JR's Birth Story

I looked back at Brianna's birth stats to compare with JR's and realized that I posted both the girls' birth stories, so I should probably post his too.
I went to be at eleven the evening of the 23rd, thinking that my water may be leaking, but not thinking that it had actually broke. I walked around a little, waiting for the "gush" the nurses always talk about but felt nothing, so I went to bed. I woke up at midnight and one rather wet, and got concerned. Finally, at one I called the hospital. They were really busy, so they said they'd call me back. I went to the bathroom, and finally felt the "gush." I headed to the hospital a little before two a.m. I told Daddy he didn't have to come yet, as I wasn't feeling contractions and didn't know for sure if I was in labor.
Upon arriving at the hospital, they tested to find out if my water had broken and announced it had, but I was only dilated to a two-which had been my status for about four weeks prior to that. Active labor is at a four, so I was at a standstill. I tried to rest as much as possible with a bright hospital room and nurses coming in every twenty minutes or so. At eight a.m. I was still only at a three, so they started Pitocin. I hate Pitocin. It makes me so sick, but it also makes labor progress so there we were. The baby kept falling off the monitor, so they put an internal monitor in to hear his heartbeat. A few hours later they came in to put an internal contraction monitor in and announced that it wasn't needed because I was fully dilated. Crazy! I literally went from 3 to 10 in about an hour and a half. However, JR was still very high and not ready to come out. sigh. The doc decided that I should try to push him lower. After two hours of pushing, on literally no sleep, I was completely exhausted and JR was in the same spot he had be in at the beginning of the pushing. My doc looked at me and stated that I needed to rest and let my body push him down for me. She declared that I would get a half hour nap. Yea! I woke up an hour and a half later, confused. They said they didn't have the heart to wake me, I was so out and snoring. It was just what was needed, though, as JR did move into position, and the nap gave me enough energy to push for another 40 minutes, which was enough to get him out, at 4:48 p.m.
When the nurse saw him, she was amazed at how big he was, and stated she was certain he was well over nine pounds. The first thing she did was get a blood monitor to check his blood sugar-she thought he may be diabetic because he was "so big." I was confused, thinking Bee looked bigger than that... His blood sugar was fine, and he came in at eight pounds, ten ounces-two ounces smaller than Brianna.
I had a rough night the first night. For some reason, I was gushing blood. It got pretty scary for a while there, I couldn't move without a huge amount of blood pouring out of me. They called the doctor, who said to give me three shots-one of which was Pitocin. With my IV already removed I felt like a human pin cushion, but it worked to stop the blood loss. However, it also made my entire abdomen cramp. Needless to say, it was a long, painful night.
After several tries, he passed his hearing test on his left ear, but has continued to fail on his right ear. We have been referred to a hearing specialist for his right ear, to try and determine what, if anything, is going on there. One of the pediatricians mentioned that his ear canal it exceptionally narrow, and that could be causing his failures. Other than his hearing, he is perfect. He looks a lot like Gracie did when she was a newborn-same nose and puffy cheeks, but with darker hair. It does still have a hint of red to it like the girls' hair though.