Jace Paul - November 15, 2011

Well we had a little surprise this past week....our little baby boy decided to make his debut 12 days early!  I started having really light contractions on Sunday throughout the day.  I thought it was weird, but I didn't think much about it.  Then on Monday, they started getting stronger and closer together.  I told Chris that I thought we should go the hospital just to make sure everything was ok.  The whole time I was expecting to be sent back home and that I was just feeling false labor pains!  Well we got the hospital and turns out I was having real contractions that were 2-3 minutes apart and I was 2 cm dilated!!  They monitored me for two hours and I didn't progress at all, so they sent me home.  The nurse said she expected to see me back in a day or two.

But on the drive home my contractions started getting closer and closer together!  My parents came over to have dinner  and by that point I could barely talk through the contractions!  I waited as long as I could, but around 7:15pm we headed back to the hospital!  The rest of the story is a blur to me!  We got checked into the hospital and around 8pm they checked me out again.  I was still having contractions 2-3 minutes apart, but now I was 4 cm dilated!!  I had planned to get an epidural, but the pain was still manageable so I told the nurse I would wait.  About an hour later, the nurse talked me into just getting the epidural (which turned out to be a blessing in disguise.)  She said it could help me progress faster and I would be more comfortable.  After I got the epidural I felt great and it only took me two hours until I was fully dilated!!  It happened so fast!  The nurse told me that I was going to start pushing the next contraction!!  She said that our baby's heart beat started going down every time I pushed.  And she said that something looked weird and she wanted the doctor to come take a look.

After the epidural....feeling good!

Well the doctor came in to check me and her eyes got HUGE!  She looked at the nurse and said,  "This baby is breech!  That's his butt not his head!  We have to take him c-section!"  I couldn't believe it!  My doctor had been checking me for weeks and always told me that his head was really low.  So either he flipped really late in my pregnancy or the whole time they were mistaking his butt for his head!  Since I was already 10cm dilated and my water had broken they couldn't try to turn him around...so I was heading into surgery.  I couldn't help it, but I started crying.  That definitely was not the way that I wanted to give birth, but sometimes God has other plans!  At that point it was a blessing that I had already gotten the epidural so that I didn't have to wait to go into surgery....I was already numb from the waist down and was ready to go.  They rushed me into surgery and Chris was right behind me in his scrubs.  The doctor told us that the whole surgery would take about an hour and we would have our baby within in the first 10 minutes!

It's time!

I will never forget the sound of his cry when they pulled him out.  I had a huge sigh of relieve because I knew he was ok.  They held him up so I could see him and my first thought was look at all that hair!!  He had a full head of dark hair...just I like did when I was born!  They cleaned him off and then Chris brought him over so I could see him.  That is a moment I will never forget...the three of us together for the first time.  He was so quiet and just kept looking at us with big eyes!  We named him Jace Paul Gimenez.  He was born at 12:17am and was 7 lbs. 1 oz and 19 inches long!

He's here!

Getting all cleaned off!

First family photo!

LOVE!

His weight in grams...7 lbs. 1 oz

Back to mom and dad!

Snug in the recovery room with mom and dad....we were there for a few days

On his way home!!

We have been home for a few days now.  We are getting settled into a routine and getting to know each other.  I will do my best to keep updating the blog as often as I can with stories and pictures of our little man!  But for now I can tell you this....becoming a parent is one of the most amazing experiences of my life.  I love you Jace!