William Michael Gruennert- May 5th, 2009

Our baby boy has made his arrival! William Michael Gruennert was born on May 5th at 4:57 pm, 7 lbs. 11 ounces and 19.5 inches long. I started with contractions on monday morning around 11 am and went to a routine doctor's office appointment that afternoon for a check-up of the baby for a non-stress test. Baby was doing well and I wasn't dilated any more than 2 cm. By 10 pm, the contractions were getting much stronger but remained about five minutes apart. We didn't really sleep through that night as the contractions got worse. We called the doctor around 4 am, and ended up at the hospital around 4:45 am... we walked the halls for one hour and they decided to admit us at that point. The doctor broke my water around 8:30 am and the contractions got stronger and lasted longer but still didn't speed up at all. I didn't progress at all past 3 cm for about 3 more hours and was having a harder time dealing with the contractions. The nausea and the shakes lead to an epidural around 11:30 am... at that point, I was FINALLY able to sleep for about 1.5 hours. I was checked and had gone from 3 to 6 cm. One hour later, I was fully dilated and ready to push! :) Two and a half hours of pushing lead to the most beautiful and precious baby boy ever! Our awesome friend Kari (from bible study... and a labor and delivery nurse) was able to be there as my nurse and helped deliver him, which was an awesome gift from God. She kept me calm and encouraged us the entire way through! Mike and I are thrilled beyond belief and can't imagine the love in our hearts for him. The lack of sleep has been completely and entirely worth every minute with him! Here are a few pics from the day of the delivery... Enjoy!