We're Parents!

Friday, May 23 at 8:49 A.M. Jake Braxton Simons was born at the IMC in Murray. We are so excited to have him here! He's a character already! He was pretty quiet at first but has since learned that if he screams he'll get what he wants very quickly.

We got to the hospital at around 3 friday morning, and honestly we thought that they were just going to say that Alex was having false labor pains and should just go home.

They put us in one of the delivery rooms and told us that Alex had dilated to a four, which was a huge change from what she was on wednesday (she was at a 1), so they admitted her for observation. Basically they had to see that she was actively dilating to show whether or not she was actually in labor. An hour later she was at a 4 and a half so they decided that she was in labor! After that decision was made things went very quickly. They broke her water, which was a lot different than I thought it was gonna be, and started giving her a medicine that was supposed to accelerate the contractions and speed up the labor process. When they said that it would speed up the labor process i thought that meant that instead of like 24 hours it would be like 12 or 18. MAN WAS I WRONG! Litterally a couple of hours later she was at a 10 and the baby was coming!

By that time Alexs mom and her sister Heather had arrived and my mom, Abbie, and Alexs other sister Lacey were on their way. The nurses had been telling us that the normal amount of time that a woman pushes on her first child is about an hour and fifteen minutes. Wow, that seemed like such a long time! When Dr. Larkin got there he assesed what was goin on and told Alex the same thing, but added that she would be much faster than that. He went back upstairs to his office and told the nurses to give him a call when it was time.

Alex started pushing and on her first push the head began to show. After a short break she pushed for a second time and the baby began to crown. They had her stop pushing and called the doctor to tell him that it was time. When Dr. Larkin got there the babys head was kind of poking out and he took one look and said "Lets just put that right back" and took two fingers and pushed the baby right back in. The reason was that they didn't quite have all the stuff ready, all the equipment, and he wasn't in a gown, so they needed a little more time.

Dr. Larkin sat down, and from there things flew! Only a couple more pushes and Braxton came into the world. It was so fast! By the way the head was coming out I thought that it would be a centimeter by centimeter process, but after the head was out the body shot right out.

He was (is) beautiful. It was so amazing! Dr. Larkin set the baby on Alexs stomach and asked if i wanted to cut the cord. I was so freaked out and excited at the same time that I was nervous that I would do it wrong or accidently cut Braxton, but I did it and didnt even screw it up.

They then took him and weighed and measured him. He weighed in at 7 pounds 5 ounces and measured 21 inches.

We were in that room for an hour or so after that. Family trickled in and out and Braxton seen and loved by all. I couldn't stop crying. It was just so amazing, so incredible, that I couldn't contain myself. They moved us up to the 3rd floor where we would stay for the next couple of days.

We got to come home yesterday afternoon and have spent the time since surrounded by family and friends and have appreciated everything that they have done for us.