William Joseph has arrived!!

We are so thrilled to say that Will was born on Saturday, November 26th at 8:58pm, weighing in at 6 lbs 9 oz, and was 19 1/2 inches long.  He has a very full head of dark hair and has completely swept his Mom and Dad off their feet and they are head over heels in love with this guy.  So, I'll explain how the whole thing went down:

After my last post, our false alarm, Friday afternoon/evening, Patrick and I ran a bunch of errands, got some Christmas decorations and had a nice, quiet evening.  At about 1:00am, early Saturday morning, I woke up to my shorts being soaked....this time was more than dribbles...I woke Patrick up and he shot up out of bed, and said, Oh--that's definitely it!  Your water just broke!!  So, I did call into the OB and she said to go to the hospital....so, this time we are jumping around, getting all of our stuff together and thinking, "We are having a baby!!"  So, again, we get all registered, get in a gown, they do the same tests, and it was negative AGAIN!  What??  So, again, we go home feeling kind of silly, it was about 3:00am and we took some Tylenol PM to help us get some sleep.  Well, that worked for Patrick, but not for me!  I was having some minor contractions, that actually were enough to keep me awake, and at 4:30am, decided that I should start tracking how long they were and how far apart.  Turns out they were about every 5 minutes and lasting about 30-40 seconds..coming.pretty regularly.  I took a bath for awhile, and that felt nice and also slowed down contractions (at that point, I was thinking, no way---please don't tell me I've been having these contractions and not sleeping, all if this is another joke!)  The pain was mostly felt in my back, and I knew from reading some things that that's what real contractions feel like.

So, Patrick and I went about our morning---with me taking a little time-out every 5 to 7 minutes to breathe out a contraction on my hands and knees, with forehead pressing into the couch.  After that, went back to getting our house decorated for Christmas and doing other chores!  I had called the OB that morning, and she said that likely they were contractions that were real, but that it will take quite a bit of time, I was only dilated at 1 cm when I was checked at 1:00am, so she said to just wait until the pain is too much, or the contractions got more intense.  That's what I did throughout the morning, and then about 12:00 they were feeling more intense, but we said we would wait an hour, make sure the contractions were regular and kept growing---at 1:00pm we called in and they told us to go to the hospital!!!  HOORAY---this time I was SURE it was really happening (who feels contractions all morning for them to be false?!  Apparently, that really can happen though, and the nurses made me doubt it a little when we checked in)  But, thank goodness, they checked me and I was at 3 cm---and they said this was the real deal!!  Patrick and I just stared at each other and couldn't believe it was really happening--we were going to have a baby!! I was bound and determined I was going to have a baby by that night too!

We ended up having a great nurse, Sally, who was the nurse that took care of us on my first false alarm.  She was happy that she could be here this time for the real one :) I got my epidural shortly after we got there, and it was the best!! I could rest and relax....we watched some football, a movie, and even both took a short nap!  It was nice to see on the monitor, whenever I had contractions, all I could feel was a mild squeezing at the top of my uterus, nothing painful though, and my backpain was gone---amen!    My water ended up breaking on it's own, and each hour they checked me I had progressed about another centimeter---this helped pass the time.  I was starving at that point, but couldn't eat, just in case of an emergency C-section, they don't allow you to eat.

Anyway, at about 8:20pm, they told I was ready to push!  AHHH-- I was kind of nervous and not sure how to do it---but found it to be harder than I thought---pushing out for 10 seconds, 3 sets of that is pretty exhausting---I couldn't believe they said it takes some people 1-2 hours usually.  But, I was bound and determined.  Our nurse at this time, Tawny (who also was the nurse on when we got sent home the second time) and Patrick were both saying how great I was doing, and I figured they just say that to everyone, but really Tawny said I was really making some progress.  Oh, and when we were getting ready to start pushing, I have to say, we turned on some Pandora on the quick mix station, and the first song on was "My Goodies" by Ciara!! HA!  Love it---totally my type of music to pump me up and was a perfect start! :)  Actually, Dave Matthews, "You and Me" which was in our wedding slideshow, also came on randomly, and when Will was born, "Show Me Your Glory" by Third Day (now, that's a perfect song at the perfect time!) We were having a good time, had the Stanford vs. Notre Dame football game on, and honestly was a very relaxed environment (Patrick and I have since said that we were both surprised how chill it can be, or I'm sure how stressful/tense it can be, depending on the situation and the people)  Tawny called the doctor in, and although it wasn't my OB, it was the only other one we had met in her practice and we both really liked her!  I told Dr. Schwartman I was going to show her what a good pusher I am, and once I did that, she was like, whoa, this baby is about out!! She barely had time to put her scrubs on, and with one more push, Will was born!!

