One Month Old

Asher is now one month old. We can't believe how fast this month has gone by. At his last doctor's appointment he weighed about 9.5 lbs and he has definitely gotten taller, too. He is outgrowing some of his newborn clothes and starting to look even cuter in the 0-3 months clothes. He is a very content baby, he doesn't cry very much and he likes to sleep at night. In fact, last night he slept from 10 pm to 5 am. Roger and I were very excited!
Here are some pictures from Asher's first month.

Asher's Birth Story

I'll try to keep this short, but it was an amazing day and pretty hard to sum up.

3:00 am
Woke up with contractions about 7-8 minutes apart, at one point they were only 4-5 minutes apart.

8:00 am
Went to the hospital for the scheduled induction, internal exam showed I was still only 1 cm, contractions had slowed down to 15 minutes apart, spent the next several hours prepping for the induction and doing a non-stress test.

11:00 am
Pitocin started and contractions picked back up to 6 minutes apart and not too painful. Dr. Pujo stops by to check on me and says he will be back later in the afternoon.

12:30 pm
Internal exam showed I was at 3 cm and could get the much desired epidural, contractions were becoming more and more painful, pitocin was stopped.

The rest of the times are pretty fuzzy...

1:00 pm
Contractions are coming one on top of another Roger is helping me breathe through them and try to relax, our friend Raegan was also there to show me how to breathe and to translate for us and generally try to encourage us.

Maybe 1:30 pm
Another internal exam and I am now at 6 cm, but still waiting for the epidural.

Sometime Later
The anesthesiologist finally arrived and began the epidural, I had to curl up on my side and try not to move during contractions, it was excruciating. Roger was amazing and ended up with some wounds from my fingernails.

An Hour After That
I can tell something is going wrong with the epidural and I'm starting to doubt whether or not I can make it through the pain, Roger continued to breathe with me and do everything he could to help me get through each contraction. At this point I was only getting about a 1 minute break between contractions. The epidural was actually not painful at all, just scary. Finally the epidural is finished and I start waiting for some relief.

10 Minutes Later
The epidural didn't work, I'm getting no relief at all and after waiting another 10 minutes the anesthesiologist decides to try again.

Maybe 15 Minutes Later
Sweet relief! The contractions had mostly been in my back and I could finally feel them start to lessen. I could still feel my legs, I was only numb around my waist, but it was wonderful. It was at this point we took a picture. I remember feeling so good for about 10 minutes...

As soon as the epidural started working the nurse did another internal exam and I was at 8 cm. I was looking forward to a little rest before the pushing.

3:30 pm
I start feeling the overwhelming urge to push, but I'm not completely dilated yet. The nurse checks and I'm at 9 cm and Dr. Pujo is called, I have to pant to keep from pushing every time I have a contraction. The poor nurse keeps telling me to stop pushing in Indonesian, I keep telling her I can't help it in English.

4:00 pm
Dr. Pujo arrives and suits up, I'm completely dilated and I can start pushing. Raegan and the anesthesiologist coach me on how to push and I feel like I am making good progress. Even with the epidural I can feel the contractions and feel the urge to push.

4:40 pm
Dr. Pujo announces that Asher is stuck and that he wants to do a C-Section. We are all shocked because Raegan had actually seen the top of his head a few pushes before and Asher's heartrate was still great. He gives us the choice of vacuum extraction or C-Section, I'm beyond being able to process anything, but definitely don't want to have a C-Section. Roger says we can try the vacuum extraction and Raegan gets Dr. Pujo to agree to 15 more minutes of pushing.

5:00 pm
Dr. Pujo starts the vacuum extractor , but it doesn't work, he is now telling us we have to have a C-Section. Praise the Lord Raegan was with us, she told him no and told me to keep pushing. A few minutes after that he decided to try to the vacuum extractor one last time.

5:18 pm
With Dr. Pujo using the vacuum extractor and all of the nurses and the anesthesiologist pushing on my belly Asher's head finally started to come out. One more big push and an episiotomy his head was born. With the next push he was out and Dr. Pujo put him on my belly and Roger and I got to see our son for the first time. As soon as he came out he gave a good cry to let us know he was okay.

