The Passmore Family Blog: He's Here!!!!

I'm a bit late in posting this, but our little Nolan was born 3 days ago, on Sunday April 25th at 10:44am, weighing 8 pounds, 2 ounces and 20 inches long. I was able to achieve the VBAC I wanted. Long story short, contractions started Saturday morning at 5am and got as close as 5-6 minutes apart by 6:00pm, so we headed to the hospital. They told me I was only at 2cm and asked me to walk around for 40-50 minutes to see what we could make happen (too see if the contractions were doing anything). I didn't change any and was very disappointed. They sent me home with a dose of pain meds and instructions to drink more water. So, that is what we did. The pain meds wore off about 11pm and we started timing contractions again around midnight. By 2am, they were unbearable, so Justin, Laura and I headed back to the hospital.

When I got to the hospital this time, they admitted me because I was 5-6 cm and the bag of water was bulging. Woo Hoo!!! Bring on the epidural, please. After the epidural was in place, I was able to get some much needed sleep. I stalled at 7cm, so they said the doc would break the bag of water around 7:00am. When the doc went in to check where Nolan's head was, the water broke and gushed out "like a garden hose" (those were Justin's words). I managed to make it to 9cm and they gave me a "splash" of pitocin to help me get to the end. By 9am, I was ready to push. One hour and 44 minutes later, I became a mother for the 2nd time. Justin cut the cord! I couldn't have done it without Justin and Laura there to coach me through it.

Recovery has been a lot better than the c-section, so that is wonderful. Nolan is such a sweet baby. We are all in love with him so much. Bennett seems to adore his little brother very much and gives him kisses and hugs all day long.

Today, we took him to the doctor for his circumcision. They weighed him and he was 8 pounds even, so he's almost up to his birth weight. It's no shocker since he took to breastfeeding like a little champ. He's pooping and peeing like he should. Thank goodness we have a huge stash of newborn size diapers!

Justin and I are extremely thankful to Johanna, Laura, mom, Maggie, and Mollie for their help over the weekend and extending into Monday. Knowing that Bennett was taken care of by loved ones was such a huge help.

Here are a bunch of pictures from the last few days: