Aidan Rohan Ussery

For obvious reasons, I didn't blog yesterday. She was in labor 22 hours before mandating the epidural. There was a lot of excitement going on at that time. We were both exhausted. I was walking her through her contractions, holding her hand, making sure she was warm when she was cold and cool when she was hot. She was so close, but about 10 min after 2nd stage began and she started to push she expressed the amount of pressure and that there was a lot of pain. I got her to get on her hands and knees because we understood that he was head down but face up inside. So getting on all fours would relieve pressure on her back.

Changing position was right approach as I massaged her and it was better relief, but it didn't do the trick fully. She got to the point where she was completely fatigued because we started so early. She didn't have the energy to go any further. She demanded the epidural. I was concerned because of some negative after effects that we've been told, but she was not going wait. The nurse looked at me, so I nodded the approval.

The baby was at head station 0 at the time the epidural was issued. . They had me leave the room, which I wasn't very happy about. Of course I had been up over 30 hours so happy wasn't in my vocabulary. When they let me back in about 20 min later, she was pretty subdued and apologizing for being forceful. Surprisingly, and those of you that know Farrah will agree it is a surprise, she worked with me the whole time. As we moved from stage to stage, through contractions, changing positions and walking she was VERY easy to work with. She never talked about any pain, it was just discomfort. I really think the Bradley class is to be thanked for this. We were educated that we knew and expected everything that was ahead of us. 

We let her sleep after that because she was so fatigued the shaking didn't stop for a bit. As she slept, the contractions continued, but she couldn't feel them anymore. Several hours later, about 6am I think, she woke up and the nurse checked her dialation and the station. So as she slept she went from 6cm dialation and station 0 to 10cm and station 3. So the pushing begins.

Her body was still numb, she had almost no power to push. They stopped the flow of the epidural medication so that feeling could come back into her body to feel the contractions. She needed to push through each contraction. She pushed for a little over 2 hours. Her father on one leg and me on the other. Her mom, silent in the corner, praying. Her dad was cracking jokes thinking that would help. She wasn't laughing. I advised him the down time between contractions should be spent resting for the next one. 

We could finally "see" his hair and some percentage of head. She wasn't getting too much progress after the second hour of pushing. The doctor opted for the vaccuum pump. So he would attach and pull as she pushed. It was only assistance as the work still had to be done by her. I was standing right next to him on her right leg. He's obviously done this a few times. To be fair to Farrah his head seemed a bit bigger and I'm wondering how she would have managed without the vaccum pump. The doctor looked over at me and said that he didn't want to but if he had too, then he would prep the OR for a C section. I said lets give her a few more tries and we may have to do that. So I turned to her, with her O2 mask on,  and said "This is it, baby. Lets finish this up now instead of later." So she pushed, he pulled, dad and i held the legs and we all were rooting for her. "Push hard baby, get loud, 'K-i-y-a' like karate" we told her all kinds of things, and she did them all. Finally with the help of the episotomy the head literrally popped right out. The with a little tug the body followed. It was UNBELIEVABLE how that was SUPPOSED to work. His head was a good size larger than she had energy to push him through the opening. The next minute was a bit of a blur. The doctor clamped and handed me the scissors to cut the cord. There was blood all over the place from the episotomy. He immediately began to sew her up. And so I followed the baby to the next little booth to check out vitals.

He came out nice and clean, with just a little stuff here and there. Farrah started to cry a bit, it was all very overwhelming. He looked so big the second he came out, but now looks so small as we hold him. We weighed him, I got to bathe him with a little cloth and water and some shampoo. We suctioned out the mucus.

We have been getting compliments on him right and left. "He's a quiet baby", "he's a good looking boy", "he's latches for breast-feeding like a pro", all these things make us feel really good that there are no concerns to deal with.

He really is quiet. He only gets pissy when I don't swaddle him tight with the blanket. Other than that he'll stare at me while I'm holding him and look around, and he'll look around and stare at Farrah when he's feeding.

He makes these little mouse noises I'll have to get some recording uploaded.

I also understand that some people aren't able to view the silverlight technology gallery I have on the "photos" page. So I'll post a shot here to let you see what he looks like :)

 Comments moved over from previous blog site:

Congratulations! CONGRATULATIONS on the birth of Aiden! I'm glad everything went well. Looking forward to meeting the little guy someday! By Paul G on   11/6/2008 12:04 PM

Re: Aidan Rohan Ussery Opps, make that Aidan. By Paul G on   11/6/2008 12:05 PM

Re: Aidan Rohan Ussery Ya it would be awesome to visit there again! By jpu4 on   11/6/2008 12:09 PM

Re: Aidan Rohan Ussery Congrats!! Im so happy for you both. he's a cutie and I can't wait to see more pictures. I hope Farrah is doing well. By Ashley on   11/6/2008 12:18 PM

Re: Aidan Rohan Ussery Yay!! He's amazing!! Congratulations to you both!! By Jenn on   11/6/2008 7:06 PM

Re: Aidan Rohan Ussery Congrats on the birth of your little boy Aidan. Hope you are all recovering well ... especially Farrah who must be exhausted after all of that! Looking forward to seeing more pics of your little man! By Jennie Wicker on   11/6/2008 7:51 PM

Re: Aidan Rohan Ussery thanks ya'll she's doing great. Looking forward to going home tomorrow. I'm starting to call him little mouse...because of his squeeking By jpu4 on   11/6/2008 8:31 PM

Re: Aidan Rohan Ussery Um, it was nice and comfortable in there. Put me back in, please. Love, Aidan. By Aidan Rohan Ussery on   11/7/2008 6:18 AM

Re: Aidan Rohan Ussery Congrats guys!! Knowing yall for so long and just remembering the day that I meet Farrah, it's just crazy to see how far yall have come. Hurry up and take some more pix, or come to texas and I'll do it!!! By Z on   11/8/2008 3:55 PM

Re: Aidan Rohan Ussery Congrats to the proud parents ! Aidan looks just like you both. We wish you'll all the blessings from our family to yours. By Mark,Rosie & Anjali on   11/9/2008 8:58 AM

Re: Aidan Rohan Ussery Congratulations you two!!! Welcome to the world Aidan! More pictures please!!! By Kris & Stacy on   11/9/2008 2:06 PM

Re: Aidan Rohan Ussery Congrats! Aidan is so handsome!!! Can't wait to see him!!! By Emily R on   11/12/2008 12:51 PM

Re: Aidan Rohan Ussery Congratulations James and Farrah!!! Thats a good looking boy ya'll got there. Hes soo handsome. Can't wait to see more pics. By Cathy Burkhalter on   11/13/2008 6:46 PM

Re: Aidan Rohan Ussery Congratulations!!! Welcome Aidan!  I can't wait to see the blessed family. By Sahil Kumar on   11/15/2008 10:47 AM