Introducing: Knox Christopher Lowry!!

It is with great pleasure that I introduce our perfect and precious son, Knox Christopher Lowry!  Knox was born on November 11, 2011 (yes, that’s 11-11-11) at 9:36 pm.  He weighed in at 7 lbs 3 oz and was 19.5 inches long.  We are so blessed and thankful for a happy and healthy little boy.
Now, let me back up just a bit to tell the story of his big debut!  I had my 39 week appointment on Thursday November 10th, and was 39 weeks 4 days along.  Much to my disappointment, Dr. Ryder informed me that I was still only dilated 1 cm and Knox hadn’t moved down any further.  I had decided against inducing the previous week because I wanted to give him the full 40 weeks of “baking” time, and hoped he’d decide to come on his own.  But when Dr. Ryder told me it didn’t look like I would be going into labor any time soon, (her actual words) we started talking about scheduling an induction for the following Monday when I would be 40 weeks and 1 day along.  The problem was Monday and Tuesday were already booked for inductions.  So, we scheduled ourselves for induction Wednesday night and would have a baby by Thursday afternoon.  I was excited to finally have light at the end of my pregnancy tunnel, but wasn’t thrilled with the idea of being pregnant for another week!  :) 

Here I am at 39 weeks and 4 days, after my last doctor’s appointment.  Little did I know, we would welcome Knox into the world the very next day…
 
The morning of November 11th started out pretty normal.  After the usual night of waking up about every 2 to 3 hours to pee, I finally got up  around 8:30 and had some breakfast.  By 9 am I noticed I was having what I thought were Braxton Hicks contractions, but these were a little more “crampy”.  They weren’t regular or painful though, so I decided to not worry about it.  By 10 am I decided to start timing them just to be safe, and they were around 11 minutes apart.  I’d read that true labor contractions start in your back and radiate forward, and these were still just crampy in my front lower belly.  I went ahead and called Logan to give him a heads up, but told him this was probably no big deal.  I hopped in the shower just in case it really was labor.  Hey, if there’s ever a time to be really clean, it’s when you’re about to have a large quantity of people poking around all your places…  Anyway, by the time I’d finished getting ready, these “Braxton Hicks” were getting more painful and coming about every 6 to 7 minutes.  I decided to go ahead and call the doctor and see if they thought I should come in.  In our childbirth class they told us not to bother going to the hospital until the contractions were every 5 minutes, lasting for 1 minute for at least an hour, but since I could hardly speak a full sentence without pausing in pain, the doctor told me to go ahead and come in.  I called Logan and told him to come home and get me, and by the time he got home, my contractions were happening every 4 minutes and were much stronger.  We checked in to the hospital at 1:30 in the afternoon, and when they checked me around 2:30 I was already 3 cm dilated! 

Logan took a picture of the monitor showing Knox’s heart rate (in the blue) and my contractions (at the bottom) so I could see them.
Around 3 pm they started my epidural.  I was glad I went into labor on my own because I wanted to feel what contractions felt like – but once I’d experienced them for several hours, I had no desire to see how strong they’d ultimately get.  :)  I was really nervous about the epidural, but it ended up being easy.  While getting it placed, they were surprised that I was more comfortable sitting indian style on the edge of the bed instead of dangling my legs over the side.  Apparently most people can’t sit indian style anymore at 9 months pregnant.  :)  Anyway, the anesthesiologist had trouble getting the epidural to thread the first time, so he did have to start over and do it again but it wasn’t painful compared to the contractions, and it was totally worth it.  After getting the epidural, I was probably the most comfortable I’d been in months. 
They checked me again at 4:30 pm, and I was still only dilated 3 cm, so the doctor broke my water and started me on a very low dose of Pitocin to get things moving along.  When they checked me again at 8 pm I was already dilated to 8 cm and 100% effaced.  Around 9 pm Knox’s heart monitor quit picking up, which initially concerned the nurse, but she quickly realized it was because he had descended low enough into the birth canal that it wouldn’t pick up anymore.  I was already dilated to 10 cm and ready to push!  This was the part I’d been most nervous about during the 9 months leading up to labor.  Would I be able to actually get this baby out??  Would I be one of those women who push for 3 and a half hours, and end up still having to get a c-section??  Turns out it went great!  I started pushing when Dr. Garner got there, and only had to push for 10 minutes!  We did 3 rounds of pushing during each contraction, and it only took 4 contractions for Knox to be born.  I found out later that Knox had the umbilical cord looped around his neck 1 time, but Dr. Garner fixed it before it caused any problems.  It couldn’t have been a better delivery.  Logan and I kept saying how surreal it was – we were parents!  We had a son!  And he just got here so quickly!  I think we expected the pushing part to take a lot longer, so when Knox was born in 10 minutes, we couldn’t believe we were already parents!  :)   

Here’s a brand new Knox getting all cleaned up.  (Both his APGAR scores were 9’s!)
Welcome to the world, sweet boy! Meeting each other for the first time.
Meeting Daddy.

Our new family of three.
Ron Ron and Nonnie holding Knox. Pops and La La Aunt Jess and Uncle Ross Aunt Leah
Heading to the nursery to get Knox weighed and measured. 7 lbs 3 oz, 19.5 inches long.
Not happy!

Laying under the warmer.
Such a sweet, tiny bundle!
Already so in love.  :) Knox’s crib card. I love this picture of Logan looking at Knox.  It’s really cool – I loved Logan so much before Knox was born, but watching him love and play with Knox makes me love him even more.  I didn’t realize that was possible, and I think it’s pretty amazing.
Knox’s first outfit.  He peed all over it a few minutes later.  :)
A very sleepy mom…

…and Dad.  :) Getting his hearing screen done.
Mamaw and Papaw came to meet their great grandson!
 
Testing out the car seat.

Ready to go home! Snoozing in the car on the ride home.
We are so in love with our little boy!  A friend told me a saying they’d heard - “Having a child is like having your heart walk around outside your body.”  That is so true.  I know people always tell you that you’ll never know a love like the unconditional love you have for your child.  They are so right.  What an amazing thing.  We are blessed!