Asher's birth story...

I hadn't had time to write down Asher's birth story, so I thought I would just do that here. I think that I need to get my calendar out, because the days in April were so crazy while we were expecting him to arrive. We had planned to be induced on April 8th, but when I went for my appointment with the doctor that day, she decided that we would wait a couple more days. She told me to go home, do lots of walking and sit on my exercise ball among "other things" (ahem...) to get labor going on my own. I went back to the doctor on Thursday, the 10th and she had me go to the hospital for a non-stress test on the baby. Everything looked fine, and I was even having contractions on my own about 3-4 minutes apart during the test. We waited for the afternoon, and doctor called and asked me to go ahead and go the the hospital to start the induction that evening. We went in, got all settled, and doctor came in and gave me the Cervadil. I had some minor contractions throughout the night, and was induced the next morning. I had contractions all day on Friday, but by late afternoon, I was still not dilated. Around 5pm, doctor came in and visited with us about our options. Because I was not dilated, I could either go home, and we would try again next week, or she could go ahead and schedule a c-section. We decided to go home. I was doing fine, Asher was fine, and a sonogram revealed that he still had plenty of fluid and room in there. Even though everyone was ok, I still felt so deflated about going home without a baby in my arms. I rested most of the rest of the weekend. I went back to the doctor on the 16th, and she decided to try the induction again. We went into the hospital around 3 pm, and started the process over again. By 1:00 on Thursday, the doctor was giving us the news that I was still not dilating, and we would need to go through with the c-section. She came in again around 4:30 and checked me one more time to see if I was making any progress. Nothing was happening, and shortly after that (and I DO mean shortly!) LOTS of people came in to prep us for surgery. Kris and I were both shocked and how quickly and efficiently all of the staff moved toward accomplishing the c-section. I was petrified---more afraid than I had ever been in my life---but it was also one of the most memorable experiences in my entire life. We had the ABSOLUTE best staff to help us through it. I remember one of the surgical staff quoting the Bible verse about God not giving us a spirit of fear, but one of courage, and I remember just feeling a calm come over me. I am sure it was partly drug induced, but I feel like Christ himself was in the room with us that evening. By 5:16 our sweet boy was out to meet us. He looked precious and perfect to me, and we could almost immediately see how much he looked like his big sister. Kris had big tears in his eyes, and was right there beside my head the entire surgery. He was so happy when Asher came out OK, and he went back upstairs with him while I went to recovery. The surgery seemed like it went so quickly, and the recovery was pretty much a sleepy blur. I was so incredibly afraid during the whole process, but I really think it strengthened me somehow. Our little guy was with us, and that was what mattered most. He was safe and healthy and wonderful.