Our son Dominic

Dominic James was born on October 10th 2009 at 8am at 35 weeks 4 days. He weighs 4 pounds 7 ounces and measures 17 inches long. He has strawberry blonde hair (for now lol). He is doing very well.

I noticed my water leaking at about 7pm on the 9th while at work. I went home and rested up to see if it was indeed my fluid and after a few hours at home it became fairly obvious. I called in to the birth center and they ofcourse said to come in. I called Shawn at work and told him to come home. We made it to the birth center at about 10:15pm. It took about 2 second to confirm it was my water and they let me know I would not be leaving until I had the baby. I was given 2 hours (closer to 3) to begin labor and contracting on my own. My body hates me so this did not happen. At about 1am I was checked, 2cm dialated and 90% effaced, and pitocin was started. The nurse only had to up the pit 3 times (not much) to begin contractions. Contractions were coming one right on top of the other and I was having back labor. I asked for an epidural at about 430-5ish. I was checked again before I was given the epi and I was at 5cm. I was given the epi between 530-6am. I was able to take a short nap, about an hour. I woke up at about 7am and was 10cm dialated! After some checking and other such stuff, I was asked to try a practice push so that the doctor could leave the room knowing I could push correctly. I called Tara at 7:38am and told her to head this way,,, she was supposed to be here for the birth. After some pushing on my back, and some very productive pushing on my side; they had me on my back again and had the doctor come in. He was out within minutes. Born at a very prompt 8am!

He started crying, not immediately but before they brought him over to the warmer. He has been breathing completely unassisted, no jaundice as of yet. He is not breastfeeding yet but he sure is trying! He knows right where it is and what to do with it. Just can't quite get it down yet. He is receiving a bottle with formula and pumped milk every 2-3 hours and doing great with that. They have him in an incubator (warmer) but he hasn't seemed to have any issues between that and skin to skin contact of keeping his temperature up.

He will not likely go home with us when we go on Saturday I believe. But I don't think he will be here too much longer. He has to prove he can eat, keep his temp up, and gain weight. I will try to post pics asap!

26 weeks 3 days

I had another Ultrasound on July 13th, I was 22 weeks 1 day. My cervix measured 2.5cm which is pretty much the worry point. I was put on work restrictions, no more than 4-6 hour shifts and I must sit as much as possible while at work and at home. It has been an interesting few weeks since then. I will do whatever it takes to make sure we get to bring you home. Chances are you will come early because of my cervix, but we are hoping you make it to atleast 36 weeks, 10 more weeks little man!
I have not written in almost 2 months! Things have been busy. You were kicking pretty good for awhile there. Daddy finally got to feel and see the kicks at around 21 weeks I think it was. Then you just kind of slowed down. You kick every few days but I feel you moving and rolling around in there every day. I still have the heartbeat doppler and it has been a sanity saver since you love to scare me so much! At my last appointment on July 21st my belly was measuring 3 weeks ahead. Which means you must be a big guy lol. I cannot wait to meet you Dominic!

19 weeks 2 days Ultrasound

I had my Big Ultrasound today. You are 19 weeks. The tech said everything was great. My perfect little boy! You even waved once lol. My cervix measures 3.3cm which is still really good. I don't have much to say as the US was pretty uneventful.. which is fine by me! I got some pics, none were that great. But hey I will take what I can get lol.

18 weeks 4 days

I have had one heck of a pregnancy so far with you little man!
I have not hand any morning sickness for which I am extremely grateful. I have had my cervix length checked on 5/29. This is also the day we found out you were a boy! We are sooo happy. We have named you Dominic James. Dominic means "of God" and James means "supplanter." We gave you your brothers middle name in hopes that you will be our lucky charm!

I went to the ER lastnight because I had some cramping and lower back pain. Turns out you were just fine thank God! None of the cramps registered as contractions and my cervix was closed. There was some blood in my urine that the nurse said that she thinks I may have passed a kidney stone. I have never been so happy to hear bad news in my life!

You hate attention by the way. You ran when the nurse tried to hook up the heartbeat monitor. I had to ask her just to leave it in one spot because she couldn't chase you around my tummy all night lol. After she left the room you let us know just what you thought of that! You kicked the monitor real hard about 4 times. So hard in fact that you lifted it up a time or two. Guess you will be outspoken huh?

We have another US on the 23rd and I can't wait to see you again!