Emmett Connolly Cress

He's here! Our precious baby boy was born Tuesday, June 7th at 10:49 am. He weighed in at 8 lbs, 8 oz and was 21 inches long. It sure didn't take him long to melt our hearts =)

Birth Story

We checked into the hospital at 8pm on the 6th. After getting settled in, the nurse checked me and I was already dilated to a 4 and was 80% effaced. The doctor had told them to just put me on low-dose pitocin overnight, so they started the iv at about 11:30. (I might add that my mom was frantically making the drive up from Tri-Cities at this time. We'd kinda been expecting the doctors to start with Cervedil or something to start thinning my cervix that night and not actually start the pit until the next morning. And my mom was worried that she'd end up missing the birth because she always went really quickly after she reached 4 cm.) The pit started making me have regular contractions, but then they'd go away until they upped the dose a little more. I tried to get some sleep, but only dozed. However, at about 8am, they were getting pretty intense and regular. Since I'd progressed a little, they gave me the option of getting an epidural then. I wasn't in a ton of pain with each contraction, but since my mom always went fast, I was a little worried that if I didn't get it then, I would either 1) progress really quickly and be unable to get an epidural later or 2) be in a ton of pain while they were trying to give me the epidural. Shortly after they gave me the epidural, my doctor came in, checked me (I was now at 5 or 6 cm, I can't remember which) and broke my water. Then I took a nap (finally!!) I woke up around 8:45; I think because I was feeling so much pressure during contractions. The nurse checked me and I was at 9.5! She called the doc to have her start in on her way from Cheney. That next 10-15 minutes was the hardest! I could tell I was at the pushing stage, and resisting the urge to push was killing me. Because of the epidural, it wasn't really pain, but I could definitely feel an unpleasant sensation lol. Finally, the nurse got the room set up for delivery and said we could start pushing while waiting for the doctor. Oh, blessed relief! Pushing didn't even hurt; all I knew was that I finally didn't have all that darn-blasted pressure driving me crazy! The doctor showed up shortly thereafter. I hadn't thought I'd want a mirror; the thought of watching everything kind of turned my stomach. But since everyone else was watching and seemed really interested, I decided I'd see what the deal was all about. And I figured if it did gross me out, I just wouldn't look at it anymore. I think that actually helped A TON. I could see that I was actually making progress (I'd been pushing for an hour or so and it felt like I hadn't made any progress at all) and it gave me the strength to keep pushing. Finally, his little head popped out! It honestly kind of startled me; it was really sudden and I hadn't really expected it. A few pushes later, and he was all the way out! They put him on my stomach immediately and then covered us both with a warm blanket. It was the coolest feeling in the world. Honestly. I can't even describe it. He was so gorgeous; and newborns are never pretty!

It took us over 24 hours to come up with a name, but we finally did. We really liked the name Emmett, and I really wanted to name him after my Grandpa Connolly (my dad's stepdad). He is such an amazing man and has really been an example to me in my life.

So, although we are definitely missing our sleep, we wouldn't trade this little guy for anything in the world!