Levi is Here!

I'm so glad to announce that Levi Zacharias is finally here. 7lbs and 19 1/2 inches.

(Forewarning: Birth Story Following so although I keep it pretty family friendly you can skip a head to the pictures if you don't want to ready the details.)

Wednesday:

Since Levi didn't seem to want to come on his own I was scheduled to be induced Thursday morning at 7:30.  So Wednesday night I went to my sister-in-laws in Provo for a pampered chef party. We got there about 6  and around 6:30 I started having some contractions about 7 minutes apart. Nothing too exciting since that happened about every night for the past 2 weeks. however around 7 they started at 4-5 minutes apart that was a new one. So after I showed Aaron my record  keeping we decided we better head home just in case.  We made a bit of a wave leaving the party :) After getting home we got the kids to bed and started getting ready to leave. I decided to sit down and have something to eat real quick. As I was eating all contractions stopped :(

Thursday: 
There wasn't anything else to do but hang out at home unless something started up again. Aaron's mom came to stay the night with the kids so we knew we could head out whenever we needed. Aaron 3:30 They started up again this time stronger and Aaron figured we should leave and since I was scheduled to be induced in a few hours we knew they wouldn't be sending us home.

We headed out and I made Aaron stop at McDonalds to get me some food. He wasn't too happy about it but stopped anyway. We arrived at the hospital around 4:45  They checked me and said I was 3 cm dilated and 80% effaced (that was the same I had been at my appointment on Tuesday).  They decided go ahead and start me on a low dose of pitocin. It only took a few minutes for the contractions to kick in and contractions started in at 1-3 minutes apart. I was pretty uncomfortable sitting on the bed and I asked them to bring the birthing ball in so I could at least change positions. We stayed there for the hour and a half. The nurses didn't seem to concerned about me or seeing I had progressed at all so it was just Aaron and I in the room.  Aaron was the best coach there could be. He kept was the reminded me to breath correctly and not get light headed and made sure I stayed as confortable as possible. He was my DJ playing music off of his phone and really kept me centered. (He was awesome!) Since the pitocin was making the contractions come so close together I didn't have the time to really regroup myself and relax in between contractions like I did with Madie and Titus. I also had more back labor than I did with the other two as well. Around 7:20 I asked Aaron to call the nurse in since I was feeling a lot of pressure and wanted to see if I had progressed any. The nurse came in and checked but said she couldn't tell until after they broke my water. By that point my doctor had shown up. They decided to break my water and see where I was.

7:35 they broke my water and said that I was fully dilated and ready to go.  By this point I had been awake pretty much all night and adding the 2 hours of 1-3 minute contractions I was worn out. I just wanted to go to sleep in between every contraction. So with some extra encouragement from Aaron Levi Zacharias Jensen was born at 7:53 Thursday morning!

I look a lot more awake here than I actually felt.

Thursday was filled with lots of naps and visitors at the hospital. I was glad to have people stopping by since Aaron was in and out during the day.

Grandpa Jensen

Aunt Gentry

Aaron brough James by to see the baby and he spent 2 hours holding him. We didn't think he would last too long but he was sad when they finally had to go home to get dinner. He is such a proud big brother!

Levi and the proud dad!

Just some pictures I took while killing time at the hospital.

We got to come home Friday and arrived home just after lunch and in time for all the kids to take naps. Which was great because I really needed one too. Sleeping at hospitals just doesn't happen for me.

Grandma Miller got a short time holding Levi before she headed home and my mom took over helping.

Levi was had a low level of Jaundice so he got so spend some time sunbathing during the weekend.

We were glad to have Grandma Snow around through the weekend and help man handle the craziness of the 4 kids and get things straightened out around the house.

Madie couldn't have been happier to have a new baby to cuddle with.

Titus took a few days to warm up to Levi. When we brought him home Titus was happy to stand at the end of the couch and say 'cute baby' over and over but wasn't too keen on the idea of getting too close. Finally on Sunday he decided it was about time he got a turn holding Levi and still thinks he is a pretty 'cute baby' and I have to say I agree with him.