Meet Rocco

Well if you hadn't heard- Taylor and I have a new little addition to our family! Rocco Taylor Russell was born on August 4th, 2013 at 4:25 a.m. weighing 6 lbs 10 oz and was 18 1/2 inches long! He is so beautiful and perfect and we love him SO much. I wanted to type up his birth story for all who are interested and for me to have.

My due date was August 3rd. My last day of work was August 2nd, and I was determined to have Rocco as close to my due date as possible- seeing as I wouldn't be induced until today actually if I didn't go into labor myself (August 12) I only have 6 weeks maternity leave and did not want to waste one of those weeks still being pregnant! So anyway, after work on Friday Taylor and I went to our favorite Thai restaurant and I ordered the spiciest thing on the menu. Then after dinner, we went on a walk and I walked with one foot on the curb, and one foot on the road, so I was constantly going up and down. These are both things I had heard can put you into labor so I thought I would try.

I woke up Saturday morning after sleeping in and Taylor and I decided we wanted to go eat lunch at Costco- I know its kinda weird but we love it- so I went to get ready. That's when I noticed I had been bleeding so I called the doctor and they told me that was most likely a sign of early labor so I should go into the hospital and get checked. At this point I wasn't in any pain or anything but we packed our bags and headed over. Once I got there, they hooked me up to some monitors to monitor the baby's heartbeat and my contractions. I was having contractions but I couldn't really feel them yet. I was already dilated to 3 centimeters from the week before, so the nurse checked me again and let us know that I was still only at 3 centimeters. Since this was my first baby, they won't admit you until you are at least at 4 centimeters. She told us that she thought I would have the baby sometime during the weekend, but that I should go home and come back when my contractions got to about 5 mins apart.

We decided to still go get some lunch at Costco. That's when I started feeling my contractions. I was super uncomfortable but they were still about 8 mins apart. We went home and tried to relax and Taylor kept timing me through all of my contractions. Around 5 p.m., they were consistently 5 minutes or less apart so I thought, great! This is it! And we headed back to the hospital. At this point I was in quite a bit of pain and really really uncomfortable. The same nurse we had seen before came in and hooked me up to the monitors and checked me again. Unfortunately, I was still only at 3 centimeters! They decided to keep me there for an hour and then check me again. At the end of the hour I was still only at a 3 so they couldn't admit me. They told me they could give me a morphine shot for my pain and send me home. I was sad and mad and frustrated, I just wanted to have my baby! But there was nothing they could do so I got my shot and we went home.

The morphine did take the edge off of my contractions and make them more manageable, but I could still feel each one. I laid on the couch for 6 hours. Taylor, my mom, and sister were so great to me and would get me anything I needed and rubbed my back and just tried to help me however they could. I got in the bath at one point cause I heard that makes you feel better and it did help a little bit. Around 11:30 I was in so much pain and my contractions were anywhere from 3-5 mins apart, but I was scared to go back because I did not want to be sent home again! Finally it got to the point where I literally couldn't stand it anymore and I was bawling from the pain. You guys- I swear I'm not a baby and I would like to think I have a pretty high pain tolerance- but I was in a lot of pain that it actually brought me to tears! Poor Taylor I think just felt so helpless and didn't even know what to do. We got back to the hospital around 11:45 and a different nurse hooked me up and checked me. To my relief she told me I was at a "good 4" and asked me if I wanted my epidural. I said YES and we waited about another 30 mins for the anesthesiologist to come. The epidural surprisingly didn't hurt and I literally felt amazing after.

I progressed really fast after that- I was at an 8 maybe an hour later and then at a 10 maybe an hour after that? When I was ready to push, my doctor got called into 2 other emergency c-sections so we had to wait. I wasn't in any pain or anything so it was fine, but I could definitely feel the pressure with every contraction and knew he was right there ready to come out. Finally after waiting for 2 more hours I paged the nurse and told her I really needed to push. She came in and helped me push through a contraction and then told me to stop because the baby was basically out and she needed the doctor! He finally made it and I pushed through 2 more contractions and little Rocco was here.

It was such an overwhelming feeling, when he was out I just looked at him and cried and couldn't believe that I really just had a real life baby come out of me! they took him and cleaned him off and measured and weighed him and everything like that, and finally I got to hold him and it was the most amazing feeling ever, I was so overwhelmed with awe and love for this little boy that I had never met but felt like I had known forever. Having him and Taylor by my side was the sweetest moment I have experienced in this life yet.

We have had so much love and support from our families and friends and we are so grateful! Our little guy is SOOOOO loved by everyone, including us. He just has the sweetest little temperament and spirit and I am so glad he's mine. It's pretty amazing to look at this little human and know that I created him with the person I love most in this world. I'm so glad he is here and that everything went so well. I feel so much love and gratitude.

Here are some pictures from the hospital-