Daniel Kenneth Mitchell

On Friday we welcomed a new member of our family into this world! 

Daniel Kenneth Mitchell

Born: November 4, 2011 at 3:38 P.M

Hospital: Inova Loudon Hospital, Leesburg, VA

Weight: 10 lbs 2.5 oz

Length: 21.5 inches

Pre-Birth Story

Stephanie was due on November 3rd and she planned to be induced on the 4th at 7:30 A.M. We dropped Rayna off with Nora and her friend Reagan (featured in the Halloween post as Buzz Lightyear) for the day and headed to the hospital. 

All decked out in her gown!

Steph was excited to see how different childbirth would be with an epidural, compared to Rayna's natural birth. They connected her up to the monitors and asked if she was having any contractions. She said she didn't think so but what do you know, she was having them every ten minutes without even knowing it. They hooked up the pitocin and we just sat there for a few hours waiting for something to happen. Paula, our midwife came in and asked Stephanie if she wanted to start the epidural in time so that she wouldn't have to feel anything. Steph was like, "Why not?" So when she started to barely feel the contractions the anesthesiologist came to do the epidural. This is when I left the room. I could not watch them stick a needle into her spinal cord. Just the thought of that makes me shiver.

This is Steph pretending to be in pain:

This is what she really felt like:

She got the epidural and they told us to wait until she felt some pressure. We waited until about 3:00 p.m. and Steph said she thought she may be feeling a little bit of lower pressure but didn't think it could really be anything cause she could barely feel it. I went and told the nurses that she said she felt some small pressure. When they checked her, she was fully dilated and 100% effaced. They asked her if she wanted to do a few practice pushes and she did. The contractions were a few minutes apart and each time they came she started pushing. It took only four cycles of pushing and the Daniel was out. His head was huge! I couldn't believe that he came out so easily. His shoulders are very wide and they took a little time to wiggle out and then he was born!

Daniel weighed in at 10 lbs and 2 ounces! When the midwife first pulled him out, she said he was so big that he wasn't going to fit newborn diapers. We had to go and get a size 1 for him.

One of the things we noticed about Daniel is that he has hairy little ears! He also has patches of fur on his thighs and back. We figured that didn't come from the Japanese line. That was the first thing Grandpa Ohsiek said. 

Peacefully sleeping.

Steph's midwife was Paula Senner:

The nurse's name was Gifty and Becky in red was a student in training there to watch. 

When asked how she compares the experiences of having a baby naturally at home and in the hospital with an epidural, Steph's response was something like: 

"One of the reasons I chose to do a home birth was because I thought it would be more comfortable and peaceful in my own home. This is 100 times more comfortable than having Rayna at home was and it is a heck of a lot more peaceful!"

It was such a blessing to have modern technology to take away all of the pain. We felt blessed that everything went so smoothly and our baby is so healthy and strong. 

Rayna's First Meeting:

The first thing that Rayna said when she saw the baby was: 

"Brother! Mommy! Out!"

It was so cute to see her so excited to see her new little brother. She likes to hold him and give him soft loves.

Our family all together

Rayna had a fun time playing peek-a-boo in the recovery room.