Our sweet baby Thomas has arrived!!! Once again our baby did NOT follow my birth plan AND was born in the wrong month! My goal was to make it to September, and my induction was scheduled for Tuesday September 5...BUT Tommy wanted to come in August I guess (with 5 hours to go before September!). I am trying out both Thomas and Tommy because I am not sure which we will call him yet. I like both!
So quick recap of the birthday. On Monday at my appointment I was dilated to 3cm. At that point I had my doubts I would make it to September, let alone through the day! But as the week went on it seemed more likely. However, on Thursday morning I could tell something had changed and that it might be the day. I started contractions at about 12:30pm, but thought I would give it a while to see if it was the real deal (I have had TONS on contractions during this pregnancy and even went in on July 29 because I thought I might be in early labor). I laid down with Mikey and he fell asleep (had a rough day at preschool...that is a whole other topic!). Then I sat down and ate some apple crisp. I was still contracting, but not super regularly, so I started canning the tomatoes I had on the deck table. At about 2:15 Gil drove by in the semi from taking a load of beans. I called him to say he better stick close by. Then I called again at 2:37 to say we needed to go now. My tomatoes were about half way done...oh well! Dad and Brett came to get Mikey and Luke (who had both just woken up from naps) and we took off. It was a much more pleasant ride to the hospital this time; almost no contractions. But once again by the time we arrived on the Jackson bottom I was pretty sure it was the real deal. We arrived at about 3:45 and they put me right into a delivery room. It took a while to get things checked and going, but I was at 5 cm, so something was happening, but not too fast apparently (thank God!). I labored for a while but only had about 3 hard contractions. I got an epidural after a little debate as my platelets were down to 85 (they had stayed around 100 my whole pregnancy). And when Dr. Aldrich broke my water I was at 7cm. Thomas's head was not quite where it needed to be which may be why things weren't moving as fast as usual. I laid on my left side with a "peanut pillow" and in no time I was fully dilated. Thomas Koester Ridenour was born at exactly 7pm (right at shift change as my nurse had predicted so the room was full of the current and new shift nurses!). I was surprised that at 12 days early he weighed in at 8 pounds 1ounce. He was just perfect and I don't think I will ever get over that feeling right after giving birth. What a miraculous and heavenly transformation/feeling/experience. It truly takes my breath away! I also cannot stop taking pictures. I think it has a lot to do with knowing this is my last baby. I want to remember these precious first days/weeks/months/years...
Thomas is just a name we both liked and that we thought went well with our other children's names. It is also a saint name which was important. Thomas is the name Jesus gave one of his disciples named Judas and it means "Twin." Maybe he will be like Jude's little twin. Koester we chose because we wanted to use a name from my family and Koester just seemed most appropriate. In honor of my dad and my grandpa Duane and all the Allen Koester family!
We love you Thomas!!! Welcome to the crew!!!
 |
| Our family of 7 right after he was born. |
 |
| Thomas Koester Ridenour |
 |
| He has a lot of adoring fans! |
Was it the apple crisp that made Tommy come early?
ReplyDelete