The Hoover's: Julian's arrival

As explained in our last blog, Sunday was the day I would be induced. I was up all night waiting for the call. I called the hospital early in the morning and they explained that the hospital was full and that I was the only one on the list and they'd call me as soon as they had room for me. We waited anxiously all day before the call finally came at about 5:30 pm. Eric and I said goodbye to Bella and rushed out of here in 3 minutes and headed on our way to the hospital. During the car ride, I just kept thinking I can't believe I am going to have another baby!
By the time we checked in, took my vitals, etc, it was 7:30. Now it was time to get the party started! They started me on Patocin to induce labor a little after 7:30 pm. I started to feel contractions about an hour later. My friends and family started to show up and sat in the room with me as I started to feel contractions stronger and closer together. I opted to get the epidural and it did help a lot. In a matter of 4 hours,I had dilated to 9 cm. I could not believe how fast I was dilating. I could however still feel contractions on one side of my body, but they were manageable. By 12:45, it was time to start pushing. Dr. Schwartz came in to the delivery room and was ready to get things going. I had a lot of people in the room with me (Eric, my mom, my sister, my Dad, Jammie, Jen, Becky, Marissa,and Amy).I have some really great people in my life that wanted to share the awesome experience with us. Dr. Schwartz was kind enough to allow them to stay. Now to the pushing.... I pushed 3 times and everyone could see Julian's head coming through. Dr. Schwartz asked that I push super hard one last time and I should have a baby. She was right! We had decided on the name Julian many months ago and on the middle name Joseph after my Grandfather passed away in November. So...Julian Joseph Hoover was born at 1:13 a.m. at 8 lbs 12 oz and 20 1/4 inches long.I was instantly in love the minute the nurse put Julian on my tummy to see. I was so much more aware and less exhausted than I was with Bella so I was able to enjoy the moment more.
I was so excited to have such an easy labor and deliever. However, the easiness stopped there. For the next few hours, I was losing a lot of blood, I was hemorraging. Apparently my uterus does not contract after birth, just like after I had Bella. The Dr. gave me shots, meds, belly rubs, and 2 terribly painful procedures to finally get the bleeding to subside. The following day, things were good and I was feeling so much better. However, my hemoglobin levels were low because of the blood loss, so the Dr. ordered I stay another night and have iron put in my IV. At this poing, Eric and I just wanted to get the heck out of the hospital and get our baby home. Finally, my Dr. released us Wednesday afternoon. We were so lucky and thankful that my sister and Steve (nino and Nina) were able to stay with Isabella to take care of her while we were in the hospital, we're not sure what we would've done otherwise.
We are so thankful for our baby boy. We look forward to being parents to him and to sharing many adventures together as a family of 4 :) WE love you Julian!