Visitation

Thanks everyone for your support and prayers. Regarding visitation, anyone is welcome to come and visit the little guy tomorrow, we will most likely be here all day. Today we are going to keep visits limited to immediate family so Jess and baby can rest up. I'm not entirely sure when we will be discharged, but my guess is it won't be until sometime in 2011 :)

Some Pics

He's Here!

Leeland Robert Livigni arrived December 30th at 12:56pm. 9lbs 1oz and 21 inches long. His head was 35 cm.

I'll post more pictures as they come. Thanks for your support!

Push Time!

Jess is fully dialated and it's time to push! Here comes Leeland!

The doctors have everything ready as you can see.

Jess is now dialated to about 6-7 cm. The magic number is 10, so we are getting pretty close to push time. Thanks again for all your prayers and comments. Jess and I have been reading them together.

Meanwhile, Nehem has been staying with Grandma and Grandpa Livigni. Grandma sent this picture of Nehem to us earlier today. She titled it "Nehem's Prayer"

About 10 minutes ago, the doctors broke Jess' water. They are thinking that things will move along much more quickly now. She is about 5cm dialted and having very strong and steady contractions.

Progress

Things are moving along well. Jess’ contractions have gotten much more intense, so eating, they gave her an Epidural. She is not feeling any pain now and is hoping to get a little rest to conserve her energy for pushing later.

Good Morning

It has been a fairly quiet night, so Jess was able to rest pretty well. The contractions are getting stronger as the Cytotec has taken effect. The nurses are going to start her on Pitocin again in about an hour, giving Jess time to shower and eat.
Everyone is doing well and very excited to see Leeland.

Long Night Ahead

They tried the Foley Bulb on Jess, but due to a few complications they abandoned that idea. They are going to use a pill called Cytotec which is another method of inducing labor, which is given every 4 hours. It could potentially take 16 more hours (worst case scenario), so we're getting ready to settle in for the night. We appreciate all the prayers. Jess is not in any pain right now and will most likely be able to sleep while the Cytotec takes effect.

Not Freaky Fast, But Freaky Good

Doctors stopped Pitocin and we ordered Jimmy Johns. It's pretty awesome that Jimmy Johns delivers to Akron City Hospital, and though it wasn't freaky fast, it was freaky good!

A Change of Plans

As it turns out, the Pitocin is not working as expected. Jess is 3cm dialated and still only experiencing smaller contractions. The doctors have decided to abandon the Pitocin for now, let Jess eat (horray), and begin using what they call a Foley Bulb, which will cause her to dialate faster.

The delivery is taking longer than expected, so it's very possible Leelands birthday may be on December 30th. Either way, we are excited to meet him face to face.

Walking

Jess is making a break for it!
The doctors suggested moving around a bit in hopes of speeding the labor process along. We walked the halls for about 30 minutes. On our hike, we met a couple next door who just delivered a few hours ago. Their daughter was only 6lbs!
We started a new bet: how big is Leeland going to be? I think 7lbs 5oz, Jess thinks 7lbs 10oz.

No Change

Slow going. Since the last update nothing has changed, so we have spent the past few hours watching reruns of "House" and a few episodes of "24." I'm pretty sure this is more T.V. than we've watched all year. Hopefully Leeland comes before Jack Bauer saves his abducted family.

Limbo

Well, there's not much to update about. Jess is still contracting, not experiencing much pain as of yet, but she's feeling the contractions more than she was earlier. While taking the Pitocin, Jess isn't allow to eat anything but popsicles and Italian ice. We found out from our first delivery 16 months ago that the pospicles at the hospital are impossible to melt and taste like window cleaner, so she's sticking with Italian ice.

Contractions

Things are moving along. They upped the dosage of the Pitocin causing stronger contractions. I snapped a picture of the monitor, you can see the size and frequency of her contractions based on the bottom part. The top part monitors the baby's heartbeat. The device that monitors the baby's heartbeat has been slipping and has needed readjusted a couple times, so the heartbeat display is a bit faint at certain points.
We are taking bets to see who can guess the time of Leelands arrival. Jess' bet: 8:30pm. Jess' mom: 8:45pm. My bet: 9:00pm.

Hospital

Jess is still doing well. (Obviously: who else can make a hospital gown look good?!) There was a minor complication with the IV, but nothing to worry about. The problem has been corrected and everything is back to normal. They are currently giving her Pitocin, which is a drug that causes her to contract. She has been experiencing small contractions consistently for the past half hour or so, but nothing that has caused any discomfort yet.

In the Hospital

Good Morning,

Throughout the past couple of months, we've been preparing the house and get everything set for Leelands arrival. Everything is ready to go!

Right now Jess and I are both sitting in the hospital. Jess has began the inital stages of induction. Jess is feeling no pain as of yet and is feeling well rested. We appreciate all your prayers and are looking forward to Leelands arrival today.

Round 2

Happy Holidays!

The Livigni family is eagerly awaiting the arrival of our newest installment, Leeland Livigni.

It feels like yesterday that we were blogging from the hospital awaiting Nehem back in Aug

ust of 2009.

Now, Nehem is 15 months, walking, talking (a little), and practicing to be a big brother.

So for family and friends (both near and far) who want to keep updated on Leeland's progress, we will be updating this blog with reports.