I got my wish...Dylan Jai Ahmad Raines

After we reached 36 weeks of pregnancy I told the little boy growing inside of me that he could come anytime..."We're ready for you" I told him...and he was a good listener because he arrived 11 days early!

Introducing Dylan Jai Ahmad Raines

Born January 13th, 2013

7 pounds 8 ounces

20 inches

and oh so handsome!  

There are moments during the past 5 days when I still can't believe he's here, I still can't believe that Fuad & I created this little guy, I still can't believe how absolutely perfect he is...
Truth is...there are moments throughout the day when I'm totally overwhelmed; it comes and goes in waves, and tears usually flow...not sad ones, but tears of pure joy. We are so very blessed...

We're settling into life at home with our baby boy. He's a very alert, eyes-wide-open kind of baby and he seems to love listening to music (no surprise there!)

Our Birth Story (Becky's version, Fuad will write his side of the story separately)

Last Saturday (early morning) I woke up quite sick to my stomach and ended up with diarrhea for most of the morning, I was also feeling nauseous and even threw up (which I never do. I didn't even throw up in the 1st trimester!)
The baby had already dropped a few days before that and it only took a quick Internet search to reveal that after baby drops, diarrhea and vomiting are signs of impending labor, usually within 24-48 hours. Sure enough, at 5:45 pm on Saturday (the 12th) my water broke while at home, and an hour later I had my first contraction.
We decided to stay at home for as long as possible, especially since the contractions were irregular...we ended up waiting 12 hours.
We arrived at the hospital around 7 am the morning of the 13th with contractions coming about 5 minutes apart. After being admitted I was so disappointed to find out that I was only dilated 1 centimeter! It felt like 12 hours of labor should produce a greater result! FYI-you have to dilate close to 10 centimeters before you start pushing the baby out...
Our doctor arrived at around 9 am, at which point I was still dilated at 1 cm, and she suggested that we start on Pitocin since we had already labored for 14 hours and had only dilated to 1. Since my water had broken she really wanted to see the baby delivered within 24 hours to lower the risk of infection.
So we did it...I was strapped to an IV and given a Pitocin drip...
After 5 hours of contractions (along with diarrhea), which grew increasingly more intense, the doctor returned and after an examination, measured me as dilated to 3 centimeters. She adjusted the Pitocin and predicted that the baby would be delivered around 6 or 7 pm that night.

This is where I totally broke down. How could my body be doing all this work, with hardly any movement at all? I felt as though something was holding me back, keeping me from making progress...This is when I got serious about the work of labor. There was hardly any conversation between Fuad & I at this point, as we were just waiting, breathing, and resting between contractions and bathroom trips...

It got amped up pretty quickly. Wave after wave of the most intense pain imaginable washed over me and after each one I'm telling myself that that one is over and I don't ever have to feel that pain again. I'm telling myself to surrender...I'm telling myself to breathe, to breathe, to breathe, to be open, to let go, to keep my jaw relaxed...my husband reminds me that I'm sharing my light with the world by delivering our son.
There are no pain killers, no epidural, there is only us. Breathing together.

At 4 pm the nurse comes in to check on me, and I've dilated to 9. She tells me to let her know if I feel like pushing. It doesn't take long until I do...There's a flurry of activity, as multiple nurse arrive in the room and prepare it for the arrival of our little guy. I'm ready to push, but I'm told to wait until the doctor gets there...
Our doctor walked in saying "wait until a contraction, then push!" It took around 5 contractions...The first, our doctor told me that "his head is here." With the second, "here he comes, push push push push..." At the third, she told me, "Rebecca, keep your chin down and put your energy into pushing him out." After a few more hard, deep, contractions, and deep pushes, I heard my son cry, and within a few moments he was laid on my chest as Fuad cut the cord...

I look to my husband with tears of joy and see that he's doing the same, crying tears of joy and I have never in my life been so overwhelmed with the emotion of pure love.

Words cannot possibly describe this moment in time... 

After he's been cleaned up.

Daddy with his baby boy.

2 days old napping on my chest. 

Just a few other thoughts...
The day after delivery I looked down at my feet and realized that I could already see my ankle bones again and that my feet and toes looked like my feet and toes again! Same with my hands, after 9 months of watching my body change and swell and wondering if it would ever return to "normal", some parts returned to me right away.
I'm ready to share...in total I gained 35 pounds. I came home from the hospital having already lost 20. Unbelievable!

First family picture before leaving the hospital