Welcome Home Josiah

Josiah made the move from the hospital to home on Saturday morning, we are slowly adjusting to life with a baby. It is definitely a change but has been so rewarding already!! We have been cherishing a lot of "firsts" including his first bath at home on Sunday. We are usually up for visitors, just give us a jingle first to be sure we are presentable:-)

The ride home was very tiring.

I love my hands. Hi Mom.

Nice and calm before the bath.

Home from the hospital!

Finally...

I apologize to everyone who was worried for us because we didn't post any Blog postings right away. It wasn't intentional, I assure you!! Let's just say that I figured we would have plenty of down time to be sitting around blogging but I was mistaken:-) It has been non-stop action since you last heard from me! I believe the last post had me still dilated only to 5 and I was getting an epidural. It was pretty hectic at that point...the pain was intense. They gave me a spinal on top of the epidural to take the pain down quicker and that worked almost immediately however, it began to wear off within the hour and we discovered that the epidural had only taken on one side. They called the anesthesiologist back and after 30 more minutes, I was pretty much numb from the waist down. At that point I was ready for a nap but just as I was dozing they checked me again and I was complete and "ready" to push. I put "ready" in quotes because I was about as far from ready as you get being that it was now 1:00 AM and we had been at this for quite awhile and I really could have used that nap:-) But I was VERY excited to know that Baby was so close to joining us now! Throughout labor, he had been dropping his heart rate quite often which had me repositioning every few minutes with an oxygen mask on to try to bring it back up. Once we started pushing, his heart rate was dipping lower and taking longer to recover. After 20 minutes of that, they decided he needed to come out quick and forceps would be needed. **A visual for you who have never seen forceps, they look like salad tongs on steroids** After they got everything situated, I pushed 2 more times and at 1:31 AM, Josiah Michael was born!!! What a miracle, Seth and I were both amazed and thankful and in awe of this beautiful baby that had just come into the world!! Seth got to cut the cord and then the Peds team took him to look him over because of the heart rate drops and there was meconium in the fluid. He started crying and so did I because I was so relived he was here! They checked him over and he was great! He is certainly a little peanut, smaller than most people guessed including me! He weighed in at 6 lbs. 12 oz. and was 20-1/2 inches long. Time since that moment has seemed like a blur! We have had many visitors and well wishers and tried to squeeze in some sleep as well. Seth has gotten a few solid nights of sleep at home and I've been getting a few hours a night in between feedings. So far, Josiah is a sweet and calm baby and enjoys snuggling the most:-) We are going home today and are excited for the comfort of home but a little nervous not to have the nurse button to push anymore:-) Thank you for all of your well wishes and sorry once more for any worry we caused!!!

It's a Boy

Meet Josiah Michael Friedt Born at 1:31am, June 25, 2009 6 pounds, 12 ounces 20 1/2"

Our First Family Picture Sorry for the delay in posting the pictures. It has been a very busy day. Beth & Josiah are both doing very well.

Epidural Relief

Beth had been having intense contractions, but at 9:30 or so was still at a 5. She decided it was time for the Epidural and she is now feeling much better. The baby's heart rate has been fluctuating at times, but all is well with both Baby & Mom. Thanks for all of the encouragement and excitement for our Family to be. Seth

Still only a 4

Well, they just checked me and I'm still only dilated to 4. Contractions are coming every 1-3 minutes but not very painful yet so they are going to continue to up the pitocin. More to come...

Pitocin and more Pitocin

They have been slowly upping the doses of Pitocin since around 3:00...Im having conractions but not too painful yet so we still have some time to go...the nurse predicts afer midnight. We'll update as more gets going...

Dilated to 4!!

I'm dilated to 4 and they have removed the Foley Bulb. Now they will start the Pitocin and we'll see how it goes. No pain meds yet and I'm contracting on my own every 5-8 minutes. Will update again as the action gets going!

And away we go...

We arrived at the hospital this morning at 7:30 to get things started. They got us checked in and hooked up the monitors for the baby, started the IV and discussed the options for starting induction. After they checked the baby, they checked me and I'm not any further along than I was a week ago....it could be a very long day! They opted to start dilation by using a Foley Bulb method. I'll spare you the details and just say that I've DEFINITELY had more pleasant procedures done. So, now we wait...they will check me again in a few hours but in the meantime...we wait:-) We'll update later!

Tomorrow is the big day!!!

Hi everyone, the day was have been waiting for for 40 weeks and 3 days will be here in a few hours:-) I went to the Dr. today and my blood pressure is elevated again and he didn't see much fluid around the baby so he says now is the time for Baby Friedt to meet the world! We will be "checking in" to the hospital at 7:30 in the morning to get things going...we will be updating the blog as the day progresses so stay tuned!!! Now we are off to try to get some sleep...we'll see how that goes though since we are both bouncing off the walls with excitement!!

And still some more waiting....

Well, the Due Date has passed and still no Baby:-( I've had a few contractions here and there but nothing that has turned into anything. While we wait I'm still working, mainly just 4 hours at the office and the rest from home. Other than that, we are just waiting....and waiting...and waiting some more so if you're bored, come on over and wait with us:-) I see my doctor tomorrow afternoon so I'll update again after that...stay tuned....

Still waiting...

We are 5 days out from the due date now but I'm not really holding my breath that we will meet Baby F by then:-( So far, he/she isn't showing any real signs that coming out is top on the agenda:-) I'm feeling pretty good overall. I'm tired most of the time now and in the bathroom more than I ever thought I would/could be but other than that, we're cooking along pretty well! I see my doctor again on Wednesday so I'll post any news after that! Stay tuned....

Let the waiting begin...

I'm officially 38 weeks and 2 days along with 12 days left until the "big day". What does all that really mean?? Not much since the Baby will come when he/she is good and ready:-) As the due date has gotten closer and closer I'm more and more convinced that they just give you a day to focus on so you don't call the doctor every day insisting he check you to see if the Braxton Hicks contractions you've been feeling have made any difference:-) I go back to see my doctor on Wednesday and maybe by then things will have progressed a bit but either way, it's a waiting game. The good news is that after MANY days of me pleading with Baby to PLEASE move off my right sciatic nerve, he/she has decided to oblige so my hip pain is (knock on wood) much less right now. The flip side is that it seems to have dropped further to accomplish the move so there is all the fun that comes with that:-) But I'm NOT complaining, I'm taking advantage of the reduced pain and getting a few last minute errand trips done!! I think we have everything that we need for our hospital stay and the days that will follow so we're looking good....now just the waiting part:-) If anyone has any good ideas for how to stay distracted these last couple weeks, let me know! I can only watch so many episodes of Bridezillas, Baby Story and That 70's Show before I find myself just staring into space counting the days again:-) Stay tuned for more baby news as it happens...thanks for listening!