Our Precious Isaac Bradley

Our sweet Isaac, right after he was born, under the warming light.

Me getting to hold Isaac for the first time!

Brad holding a sleepy Isaac on the night he was born

Isaac in his hospital bed

A close-up of our precious boy

Brad loves his little boy!

Getting ready to leave the hospital, in his going-home outfit

December welcoming Isaac home (he's not very happy, though)

Me with my two children...

Grandma with Isaac

On Saturday, November 29 at 2:53pm, Isaac Bradley arrived! Here's how it all went...

I woke up Saturday morning around 5:00am feeling strange. I felt sick and contraction-y and started having diarrhea. I started timing contractions, and they were about 15 minutes apart. Just before 7:00am and between trips to the bathroom, I told Brad that I suspected I was in labor. We timed contractions then, and they were just under 10 minutes apart. Around 8:00am, the contractions were 5 minutes apart. I was waiting to go into the hospital because I didn't want to labor while I was completely attached to monitoring machines and stuck in a hospital bed. When the contractions became 2-3 minutes apart, not too long after 8:00am, I still didn't go in because they weren't super intense yet. But Brad and I got cleaned up, Brad found a replacement for his Saturday shift at the library, and Brad packed everything in the van.

When the contractions became stronger, we headed to the hospital shortly after 11:00am. They checked me, and I was already 6cm dialated. That made me very happy! I got strapped to those monitoring machines and an IV stuck in my arm, and by 1:00pm I had dialated to 8cm. At that point, we let them break my water, and my labor became really intense. The baby was turned face-up, so I did end up having back labor. Around 2:15pm, they checked me again and I was still at 8cm. That completely took the wind out of my sails and I started begging for an epidural, thinking I could not handle any more of the intense pain. Brad and I went back and forth about it, him reminding me that I had wanted to do this without medication and me thinking I wanted to die. At 2:35 I had dialated to 9cm. As they headed the epidural cart toward my room, my doctor walked past and said, "She's getting an epidural?! This late?! Let's see what we can do..." So he came in and pushed the rest of the cervix around the baby's head and told me to start pushing. I pushed twice, and Isaac came out! With no tearing, too! At the end, the baby turned and came out just the way he was supposed to -- a BIG answer to prayer! The entire labor went very well, and we are so thankful that God answered our prayers.

Isaac Bradley weighs 7lbs 12 oz and is 19 inches long. He's healthy and has super dark hair like Brad. And we love him to bits!