Donovan’s Birth Story!
Our sweet baby boy is finally here! He was born on June 7th at 9:55 am. 10 pounds 1 ounce, and 21 inches long! Big healthy baby =) He was not at all willing to leave Mama though, and since I still felt very good we waited until 41 weeks to induce. The doctor didn’t want us to wait longer than that and he was right, Donovan was certainly big enough.
We got to the hospital at 5am, after Papa came to our house to take care of Serenity. They got us all checked in and the pitocin hooked up by around 6am, so the whole process really just took about four hours. When he was born I was a little incredulous. I think I even said, “that seems so fast!” Several times. Dr. Calvert broke my water around 7:30, and then we had a few worries because each contraction seemed to make his heart rate go down a bit. I had to try several different positions to see if I could get the cord unkinked, and they put fluid back in to cushion it. I just focused on breathing as much as possible and relaxing with each contraction to try and get fully dilated as quickly as I possibly could. It’s funny to think of now, but evidently my pregnancy focus is taken from an old Mervyn’s commercial, the one where the lady wants to get in for their great early bird specials and stands in front of a store in the dark saying “O-pen O-pen O-pen.” It worked because when my water broke I went from 3 to 5, and then the next thing I knew they were saying 7 to 8. Then I felt like pushing and once Dr. Calvert got ready he said, “I’m ready to help this baby come as soon as you push.” I was surprised and said “I’m HAPPY to push!” Or at least that was what I was thinking, I don’t know if it came out coherently =) But I certainly did push and he was out three contractions later, with a little help from the vacuum. His cord was indeed tangled around his neck and his body, and Eric told me later on one of the last big contractions his heart rate dropped really low. He was good though and cried a few seconds later, and even passed the Apgar tests just fine. Daddy did great throughout but when it was over he realized he felt queasy and dizzy and had to sit down. So it was a scary couple of moments. It did help us decide on his middle name though. We were pretty sure about Donovan, because it was always one of our favorite names and Serenity was absolutely certain that he was Donovan, but we were still waffling on a middle name. We picked Zane because the initials DZ sound like dizzy, and he did make Daddy dizzy. =)
They let me hold him as soon as he cried and I held his little foot =) He seemed very big though. We heard that a lot at the hospital! We got to hold him for awhile and try feeding, and he actually latched! He’s been doing awesome with nursing which is such a blessing. Eric said he was very indignant for the first hour after being born, when he went to get his bath and so on. I don’t really blame him, he was very clear that he would prefer to remain where he was. He was even holding onto my ribs right up through labor like he didn’t want to let go. =) After that hour he was extremely mellow. He hardly woke up when getting his heel pricked, and had to be woken up to eat. Mama and Daddy even played a game or two of Pandemic while he slept.
Mom was there and she kept everyone informed via text of how things progressed, and Jen posted the info to facebook for the rest of the world. =) After we got our recovery room, Papa brought Serenity to see her baby brother. She was so excited! She told the nurses (even before she got to see him) that she had a brother and his name was Donovan. She had a big beautiful smile on her face when she came in the room, and she immediately snuggled in bed with me and got to see her brother. She was gentle with him but after a while she started jumping from chair to couch to bed, so we had the first of what I’m sure will be many conversations about not jumping near her brother. =) She was very gentle with him though. She touched him gently, and then patted herself and said “I can pat myself fast. I am gentle with Donovan.” Aunt Jana also came to visit us in the hospital, and Rosario, and of course Grandma came back with guacamole. We got to go home just 36 hours after we got there, so everyone else plans to visit over the next few days.
I feel great, although I got a lot of “are you sure you don’t need the pain medication?” questions, I really didn’t need more than Motrin. So we got to bring our baby home! Eric also wants to point out that every nurse was like “Holy cow, you didn’t have an epidural and you didn’t scream? That’s a big baby.”
Serenity was so happy to be home. Eric went over to play with her a bit in the morning before we got discharged, and Papa told him she’d been happy the whole time! I’m so glad she handled it all so well, it was her first overnight away from both of us, and she didn’t cry or ask for us as she knew we were at the hospital getting Donovan. Eric said at one point she told him “The doll is sad. She misses her Mama.” But that she was so good! When she met us at the house she told Donovan “I LOVE you Donovan!” She’s glad to be a big sister. (One of her books talks about a little girl who is not sure she’s glad she’s getting a brother, and Serenity always responds to that page, “I’m GLAD!” So cute) Donovan even got his first tummy time at home, and Serenity lay down on the floor with Daddy and Donovan and smiled at him. =) Then later she put all her Super Readers and Tyrone into tummy time. Daddy was very proud that on his first tummy time he lifted his head a bit and turned it to the other side. Yay Donovan!
