At last...

The Little Man has finally arrived!!! Riley Shailer Otis was born on Thursday May 28, 2009 at 5:39 a.m. at Forsyth Medical Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. We could not be more thrilled. Little Riley weighed 7 pounds, 13 ounces when he was born and measured in at 23 inches in length (since I had never heard of a baby who was more than 21 inches at birth, I looked up what percentile 23 inches is in, and it turns out that he's in the 97th percentile for height -- even the doctors and nurses commented upon his unusual length, mostly because neither Casey nor I are particularly tall).

As suspected, Riley did turn out to be on his own schedule. We went to my OB on May 26th and were told that I still had made no further progress. An ultrasound was done to determine how Riley was faring and how much amniotic fluid was surrounding him, and although the tests revealed a perfectly happy baby and plenty of fluid, it was still determined that I should be induced since he was over a week late at this point (they don't like you to go much past 41 weeks). We were asked to report to the hospital at 9:00 the next morning to begin the induction.

Casey and I left the OB's office and immediately headed out to dinner. No surprise that we had Mexican food, after all, we were still trying to have the baby without induction and Mexican food is one of the old wive's tales. We spent dinner talking about how crazy it was that we'd be parents the next day (oh, how little did we know...). After dinner we called our families to let them know the news. I doubt any of us slept well that night.

The induction began at 10:45 a.m. on May 27th. I waited until about 5 p.m. to get the epidural (no, I'm not one of those crazy souls who wants a totally natural childbirth experience - more power to those people!!!). Around 10 or 11 p.m. I was finally able to convince the anesthesiologists that the epidural did not take on my left side (apparently because my self-ranked pain threshhold was "at a five" and should've been much higher, they didn't really believe me when I kept complaining that my lower back on the left side was killing me each time I had a contraction -- as it turns out, I just have a really high pain tolerance). So the epidural was re-done. A little after midnight the doctor finally determined that I was 10 cm dilated and 100% effaced and could start pushing. And so the hard work began. Casey was a real trooper and a great coach. I think the whole experience must've grossed him out because he finally broke down and asked if he could turn on Sports Center so he'd have something else to focus on. :) Poor guy.

After about 2 hours of pushing, the doctor came in to evaluate my progress. After all that time, Riley had moved down about an inch. Not much progress at all. It was at this time that a c-section was first discussed. The doctor (Dr. Lewis Lipscomb, who was amazing, by the way) did some tests to evaluate Riley's condition and determined that he was doing great. So he gave me the option of pushing for another hour if I wanted. If no progress had been made during that time, a c-section would be necessary. I continued to push for another 45 minutes or so, was re-evaluated by the nurse, and really had made no additional progress. Because my epidural was wearing off some at this point (you have to constantly push a "refresh" button to make it work to its full capacity, but they don't want you pushing the button while you are actually pushing, so it was no longer at full capacity), I was in excruciating pain. I remember turning to Casey and asking him if he cared if we moved forward with the c-section. Of course he didn't. He said he wanted what was best for Riley and me (have I mentioned how wonderful he is). So we called in the doctor and moved forward with the c-section.

At this point, my memory of things becomes a bit hazy. I remember receiving additional drugs through the epidural site. I remember having to drink some awful tasting liquid that was supposed to help eliminate acid reflux during the c-section. I remember throwing up the awful tasting liquid in a bed pan because it was the only thing anyone could find (so much for trying to keep me from getting sick). I remember Casey in the ridiculous white jumpsuit they made him wear into the operating room (the thing had a collar -- why???). I remember them making Casey wait in the hallway while they prepped me for surgery and him telling me that he loved me and Riley before I was wheeled away. I remember hating the fact that I had to leave him, even if it was just for a short time. I remember that there were a ton of doctors and nurses and people from NICU in the operating room. I remember them putting a curtain up so that I didn't have to watch the surgery. I remember not feeling any pain, but being able to feel them tugging on my abdomen during the surgery (yes, they make you stay awake during it). I remember the doctor saying that I had "rockin' abs" (Casey and I were so proud -- I was amazed that I still had abs after not seeing them for so many months!!!). I remember the doctor telling Casey that he should stand up so he could see Riley's entry into the world. To his credit, he stood up, but I think he was quite relieved that all he could see was the doctor's back. I remember Casey telling me that Riley had been born, and I remember asking him if he was sure because I couldn't hear him crying. I remembered being panicked because I couldn't hear him crying. I remember the doctor explaining that Riley was fine, but that he wasn't crying because babies born via c-sectioned have to be suctioned out when they are born (I am hazy on this, but I think it's because they aren't squeezed through the birth canal). I remember Casey going to look at Riley and him coming back and telling me he was beautiful. I remember Casey crying and thinking that it was awesome to see him crying. I remember someone (Casey???) telling me that they had to take Riley to the NICU for 4 hours as a precaution because he has swallowed some meconium (sp???). I remember someone either bringing Riley to me for me to hold him or at least look at him (can't remember if they actually let me hold him). And that's all I remember until I woke up in the recovery room extremely out of it.

A few hours later, we were moved to a "regular" room and shortly thereafter, Riley was released from the NICU. He went to the regular nursery first to be weighed and have some tests done, and finally he was delivered to us. I was in much less of a drug-induced fog at this point, and it was truly one of the most amazing moments of my life.

And so begins the Life of Riley.