Griffin Daniel Witt - November 6, 2007

Griffin arrived on Tuesday, November 6th at 12:49 pm. He weighed in at a whopping 9 pounds, 13 ounces!

He is doing well despite rising bilirubin levels which had us pretty scared. They seem to be on their way down now. He has been sleeping on the bili blanket since Wednesday. He is happy, alert and a big eater.

For those of you who want the detailed info, here it is...

Monday:

12:00 - Midwife appointment - no change

5:00 - heel pinching appointment with Suzannne

11:00 - bedtime - no apparent progress and one disappointed mommy to be

4:00 a - woken up by a little pain, realize that maybe these are happening in intervals, begin to time at 6 minutes apart with a duration of less than 1 minute....can't really be labor at less than one minute...can it?

5:00 - 5 minutes apart with an occasional extra one thrown in the middle

6:00 - call the midwife, Jess, who says come on in. Call our friend Carol to come pick up Graham, Call Grandma and Poppa Witt so they can begin their trip.

7:00 - 4 minutes apart, Graham leaves with Carol.

8:00 - Leave for the hospital - endure a few "fun" contractions on the way to the hospital. Still wearing flip-flops, despite a few flurries.

8:35 - check into the ABC

9:00 - dilated to 6-7, with a bulging bag of waters. Enter the hot tub. Ahhhhh! Relief!

10:30 - out of the hot tub, 9 3/4, still bulging bag. I opt for having water broken and then the contractions hit hard and strong. Moved to the birthing stool for my workout of the day (my muscles paid for this activity for a few days).

11:40 - started real pushing.

12:15 - doctor called in to watch since it appears this will be a "big" baby.

12:30+ - I do a few final pushes and am told his shoulders are sideways (horizontal) instead of vertical, so if I don't get him out in the next push they will do an episiotomy...that was enough for me to summon the last bit of energy possible to push my little man out. I did and he was born at 12:49 pm to one sore an relived mommy! (and daddy too! - who was once again an EXCELLENT coach, but slacked [luckily] on his photo responsibilities!).

Once again I cannot sing the praises enough for the staff of Providence's Alternative Birth Center who were outstanding and went well above the call of duty in ALL areas! We truly feel blessed to have been able to experience the first hours of our children's lives at such a place.