Our sweet baby boy is finally here! He was born on June 7th at 9:55 am. 10 pounds 1 ounce, and 21 inches long! Big healthy baby =) He was not at all willing to leave Mama though, and since I still felt very good we waited until 41 weeks to induce. The doctor didn’t want us to wait longer than that and he was right, Donovan was certainly big enough.
We got to the hospital at 5am, after Papa came to our house to take care of Serenity. They got us all checked in and the pitocin hooked up by around 6am, so the whole process really just took about four hours. When he was born I was a little incredulous. I think I even said, “that seems so fast!” Several times. Dr. Calvert broke my water around 7:30, and then we had a few worries because each contraction seemed to make his heart rate go down a bit. I had to try several different positions to see if I could get the cord unkinked, and they put fluid back in to cushion it. I just focused on breathing as much as possible and relaxing with each contraction to try and get fully dilated as quickly as I possibly could. It’s funny to think of now, but evidently my pregnancy focus is taken from an old Mervyn’s commercial, the one where the lady wants to get in for their great early bird specials and stands in front of a store in the dark saying “O-pen O-pen O-pen.” It worked because when my water broke I went from 3 to 5, and then the next thing I knew they were saying 7 to 8. Then I felt like pushing and once Dr. Calvert got ready he said, “I’m ready to help this baby come as soon as you push.” I was surprised and said “I’m HAPPY to push!” Or at least that was what I was thinking, I don’t know if it came out coherently =) But I certainly did push and he was out three contractions later, with a little help from the vacuum. His cord was indeed tangled around his neck and his body, and Eric told me later on one of the last big contractions his heart rate dropped really low. He was good though and cried a few seconds later, and even passed the Apgar tests just fine. Daddy did great throughout but when it was over he realized he felt queasy and dizzy and had to sit down. So it was a scary couple of moments. It did help us decide on his middle name though. We were pretty sure about Donovan, because it was always one of our favorite names and Serenity was absolutely certain that he was Donovan, but we were still waffling on a middle name. We picked Zane because the initials DZ sound like dizzy, and he did make Daddy dizzy. =)
They let me hold him as soon as he cried and I held his little foot =) He seemed very big though. We heard that a lot at the hospital! We got to hold him for awhile and try feeding, and he actually latched! He’s been doing awesome with nursing which is such a blessing. Eric said he was very indignant for the first hour after being born, when he went to get his bath and so on. I don’t really blame him, he was very clear that he would prefer to remain where he was. He was even holding onto my ribs right up through labor like he didn’t want to let go. =) After that hour he was extremely mellow. He hardly woke up when getting his heel pricked, and had to be woken up to eat. Mama and Daddy even played a game or two of Pandemic while he slept.
Mom was there and she kept everyone informed via text of how things progressed, and Jen posted the info to facebook for the rest of the world. =) After we got our recovery room, Papa brought Serenity to see her baby brother. She was so excited! She told the nurses (even before she got to see him) that she had a brother and his name was Donovan. She had a big beautiful smile on her face when she came in the room, and she immediately snuggled in bed with me and got to see her brother. She was gentle with him but after a while she started jumping from chair to couch to bed, so we had the first of what I’m sure will be many conversations about not jumping near her brother. =) She was very gentle with him though. She touched him gently, and then patted herself and said “I can pat myself fast. I am gentle with Donovan.” Aunt Jana also came to visit us in the hospital, and Rosario, and of course Grandma came back with guacamole. We got to go home just 36 hours after we got there, so everyone else plans to visit over the next few days.
I feel great, although I got a lot of “are you sure you don’t need the pain medication?” questions, I really didn’t need more than Motrin. So we got to bring our baby home! Eric also wants to point out that every nurse was like “Holy cow, you didn’t have an epidural and you didn’t scream? That’s a big baby.”
Serenity was so happy to be home. Eric went over to play with her a bit in the morning before we got discharged, and Papa told him she’d been happy the whole time! I’m so glad she handled it all so well, it was her first overnight away from both of us, and she didn’t cry or ask for us as she knew we were at the hospital getting Donovan. Eric said at one point she told him “The doll is sad. She misses her Mama.” But that she was so good! When she met us at the house she told Donovan “I LOVE you Donovan!” She’s glad to be a big sister. (One of her books talks about a little girl who is not sure she’s glad she’s getting a brother, and Serenity always responds to that page, “I’m GLAD!” So cute) Donovan even got his first tummy time at home, and Serenity lay down on the floor with Daddy and Donovan and smiled at him. =) Then later she put all her Super Readers and Tyrone into tummy time. Daddy was very proud that on his first tummy time he lifted his head a bit and turned it to the other side. Yay Donovan!
