It's a boy!

On Friday, July 23rd Brandon Kent Ford made his appearance. It was a beautiful day...

Early Friday morning Brian and I headed to Hendricks Regional Hospital. When we reached our room, my friend Barbara (who is an RN) greeted us. Her shift was just ending, but she found us a great labor nurse before she left. Susan was amazing! Having never given birth before I assumed we would see our nurse once in awhile and that most of the care-giving would come from Brian and my mom. Boy, was I wrong! Susan was very comforting and reassuring the entire day. I told her that I was not going to have an epidural, and I wondered if she believed me. In the end I showed her :)

Labor progressed throughout the morning. Brian's parents came up and brought the girls. I was able to talk and maintain my pain levels pretty well. Around one o'clock my OB came in and broke my water. Wow! Things started to move a lot faster...and with a lot more pain.

Brian and my mom were amazing! I remember telling them that when my contractions hit the highest point, is when I told myself I should get drugs! I told them that I needed their encouragement that I could make it through the pain and they did just that. My own cheer team! I spent some time on the labor chair and ball. I highly recommend both of these...it was so good to move around and find different positions for pain management. The Childbirth Center also offered massage therapy--which was amazing! My mom brought her essential oils and helped fill the air in my room with soothing scents while she massaged my aching body.

I wasn't surprised at all by Brian's gentle strength and encouragement throughout the day. He quickly adapted to my many changing needs :) We had laughed about what labor would be like, but until I was in the middle of it I had no idea how I would react. I know I sounded irritated and mad at times, but I told him that it was the sound of pain coming out. He never got annoyed and just stayed the course.

By 4pm I was ready to push. The worst part of labor was the getting to the point that I could push. My contractions were coming so fast that I couldn't rest between them. I remember focusing on the words "comfort" and "soft" on the side of my bed. Just before pushing time, I remember asking my mom if pushing hurt as bad as the contractions. Her response was right on...I would love the pushing part because I got to do something other than endure the pain and at the end would be my baby.

My doctor prepared me for pushing by telling me to "poop the baby out". That might be too much information, but it really did help. She also told me that I was a great pusher! I thought that would help, except that my body did not cooperate. My contractions were strong but got farther apart in this stage of labor. I was SO frustrated with my body! I leave other gruesome details out, but at 5:29pm Brandon Kent Ford was born. He was placed on my chest and I remember asking Brian was we had...he flipped him over and to our joy it was a boy! He was perfect and he was ours!

We had a great stay at Hendricks Regional Child Birth Center. I highly recommend it!

Here are some pictures of our new little blessing! These were taken by my very talented sister, Laurel. You can check out more of her photos on her blog listed on my site.