A hello

This is our new little boy:

thirty minutes after arrival

He doesn't have a nick name yet. All of the ones we had considered seemed too... aggressive for such a zen baby (Trooper, Mustang, Recon, etc). He's quite laid back. Well, as much as one can say a 5 day old has a personality.


Thursday we arranged to have Ranger sleep over at his grandparent's house. Originally we planned to stay in our apartment (and our bed- comfy) but changed our minds. We were scheduled to check in to the hospital at 530 am and their house is closer.

We got all checked in and admitted and I started getting the antibiotics required for GBS pos.  About an hour or so into that, suddenly the room filled with people in scrubs. Sure I had noticed I was having a long contraction. Have I mentioned before my pain tolerance is rather high? Yeah, so I was mildly discomforted and that's it. BUT the little guy inside is another matter. You start having a 5 to 7 minute contraction, and the important stuff gets cut off from the baby, and the baby's heart rate signals all the alarms and next thing you know they're giving you a shot of something or other to break up the contraction and then a second when that doesn't work.

WELL everything obviously went fine, and afterwards my OB came in to explain what happened and answer questions. I had not even started on the induction meds when that happened, so they had to wait some more time to get started. Yay.

All told we spent 14 hours in the hospital, slowly working up to active labor. Finally they asked me to lay on my side in an uncomfortable position (that later left my back the sorest thing on my body- really!) to encourage the baby to get and stay low.

It was going so slowly! I told E at 7pm, go eat. I'm still only 4cm and, at most, 80%.  I didn't want him starving/hungry like he was with Ranger. So he goes down and is gone for less than 10 minutes when I start acknowledging pain and pressure.  I had to send E a text to "hurry come back right now!" He got back in time to hold my head for me and witness the birth of his second son.

Our little guy came out in less than 15 minutes of pushing.  He was holding onto his umbilical cord like one would hold a rope - around his shoulder and with both hands.

I got to hold him almost immediately, and E got to cut the cord.
He weighed in at 7 lbs 12 oz, 21 inches.
We are all three of us in love with our newest member.