This is our favorite picture. It was taken just seconds after Asher was born. I just love the look on our faces as we meet our baby boy. There were definitely some tears and some big goofy smiles.

And this is one of our first family photos. We were so happy and so tired and glad to finally have our baby boy with us.

A Crazy Week

Baby Asher is now one week old. We have been working on putting photos on zenfolio, but we've been a little busy, so it's not done yet.
Asher is doing well. We are a bit sleep deprived and occasionally overwhelmed, but we are surviving. Everybody here is taking really good care of us, they are bringing us food and coming over to check on us everyday, sometimes several times each day.
Mimi (Courtney's mom) will be here in the morning and we are looking forward to getting a little rest while she is here.
On Friday Asher went to the doctor for the first time. He got a shot, but only cried for a minute and then went right back to sleep. His weight is now 3.6 kilos (his birth weight was 3.4 kilos). I'm not sure it should really have been that high, but they weighed him with his diaper and sleeper on. Either way, he is still close to his birth weight and will go back in two weeks for another weight check.

He's here!!!

Asher is here!!!

He was born on September 20, 2008 at 5:18 pm (local time), 6:18 am (East Coast USA).

He is 7lbs. 8oz., 21 inches long...blonde hair and blue eyes! It's too early to tell who he looks like.

We'll update with pictures and details when we get home from the hospital.

Game Plan

Well, I think today might finally be the day. At 8:00 am (Friday night US time) we will go to the hospital and hopefully check in. I have been having contractions for the past few hours, so I am hopeful that I have made some progress and Dr. Pujo will be able to get Asher here sometime today.
Depending on the internet access at the hospital Roger (or somebody else) may be updating the blog, so check back to see what's going on.

Still Not Here

We went to see Dr. Pujo tonight and were expecting to be admitted to the hospital. We had all of our bags packed and were ready to go. Unfortunately, Dr. Pujo feels like Asher is still not ready to go. So, we are back to waiting.

He did an exam and said I was 1 cm and it would be best to wait until Saturday to induce. I told him we wanted to stay and he said we could if we wanted to, but Roger in all of his infinite wisdom asked Dr. Pujo what would be best for me and for Asher. Dr. Pujo said to just give it another day.
We are so disappointed, but hopeful that labor will start tonight or tomorrow and we will be able to avoid being induced. I am having some contractions now, so pray that they continue and get stronger so we can repack the car and head back to the hospital before Saturday.

We were able to pick up a few last minute things today. We got a nice mosquito net to go over Asher's bed and some window shades for the car. Normally we don't use mosquito nets, but if Asher is anything like his mom he will be the target of every mosquito in Southeast Asia. During this time of year it's impossible to keep all of the mosquitos out of our bedroom. The window shades are pretty self-explanatory...it's about 100 degrees everyday and the sun is bright and strong, we've got to protect our baby boy from that. As an added bonus I think it will also help keep people from staring inside our car at stoplights.

Asher Watch - Day 8

Dear Asher,
Consider this your eviction notice. I've enjoyed having you grow in my belly for the past 9 months (maybe a little longer...), but your time is up. Tomorrow is the day, either come out or Dr. Pujo is coming in to get you. Your father and I are tired of waiting on you.
Sincerely,
Your Mother

So, here's the plan.
Tomorrow night (Thursday morning in the USA) we will go see Dr. Pujo. We think he will admit me to the hospital and induce. I'm not really sure if he will induce Thursday night or Friday morning, he was sort of vague on the details and really I didn't think to ask.
This is the final Asher Watch, but we do plan on updating the blog from the hospital. We hear there is wi-fi at the hospital, but we will wait and see if it works.
So, be sure to check this website or your inbox for any news. Or maybe check facebook.

For the final Asher Watch quote:
"My brother were forced to borned."
Roger was discussing the possibility of inducing labor with one of our friends. He shared with us that his mother was also induced when his brother was born.