - I think they said 75 over 33 but I'm not sure that's right.  All I know is I felt cold pressure in my chest - weird.  Anyway, I told the doc I was feeling bad and he injected some stuff in my IV.  I started to feel better almost immediately but it was pretty scary.  After the epidural kicked in, my skin started itching big time.  I wanted to sleep but couldn't because I was scratching like a heroin addict in withdrawal.  The nurse suggested injecting benadryl in my IV.  OH MY GOODNESS...was that like heaven!!!  It stopped the itching and I felt so good and tired.  I slept more than half the labor.

By around 3 p.m. I felt some serious pressure and started pushing....for like an hour and half...ugh.  He was face up and apparently a big baby.  That was the longest I've ever pushed.  He was doing great though - no drop in heart rate, nada.  So, without much drama he was born around 4:15 p.m. and weighed 8 lbs 11 oz.  He nursed right away (hasn't stopped since) and seriously slept most of our stay in the hospital.

I HIGHLY recommend giving birth at a hospital with a nursery.  I would feed him and then ask the nurses to take him to the nursery.  They'd bring him back after about 3 hours so I could get some sleep.  SO AWESOME!!!  I had the best experience and stayed in the hospital the full 2 days even though we didn't have to stay that long.

Finn is a wonderful baby and a tremendous blessing to our family.  As much as I wanted a sister for Julia, I am so grateful for this baby.  I now understand that this little boy was truly the blessing the Lord had in store for us and I am ashamed I ever questioned Him.  I am so grateful Victor and I prayed fervently to make the right decision of whether or not to have another child and were blessed with an answer that was exactly right for us.  I am so humbled by how much the Lord love us and wants to bless us.