Lawrence James Bowman

Here is Vivian Rose Bowman after 18 hours of labor (measured from insertion of first induction pill to time of birth) including 2 intense hours of pushing. Here is Theodore Scott Bowman after 22 hours of labor including several pushing attempts before pushing for half hour. (I forgot how clear his skin was)

Here is Lawrence James Bowman after 6 hours of labor and only 2 minutes of pushing.
I was just so amazed at the different experience. John and I were really hoping this one would go a lot faster because we didn't want my body to go through what it did before, and we really wanted it born on the 10th so that there would be at least one day in between his and Michael's Birthday's. So for those of you who care, here is the whole story. For those of you who don't want a whole lot of detail... you might want to skip or skim the following text.
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I felt like I was further along than I have before and mentally I had prepared myself to work instead of just dilly dally around all day. I had also decided on the epidural to ease the pain and hopefully make the experience a little more pleasant for us all. So my mental outlook going into the hospital was different than before.

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We got to the hospital at 7am but waited for quite awhile before OB was ready for us (so much for pre-registering to speed the process). It was after 9am before she checked me to put the first pill in. But I was already at a 4 so she had to talk to my doctor before putting it in. Dee (my CNM) told her to go ahead and put the first pill in and then she would come around noon to break my water. So it was probably around 9:30 that I got that first pill. 40 minutes later I went on my first walk. (usually I saunter) but I was on a mission. I really wanted my water to break on it's own this time. It did with Vivian but Dee had to break it with Theodore and I think that is one reason why the labor took longer, because my body wasn't quite ready yet.

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So there I was walking briskly down the hallway pushing my IV stand, with John trying to keep up complaining about his hips hurting. We didn't head back until my IV battery was running low and I was glad to lay back down. Of course Dee didn't show up at noon (I didn't really expect her to) but my mom and John's mom were both there by 1pm. Debra (John's mom) kept saying we would have a baby before dark. I didn't believe her but hoped it wouldn't be too long after that. We went for another short walk (this time it was hurting more but I was still trying to move faster than normal). Dee was there when we got back.

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Sometime between 2 and 2:30 is when she went to go break my water. She had everything ready and checked me, I was at a 6 almost 7 and while she was in there my water broke on it's own. YAY, I was glad about that. Then they said, "OK, what kind of pain medicine do you want." I said, "Dee suggested the epidural so I'm gonna go with that." Well, they came back a few minutes later to tell me that the anesthesiologist was busy and wouldn't be available for 2 hours and by that time I would be way past that so I went with the same pain meds I've used before. They totally knocked me out but didn't really take too much pain off of the contractions. Of course John waited until then to snap a couple pictures of me. And he had to turn on the video camera and ask me how I was feeling which had the same response as last time... "GO AWAY!"

So at one point I felt like I needed to go to the bathroom but I really didn't want to get up because I was so relaxed. I got up anyways and sat on the toilet for about 10 minutes as Debra suggested. I was leaning on John the whole time dozing in and out though. Then went back to the bed to doze some more. John was such a trooper in there. He kept trying to come up and kiss me or just squeeze my hand to let me know he was there for me and I didn't say, "You did this to me!" like all the movies think we do... but I did shoo him away from me because I was trying to focus on my pain. Poor guy. I love you John.

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Not too long after that I started pushing, my body told me it was time. Debra jumped up and went to the hallway... "She's pushing in here!" So they called Dee and told her to come back and they got the table set up pretty quickly.

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Dee put my feet up on that horribly uncomfortable bar and continued getting things set up. I tried dropping my feet once and she yelled at me for ruining her sterile area so I put them back up. (This is something that happened several times with each of the other two but I only made the mistake once this time). I started pushing and tried to get the epidural again. They said, "Honey, you are totally past that. This baby is coming now." I still didn't believe them. But I had to push again, my body said push. So I pushed... it felt like the head was right there. Dee performed the unfavorable but necessary episiotomy, and I pushed again. They told me to grunt push, so I did a few of those and then the head was out. I pushed again and the body came out.

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"Wow"

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That was the only word I could say for the next 5 minutes. I really hadn't believed them, but they were right. So at 4:20pm on February 10th, 2011... Lawrence James entered this world, measuring the exact same as Theodore.... 8 pounds, 1 ounce and 20.5 inches long.

There were more pictures from right after but all of them are flashing his privates so I will have to see if Debra was a little more careful than John was about concealing Lawrence's manhood.
The doctor that has performed our other two boys circumcisions is currently out of the country for awhile and the other surgeon doesn't do circumcisions in the hospital. So with that, we decided we wanted to get the heck out of there as soon as possible. The nurses made sure to get all the paperwork done during the day and as soon as they were done with Theodore's 24 hour PKU test, we headed out the door. This is what we dressed him in to go home.

Here he is in the bassinet today.

And here he is with the kids. Theodore was unfortunately asleep when we took these so we will have to do it again in a couple days. Michael is so excited about having another baby brother. He was adorable the morning we left for the hospital. He kept saying, "I'm soooo excited for baby Lawrence to come."

Vivian didn't seem as excited. Granted she was tired that morning but overall she hasn't seemed too excited about another baby invading her space. However she has proved to enjoy the little one and always wants to hold him. We have to frequently tell her she's too close and remind her of the rules but otherwise she seems to be alright with him.

When we came in the door they were all waiting on the other side of the gate for us. Nana had the camera ready, Theodore was screaming his head off and the other two were anxious to catch a glimpse of Lawrence. All I wanted to do was run to Theodore and give him a hug... which I did, but I couldn't pick him up and I think he was a little confused.

We are pretty sure his eyes are going to be blue. Usually you can't tell this early but they definitely have a distinct blue ring around them.

He is a great eater and has a tiny cry (for now) so we will enjoy that while it lasts.

My recovery is better and worse than before. But overall... way better. I think it will be a faster recovery because I didn't put my body through as much strain as before. But man the after contractions are pretty killer this time. We are all doing better than expected. John is off for the beginning of next week and Nana (Debra) is making sure we are all taken care of.

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Thank-you for your thoughts and prayers.