My Baby Boy is here!!!

Tavian Larkin James was born on Sunday, March 7th, 2010 at 12:29am.  He was 8lbs. 6oz. and 20 1/2 in. long.  He is perfect in every single way!

I have pretty much been MIA the past four weeks, and even now I know I only have a limited of time to catch up on all that has happened.  This post may take many days to complete!!!!  It is a lot more difficult to get stuff done with a little one needing constant supervision!

Anyway, back to Tavian's birth story.  On friday the 5th Cole and I had our last official date night before Tavian arrived.  We went to dinner and a movie and had a wonderful time together.  When we got home I took our excercise ball and bounced on it repeatedly, chanting, "Break, water break! Break, water break!"  I truly didn't think this would work at all.  But as I layed  down for bed that night, I felt a small gush of fluid in the nether region.  It was unusual enough that I sat up and told Cole that something strange had just happened.  We contemplated calling our Dr., but decided that we were probably just overreacting and that if it was my water breaking, that I would most likely start having painful contractions sometime during the night.  (I stress the painful part because I was having braxton hicks contractions for weeks and weeks, and sometimes in a pattern of every 5 minutes for a few hours)  Well, the next morning we lazily woke up and I still hadn't gone into active labor.  Around 10am I decided that it is better to be safe then sorry and we might as well call our Dr.  He was the Dr. on call all weekend (God is so good how he plans things) so he had us come into the office for a quick check.  Pretty instantly he realized I was indeed leaking fluid and told us to go home, grab our bags, and meet him at the hospital!  Talk about shocking!!!! (i should note that I asked my doc if I could quickly get a few things done around the house.  He looked at me like I was pretty crazy and said no and that it was pretty important to get to the hospital quickly...haha!)  It was so strange and relatively calm, especially considering my contractions still weren't painful.  It was a beautiful, sunny day and I still remember how strange it was driving home, getting things ready, and then calmly making our way to the hospital knowing we were going to meet our little man soon.  So cool! 
We got to the hospital around noon and got the room ready, called our loved ones, and started preparing for thinsg to start.  At the office I had been 3 cm and 60% effaced, but even at the hospital my contractions still weren't painful.  They were going to have to augment my labor if I didn't go naturally within a few hours because it is dangerous to go more then 24 hours with your water leaking before giving birth.  At around 4 I had my first painful contraction, but since it had taken so long, they still opted to put me on a VERY small dosage of pitocin.  Within a few hours I was 5 1/2 cm, but while being checked my doc found the rest of my water and broke it, announcing, "and now you are 6 cm."  I knew things were going to get rough after that!  Cole and i went straight from there to the tub, and instantly the contractions were HORRIBLE!  I made it another hour and then got the epidural.  After the epidural things continued to go really smoothly.  Cole and I spent a lot of the time talking to Tavian and praying for him, and enoying our last moments with just the two of us.  The next check I was 8 1/2 cm, and at 11 I was fully dilated.  They let me labor down for awhile (let my body continue to push the baby down so I wouldn't have to do as much of the pushing), and I only had to push for 35 minutes.  It was a wonderful experience!  We video taped the pushing (discreetly and from the side!!!) and it was such an intimate, calm, special experience.  Complete with James Taylor playing in the background, of course :) 
Since then life has been CRAZY, but and time is flying because I can't believe that was 4 weeks ago.  My little baby is already a month old..:(  I am trying to enjoy every last minute of this.  Parenthood is more difficult then I ever could have prepared for, but it also more amazing then I ever could have expected.  There are many sacrifices that accompany parenthood, but it is amazing what we are capable of doing when we are head over heels in love.  Tavian has captured our hearts!!  He is perfect in ever single way!!!  Thank you everyone for your prayers, love, support, and encouragement!
The first week was by far the hardest..Cole and I started to wonder what we got ourselves into..lol!  The second week was amazing becuase my Aunt Sarah came to visit and helped us with everything!!  She cooked for me, cleaned, and let me take a nap every day!!!  Tavian's baptism was on the 20th of March and we had a lot of family come into town.  That was super fun, especially because Tavey and Augustine got to meet for the first time.  Cutest little boys ever.  These last two weeks have been pretty good...the one problem is that since the start we have been struggling with breastfeeding.  I guess no one can say I'm not determined!  I love breastfeeding more then anything, so even though I have had to slave my body over the last four weeks, I'm still not ready to give up.  Not yet anyway! 
Well, I can't believe I was able to even write this much.  There is of course more to say, but I better get this posted soon or I know it will never end up happening.  I'm sorry I have been away from blog land for so long.  I will try and do better, but I'm not sure what all I will have time for.  I will say that I have continued to read all of your blogs...i just don't have time to comment!  I'll try and get pics up soon, although that may be a bit ambitious! 
I can't believe I am a mommy...I LOVE IT! :)