Parke's Birthday

Well, my good friend Chandy reminded me, I haven't documented (on the blog) Parke's birth story. Here is the novel/birth story.

The Sunday before Parke's birthday we hung out with my fam for Megan's birthday. My feet looked especially swollen that day and I was just overall feeling very pregnant (imagine that)! I didn't think much of it because I was due in just a few days. Also, one of my best friends came to town, Jessica. She stayed with Sara and we all hung out. I had projects to do around here to continue my "nesting" stage and both girls contributed with a trip to the fabric store. Oh yeah....I so happened to ruin my silk drapes (BOTH SETS) by handwashing them. When something says "dry clean only", you should probably do that! So needless to say, my nesting

turned into finding replacement drapes or material for my living and dining. Blake still thinks I did it on purpose since I've been wanting new drapes!

Anyway...back to the birth story: So on Wednesday, May 19 Blake and I went in for our final OB appointment. I went through all the normal things...weigh here, blood pressure here, pee here, sit in this cold room until the doctor comes in...here. Well, the doctor came in, looked at my chart and said "did you have sugar for breakfast"?....And also, your blood pressure is up so let me go get the machine and lets just double check it. And I'm going to double check your protein levels too....GREAT!! So my swollen feet a few days before, was actually a sign of

pre-clampsia/toxemia and I should have gone to the doctor. I'll know next time.

She came back in (Dr. Perugini) and said, well your blood pressure is up and your protein is at an all time high so you are going straight to L/D today...You should have seen the look on Blake and I's face. We were shocked to say the least. I had been at a 1cm for 3 weeks. I asked if I could go home to get my bags and she said "Your bags are supposed to already be packed", to which I let her know, they were in fact packed but I didn't bring them to my appt, who has their baby on their due date? I also told her I had drapes to do and lamps to re-cover...she didn't really care! She said I couldn't leave, I was to go straight to L/D and we would start pitosen. Well, this whole time I have hoped I wouldn't be induced but when the doctor tells you to go straight there...what are you going to do? Dr. Perugini said she wasn't too hopeful it wouldn't end in C-Section but she wanted to try inducing first and see how it went.

So off to L/D we went. The lady checking us in said we looked like deer in the headlights. I have to agree. We got settled in, they started all the million questions they ask you and Blake took off to get my bags. Sweet hubby grabbed everything possible he could think of. He later told me he almost had a wreck getting home!

They hooked me up around 10:30am and off we went to inducing labor. Meanwhile, I couldn't get a hold of my parents (they always answer their phone so this was shocking) and my brother found out through my father in law (think Blake (male) passing info to Dave (male) to my

brother (male) to my mom which ended up sounding like this: "Mom, have you talked to Erynn...something is wrong with her heart, they are doing a C-Section in an hour and they are putting her on medicine. My mom somewhat drove as fast as she could with hazards on thinking I was probably about to die!

After being shocked, I knew everything would be okay. I knew it would be okay because the Lord has orchestrated May 19 from the beginning. With our miscarriage on May 18 last year Parke's due date has never changed from May 19. I knew I would be okay and that the Lord was behind it.

The day went really fast actually. They couldn't up my pitosen b/c of my blood pressure and Parke's heart even after contractions. So I stayed at the same level (whatever that was). They watched me very carefully. At 4cm I went ahead and did my epidural. I am thankful I got to feel contractions and go through some of that. My water broke on its own as well which I was happy about too. I can't tell you at what point things changed but I got to use my little contraction counter app on my phone and tracked them for a while. All along thinking, I can still feel

contractions on my left side. I thought I would just deal with it and be thankful I was mostly numb. Well, my thinking changed when the contractions got stronger. I told the nurse I could feel something after Dr. Perugini had checked me and I was 9cm! I knew I had progressed

because I felt different if you know what I mean :).....The Dr. came back in (Dr. Jack Johnson) and re-did my epidural. Some other doctor had put it in and apparently this doctor was having to re-do several epidurals that day-awsm!

I loved delivery. I'm thankful I had an epidural and got to watch and be active in all of it. Blake was a champ telling me to push and being so supportive. I loved my doctor and nurse in it, even though they were somewhat bickering over when I should breathe and push...I think I pushed for 45min-1 hour and Parke was here. They announced it was a boy and put scissors in Blake's hand before he knew it for him to cut the cord. They placed him on my chest and I cried and

cried and said "he's actually ours and not someone else's". Blake and I had planned to spend time alone with Parke feeding him and praying over him. We got to do that and I'm thankful for

that time.

Our family was sweet and had waited all day (even though we told them they would wait some more after delivery) so we finally let them in to announce if it was a boy or girl....Blake had the job of doing that (below)! So there you have it, Parke Ryan Shipley was born. 6.2lbs and actually 22 inches long (re-measured at the doctor) at 9:16pm. Loved every minute since...