Vin Everett Crockett

May 28th, 2011
4:05am
8 pounds 7.2 ounces
21.5 inches

We are very pleased with this little addition to our family. He might look nice and peaceful now but his arrival wasn't quite as pleasant. I'm not experienced in blogging so I'll probably keep the details to a minimum but here is how it all went down for those of you that might be interested:

Jill and I, together, (as we virtually always did) went to her scheduled doctor appointment on Friday. At her appointment they determined that she was dilated to about 5cm and her cervix was 90% effaced. Since we live on the other side of the island they asked us if we wanted to go home and wait for Junior to come out or if we wanted to head over to the birthing center to have our baby immediately. This was music to Jill's ears since she had been trying to force the baby out for the last couple of weeks. We also had been nervous about getting to the hospital in time once she went into labor. So we made the easy decision to walk on over and get the process underway.
They emitted her at about noon on Friday. There were plenty of other women that decided to steal her thunder and give birth on the same day so there were no available birthing rooms so we were forced to wait in a labor room for the first four hours or so.
At 4:30pm they were able to transfer us over to a birthing room. At that point she was dilated to about 6cm and was having contractions every 4-5 minutes. The amazing thing to me was that Jill didn't consider herself "in labor" at that point. So if we had gone home who knows at what point she would have decided that she was "in labor" and started to make our way back to the hospital.
The doctor came in at ten after five and broke Jill's water to boost the labor process along for her. At that point things began to speed up a bit but not as fast as I anticipated things going. I thought that we'd be blessed with Junior's entrance 10-15 minutes after the water breaking. It turns out you still have to wait to begin pushing and then once you do they say the average "pushing process" takes 1-3 hours. So we decided to sit back and enjoy the soothing voice of Vin Scully while he announced the game between the Dodgers and Marlins (Vin is a name that Jill and I both love and it may or may not have made the cut down to the final three). For all of you that might be interested, as I'm sure most are, the Dodgers won 3-2 on a walk off single with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth. Jame s Loney and Andre Either (my favorite Dodger) also hit solo homers during this one (Homer is on the top 5 list for names that I want to name Junior but Jill hates it).
By 9:30 Jill was dilated to 8cm and not really enjoying the pain that accompanied the contractions so she decided to experience the joys that accompany the world of an epidural. I have a tremendous fear of needles especially around my spine so I'm not sure I could have made the decision that she did. However, I guess when the pain is so great that you'd do anything to alleviate it putting a needle into your spine falls under the category of anything. The anesthesiologist was far from gentle during the process but he got the job done so no complaints from us.
Just before 11:00pm they decided that Jill was dilated to 10cm and it was a good idea to begin pushing. As a naive first time father; I anticipated holding my son minutes after the pushing began. I'm sure Jill would have been OK if that would have been the case. As it tuned out he required a little more pushing than just a few moments worth.
Around 1:00 (two hours of pushing) they decided to give Jill some Pitocin to give her more regular and intense contractions. At this time I was able to see about a silver dollar sized section of Junior's head. For the next couple hours it didn't seem to matter how hard Jill pushed or from what position, there didn't seem to be much progress made.
Just before 4:00 (so about 5 hours of pushing) they decided that it was time to try vacuuming him out or go ahead with a c-section. We weren't big fans of the c-section idea so we decided to go ahead with the vacuuming procedure. They said that they would try with the vacuum for three contractions but if he didn't come they would proceed with the c-section. The doctor assured me that they don't actually pull the baby with the vacuum but they use the vacuum to keep him from sliding back up the birth canal losing the progress that Jill was making with all of her pushing. Let me just say they most definitely were pulling with the vacuum. In fact I doubt that she has ever pulled so hard on anything as she was pulling in her attempt to get Junior to make his much anticipated entrance. It actually reminded me of the time that Jill and I were asked to speak in church. Her reaction to the invitation was eerily similar to the fight that Junior put up while Jill was pushing. I've never experienced a vacuuming before but it was a very anxious/nervous time. I honestly thought that it might pop the poor kids head right off of his shoulders. I actually almost yelled out asking them to stop and proceed with the c-section instead. On the third contraction the doctor pulled so hard that the vacuum actually did disconnect from the head. As you might imagine it did quite a number on the little guy's head. Luckily the doctor decided to give Jill one more crack at pushing without the vacuum before they resorted to the c-section. During the final contraction the doctor decided to perform an episiotomy and Junior popped right out. It makes me wonder why they didn't decide to go the episiotomy route a few hours earlier and before they tried the vacuum. As if that wasn't enough he also had the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck. The doctor did a good job of quickly cutting the cord and taking care of everything else that was going on. Needless to say the baby was much larger than expected. Once he finally broke free and began stretching his limbs around I wasn't sure if Jill had given birth to a boy or an elephant. Either way he was adorable.

4:05am
The little guy had a rough entrance into this world as you might be able to tell by the super sad face that he made once he was out. I wish I would have had a camera on Jill at the same time because I'm pretty sure the face that she was making was identical. In fact I think he might have just been imitating what his Mom was doing once he saw her. You can see the damage that was done to his poor little head by the failed vacuum attempts. We obviously hope that he makes a full and complete recovery. He has had a rough day today (Day 2) but I'm guessing that most babies go through some of that a day or two after birth. I'd be surprised if his head isn't causing him a great deal of discomfort.

He weighed in at 8 pounds 7.2 ounces and 21.5 inches long, much larger than what the doctors and nurses were predicting.



The first video of Junior.



Day 2

This truly was the greatest and most amazing experience that I have ever been a part of. I love these two people more than words can express.