Welcome baby Arzola. IT"S A BOY!

Here is how we remember the birth of our son Samuel David Arzola born July 6, 2009 at 01:11 am! Weighing 8 lbs 4 oz! and measuring 21 1/2 inches. 

The Thursday before he was born (39 wks 1 day) we had our normal weekly baby appointment.  The nurse said that both mom and the baby were doing fine and that most likely the baby would come "late" or past the due date (July 8, 2009) by at least a week.  The baby had not "dropped" and Patty had not felt any Braxton-Hicks/false labor contractions at all.  We both were emotional and anxious about when our baby would arrive.

As June ended and July began, we started getting text messages, phone calls, and emails about our baby.  "Is the baby born?" "Have you had your baby?" "Still pregnant?" "When's the baby due?" "Is it a boy or a girl?" Because of all this attention and love, we started this family blog.

On Saturday, 4th of July, we told family and friends that our baby would be "late." Everyone understood and said things like: "Start walking" or "Eat ______ to start labor" or "Do _____ to begin labor" or "Ooooh, yeah, first babies are always late" or "Oooo, you're gonna have a big baby." After letting everybody know, we felt more at ease and accepted that our due date could come and go, but regardless, our baby would come when he or she was ready.

On Sunday, July 5, 2009, we went to church as usual. It was a good Mass and message about the Quality of Faith that we as Christian should have in our God.  Since we learned we were pregnant, we always prayed for our baby in one way or another and this was no different...BUT I know Patty must've put in a special request.  Then we continued with our day.  We visited Patty's parents' home after church. We usually eat/snack on something over there; that day we had homemade bean, cheese, and jalapeno burritos.  By this time during the day, Patty felt a little uncomfortable, but nothing to get excited about.  We continued our day by meeting up with some friends (Sam and Nikol) for lunch.  We all decided to have lunch at one of many favorite spots, Chipotle.  Patty ended up not eating Chipotle, but instead enjoyed a Pomegranate-Pick-me-up from Jamba Juice.  She figured it might help the "indigestion" from the jalapenos she had earlier.  After lunch with our friends, Patty's brother, Eric, invited us to watch a movie at his house.  We went over to and hung out with Eric, Christina, and their kids.  By this time, Patty was having cramps and the uncomfortable feelings.  Christina excitedly said, "Oh, you're having Braxton-Hicks like we talked about. Go home and relax so they'll go away."  We waited a little bit but ended up not finishing the movie and tried to leave, BUT our car WOULD NOT START!  NO GAS!  We were shocked.  We knew we had forgotten to do something?  By the grace of God, the car started and we raced to the nearest gas station.  After feeling up on gas, we headed for home.  On the way home, Patty said the words I had been wanting to hear and was prepared for "We need to go to the Hospital."  We safely proceed on our way home to pick up our stuff and headed to the Hospital.  We still weren't convinced that we were in labor, but didn't want to take any chances.  

We arrive at Clovis Community Hospital a little after 6 p.m..  We had to go straight to the Emergency Entrance because it was a Sunday.  Since we were pre-registered, we were sent up to the Family Birth Center, 2nd Floor.  They examined Patty and found that she was only dilated 2 cm far from the 10 cm we needed.  We thought for sure that they would send us home.  They suggested that we walk around for 1 hour to see if there would be any changes in order to be officially admitted to the hospital.  By this point Patty was feeling the contractions and we were timing them at 4-5 minutes apart.  We took laps around "The Track," an area on the 2nd floor that women in labor often use to walk.  After about 5 laps, including a few bites from Patty, and several contractions later, Patty asked how long until the hour is up.  I told her we had only walked 10 minutes.  She said, that's enough  and we went back to be seen again.  We were in Rm. 502 and in that short time Patty dilated up to 4 cm.  We saw the doctor on call, and she said, "You are not going anywhere, we're gonna keep you!"

We were officially admitted to the hospital at about 7 p.m.! Despite Patty's intention about not getting medication, she immediately asked for an epidural.  She was told she couldn't receive one until she got blood work done and it would take 45 minutes.  Her thought was, "45 minutes!!! That is 9 more contractions!!!" By the time she received it, she was at 7 cm!  This was about 9 p.m.  After that Patty was back to her cheery self.  At 10:30 p.m. Patty was dilated to 9 1/2 cm! SO CLOSE!  She would stay that way for over an hour.  During this time we made a few phone call to inform family that we were in labor at the hospital.  Now with the epidural, Patty and I were able to talk happily, and watch Food Network and CNN (coverage of Michael Jackson).  We had snacks which included healthy lollipops and gatorade.  We had a major discovery, they had BIG pellet ice! Patty's favorite!  The Pushing began just after midnight, but with the epidural, Patty could barely feel her own strength.  The nurse and doctor decided to lower the dosage of the epidural and about 45 minutes later, we had our first baby! I was in charge of holding one of Patty's legs during the pushing, and kept my focus Up at Patty's face.  I saw my baby in doctors arms and asked with emotion, "what is it? Patty do you know, boy or girl!?!" The doctor said, "I'm not gonna tell you...I'll show you."  We both realized that we had a Son! We were overcome with emotion and joy!  After I cut the umbilical cord, the doctor  immediately placed our newborn son on Patty and we enjoyed our moment as a family.  

Since the birth of our Son, Samuel David Arzola, until now (this blog post), we have had an outpour of love from family and friends.  We would like YOU to share your comments about our family below. We are interested about how you learned about Samuel's entrance into this world.

 

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