Weston and I drove down Silas Creek Parkway under the dim light of the rising sun on Feburary 2nd, 2016. We walked through the doors of Winston-Salem's Forsyth Hospital. At 6:00am my induction began.
After 12 hours of increasing contractions, I began to push. After an hour of pushing Doctor Jacobs from Lyndhurst came in and saw my baby's head was crooked and might not come out easily. I continued to push. "You're making progress! I can see his dark hair!" the nurse encouraingly said. After another hour of pushing, the doctor came in and said, "You have made no progress since I last came in." Ugh, man.
At that point we decided to use forceps to deliver the baby. A team of three nurses came in and started prepping the baby station. When it was time to push I had the whole team encouraging me as I was crossing the finish line. "YOU CAN DO IT!"
On the third contraction I felt a long pull and a giant baby popped out from between my knees. I had expected to feel euphoria and understand the meaning of life at the sight of my newborn. Instead, I felt shock at how fast he came out and surprise at how big he was. Whose baby is that!? That giant baby surely didn't come out of me. Arlo declared his prescence with a booming "RAAAAH!!!" Doctor Jacobs eyes popped open, "Wow! He has such a deep cry. He sounds like a toddler screaming."
With that, my hunk of a man, Arlo, was born.
Feburary 2nd, 2016 8:38pm 9.1lbs 22inches
We couldn't keep the excited family away who stayed from 6:00pm until midnight when they could finally see him after I was dosed with vicodin and morphine. He's already surrounded by so much love.
I was discharged that Thursday. I was pushed on a wheel chair down the same halls I had entered on Tuesday. Just two days before, I was walking down those halls fully pregnant and now I had a baby in my arms. We made it home, where Arlo and I are now recovering. Weston is being our amazing caretaker.
It's so surreal to be a mother to a beautiful son, yet it seems so naturally right. Welcome to the world Arlo!