Our little man is here!

I am so excited to be writing this post. I can't believe I am a mom and even better, a mom to an adorable little boy. For journaling purposes I am going to share the story of shortstop's arrival. If you are only here for the pictures, no problem, I have those too! Thanks to my wonderful sister Rachel for doing the editing. I want her to be my official picture editor!

Monday May 10, 2010 Mark and I woke up early and awaited a phone call from the hospital. I was being induced on my due date due to some health issues, (nothing serious), and they said they would start making calls at 6 am. At 7:15, my phone rang. My heart was pounding...this was it. So Mark and I headed out the door the last time as a couple only to return as a family.

I was admitted at 8 am and they started me on pitocin. Contractions started but they weren't bad at all. I was a 3 and feeling fine. Mark and I talked, watched movies, made phone calls and just hung out. Mark read his book a lot and I tried to convince myself this was really happening. I was so excited and nervous. At 2:00 pm they checked and I was still a 3 so they told me they would break my water. My doctor has residents learning from her all the time so one of the residents on the floor did it. Weird feeling, having your water broken! At this point they said the contractions should start fast and furious. And boy did they ever. I told Mark to go and get some food for himself because as soon as he came back I wanted an epidural but I wanted him here when it happened. He left for only 20 minutes to eat so that he could stay with me the rest of the day and not be sick or hungry. Ice chips kept me comfortable until he returned. The best was that they have flavored ice chips now. I had Tiger's Blood. It tastes like strawberry and coconut. It is mild but pretty good!

Mark got back and the contractions had really hit. For some reason I waited for a while to actually request the epidural. At 3:30 pm I asked if it would be okay if I got one. The anesthesiologist came in and started. Ouch! It burned and I didn't realize it would, but Mark was holding my hand so it was okay. He was amazing, such a great coach the whole time. After a few minutes the doctor said he wanted to re-do the epidural. What? Well, it turns out he got come spinal fluid back in the needle the first one and needed to re set it. Ouch again! But once it started working I was okay.

I progressed pretty fast after that. The next time they checked me I was a 5 and then a little while after that I was a 9. They told me to get ready because I would be a 10 really soon. I was a little nauseous from the epidural and frustrated with not being able to feel anything or move at all or even lay on my back so I was looking forward to pushing. It was so weird to be able to feel the contractions in my hip on the side I was not laying on since gravity helps the epidural work so I kept asking the nurses to flip me like a pancake. There is no dignity in labor, is there. :) They gave me Zofran for the nausea and that helped a ton! But again, I knew it was all worth it no matter what and did not really get annoyed or upset. I was just content to have my favorite person in the world standing next to me awaiting our boy to join us.

Sure enough they checked me at 6 pm and said I was a 10 and at plus 1 station. They called my doctor and she wanted me to rest and descend. I guess they wanted shortstop to wriggle down a little more so I would not have to push as long. They also wanted me to be able to feel the pressure so I could push (they said I was REALLY numb) so they turned off my epidural. I relaxed and tried to shut my eyes to rest for about an hour. At 7:15 pm the nurse check and I was at plus 2 station and complete. She said she wanted me to practice pushing so when the doctor came it would be only another hour of pushing. She walked both Mark and I through how to breath and push and how he could help with my leg. I pushed through 2 contractions and started to push through the 3rd. Halfway to 10 seconds she and the resident said "Stop! He is almost here and the doctor is not!" I guess he was more ready than they realized. 10 minutes later my doctor showed up, got ready and told me to push. I did through the first contraction, breathed in and pushed again. All of the sudden, he was here at 7:51 pm. It was so fast! They were shocked at how fast he got here, thinking I would push for at least an hour. Nope! 15 minutes and 5 contractions total. Works for me! He came out very clean without much of a cone head, which I thought all babies had. They laid him on my chest and cleaned him up as he pinked up pretty quickly. And I could not believe how much hair he had! It was so dark too! The first thing I noticed even before his hair was that he has Mark's nose. I said months ago that I really hoped he got his dad's nose and he did! Mark cut the cord and then they took our little guy to get cleaned. Mark went with him and got some great pictures.

He was 7 lbs 3 0z and 20 inches long. So little! I was thinking I would have a big baby because I had gestational diabetes. But I really tried hard to keep my diet in check and my numbers low so I guess it paid off.

After he was cleaned and the doctor left, Mark and I just held him and each other. What a special moment! He was and is so beautiful. After a half hour they took him to the nursery and Mark went with him. My love for Mark has grown a million times more, which I did not think possible. My mom and dad were outside the nursery and got to watch him bathe. Mark said shortstop really liked having his head massaged and washed.

I was sent down to recovery and awaited the return of my boys. An hour and a half later Mark came in to tell me they had to take him to the NICU.

Mark was hanging out with him in the nursery and noticed our little man's breathing was a little difficult and he kept grunting with each breath out. They checked and decided to take him upstairs. Turns out he had respiratory distress. It is pretty common and when caught so early, completely fixable. They put tubes in his nose to get his lungs inflated. They took an x ray and saw that one of his lungs had not gotten rid of all the fluid. The tubes in his nose would fix this so the next step was not necessary. He stayed in the NICU until 1:30 am when Mark came and got me to take me up. The doctor wanted to see if he would eat and if he could then they would send him back to the nursery. He ate and so at 2:30 am he was back in the nursery and 100 % better! I am so grateful Mark was worried enough to ask a nurse about his boy's breathing so that is was caught early on. It will not cause him any problems in the future whatsoever.

We stayed until Wednesday at 1:00 in the afternoon and then we came home. We had a ton of visitors (thank you everyone) and the nurses were awesome. Mark spent both nights with me in the hospital. I love that man!

He has taken to being a dad like a fish to water. We are home now and in love with our boy. He is so good and so mellow. He eats like a champ and makes the cutest noises I have ever heard. I love just staring at him and can't believe how blessed and lucky Mark and I are. We have a great little family and look forward to many more wonderful days ahead