Of course, it's not like in the movies when the first time a mom holds her baby, they are all clean and dry, he definitely was covered in fluid and when they put him in my arms, he pooped on me!!  Haha--I was like, hey buddy, I did all that and you pooped on me?! :)  They quickily got us both cleaned up, Patrick was able to cut the cord and hold him shortly after me....and I don't think I will ever forget the look on his face as he was holding Will for the first time---a look of pure love, awe, wonder, excitement, etc....something I will always keep with me (along with the look of when I first told him I was pregnant)...and then I nursed him right away too.  It's amazing to me how he just knew what to do, but he latched right on, and was the most amazing feeling ever.  Words can't describe.  At 8:58pm, our world changed for the better and our lives will never, ever be the same. 

Both of our parents were able to come down to meet him, and after they left, we got set up in our Mother/Baby room and it was almost midnight.  We had Will in his bassinet, sleeping in between us, and I must say that I didn't sleep much that night, with the adreneline (how do you have a baby and then just go to sleep?!) and anytime he would fuss, either P or I would reach over to comfort him. That, plus needing to feed him, nurses coming to check vitals, etc.  That was the 2nd night with little to no sleep...but still was so excited it didn't matter a whole lot. 

Day 1: We had some visitors on Sunday--- and that night had him sleep in the nursery, and what a great idea that was...some people may discourage it, but I knew that I needed a good night's sleep, and that's exactly what I got---I felt so refreshed that next day, and it was the day we got to go home! 

Day 2: They took Will out around 10:00 to get his circumcision, and we were ready to leave before noon!  We got him dressed up all cute and the ride home was so fun--we loved getting him all settled, and the 3 of us just being home. Marilee and Elaina came by to drop us off some dinner, and Aunt Amy and cousin Daniel also came by with some food.  We are so thankful for all the help and food from all. Such a nice thing to do!  Since then, we really have been getting good sleep (Will sleeps so much, that we have to wake him up at night to feed, and we are still able to do things around the house, although mostly one of us just holds him and stares at him and how beautiful and perfect he is!)  I know it's bad to call a boy pretty, but seriously, he is just the prettiest baby and it's such a miracle to know we made him and he's our son.  We are so tremendously blessed, it brings tears to my eyes as I type this (maybe slightly hormonally induced, but quite worthy) and this little guy has his Mama so wrapped around his fingers.  My favorite thing is while nursing....when he looks up at me with his beautiful eyes, it's a connection I can't even begin to describe.  Daddy has been such a huge help, doing pretty much all of diaper duty and burping, and has been home most of the week to help, just going into work a few mornings. 

Day 3: Went to hospital outpatient to test for jaundice, which was slightly high in hospital.  Turns out his counts were good, so we didn't need to worry about that as much, and that was a relief.  Was good practice for us to get all of us stuff ready to go somewhere and good to get out of the house.  I was feeling pretty good on Tuesday, just still somewhat sore, but not too bad.  Brad brought us over some pizza, which was nice, and the weather was so nice, we decided to go for a walk to pick up a few groceries and for a bottle of wine (yes, I was that girl pushing their baby around in the wine store!)  Our neighbor did a double-take when he saw us, of course, not expecting us to have our baby 17 days early!!  We had a nice night, gave Will his first bath, and had a pretty good night's sleep too.

Day 4: Wednesday, Patrick went into work for the morning, so Will and I hung out and made a trip to Target adn then P and I had some lunch together when he got home, before our pediatrician appointment at 3:15.  We were pretty annoyed at the really long wait we had there, but tried to be understanding--Cody was brining over the dresser/hutch that had come in for the nursery and we hated being late for him.  The good thing was, everything looks really good for Will, although he has lost about an ounce or two of weight---I started feeling really bad, like I was not being diligent enough about feeding or keeping him awake, although we has been eating about every 2 1/2 hours, which they reassured me is really great and should be enough, unless he is acting hungry (which he never does, we are still waking him to eat!)  Anyway, he had been spitting up a lot since my milk came in on Monday, and she gave us some tips on how to help that, and it really has seemed to be better.  She commented on how laid-back of a baby he is, and was nice to hear that from a doctor (we have been saying how lucky we are, but it's another thing to hear it from your doctor!)   Erin and Mike brought us over dinner and got to meet him.

Day 5: So, this is Will's 5th day of life, and I will continue to update as he grows up, big and strong and with all the fun stories! :)