He's Here

The boy, scheduled to make his grand appearance on Thursday (the 25th), decided that he just didn't like that date and took it upon himself to push his birthday back a day.  Here is a quick breakdown of our last few days...

4:15am - Alarm goes off

4:30am - Leave the house

4:35am - Retrieve and consume breakfast from QuikTrip

4:55am - Arrive at hospital to find the main door locked

4:58am - Find that the emergency room is the only way in the hospital before 7am

5am - Check in, get assigned a room, wait

6am - Still waiting because they didn't have the "orders" for what was supposed to be happening, even though we were there for a scheduled induction

7am - Pitocin gets started (she was at about 2cm)

9:30am - The doctor came in and decided that it was just as good of a time as any to break The Wife's water

12pm - She's at 5cm!!!

4pm - She's at 6cm!!! But the pain was coming on and the need/time for an epidural was quickly approaching

4:30pm - I left the room.  I have no problems not being the hero that can see a giant needle inserted in a loved one's spine

5pm - No pain whatsoever... up to 7cm

8pm - Clearly the progress has slowed down, discussion of pros and cons of c-sections start occurring

9pm - Suddenly she jumps to 8cm and the nurse and doctor say that things are about to start happening soon

2am - "Soon" turns out to mean "five hours later"... but it's time to push

3am - Still pushing, nurse says that The Wife is doing a good job, but she can't feel it and all we can do is take the nurse's word for it

4am - Doctor comes in, pushing has essentially stopped with no further progress being made

4:10am - The Wife leaves the room to head to the operating room for the c-section

4:25am - I leave to go join her

4:44am - The Boy makes his appearance, weighing in at a healthy 9 pounds, 10.2 ounces and 20 3/4" long

It was such a long day/night and very stressful on everyone involved, particularly The Wife, but we finally got to meet him almost 24 hours after we arrived at the hospital.  While The Wife was being stitched up, I went to the incubator to start taking pictures and to see how he was doing.  There was some meconium in the amniotic fluid when the doctor had broken her water, so the NICU was on hand to make sure that he didn't aspirate on the meconium.  Luckily, he did not.  He hardly needed any suctioning and came out mostly just needing a bath.  I went to the NICU with The Boy and The Wife went to recovery, where her mom was waiting.  We didn't think the first thing that the baby should have happen is that he's whisked away to be poked and prodded by a bunch of people with no one around that he "knows".  For now, I can say that both The Wife and The Boy are healthy and happy and things are going fairly well for having a brand new life to watch out for.

More entries to come, as a lot has happened in his 59 hours of life up to this point.

The Phoebot

Happy Birthday to our niece!  Today, she is 2 years old.

Tomorrow, The Girl, The Wife, and myself will head on over to her (ugh) Barney birthday party.  Unless, of course, The Boy decides to come before then... which would be ideal.

She loves the shirt that we got her for Christmas

Preparations

As of right now, next Thursday (at 5am) is the day.

Our bags are packed as much as they can be, since we still have to do things like brush our teeth and shower and such.  We have the list ready to go and just have some more things to throw in the bag(s) the night before we go to the hospital.  Good news is that we only live about five blocks from the hospital, so if I have to make a run back home for anything we forget, I can be there and back in less than ten minutes.  The Wife spent a little while compiling a playlist for the room, since they have speakers built in that you are able to hook your iPhone, iPad, etc into.

Some of the songs that she added:

Beatles - Here Comes the Sun

Bob Dylan - Forever Young

Death Cab for Cutie - Stay Young Go Dancing

The Decemberists - Here I Dreamt I Was an Architect

Jukebox the Ghost - Empire 

REM - At My Most Beautiful

U2 - Beautiful Day

Emeli Sande - Next to Me

Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah

John Lennon - Beautiful Boy

A few of the songs that I suggested that were shot down, probably for good reason:

Nelly - Hot in Herre

Jenny Owens Young - The Fuck Was I

Salt 'n Pepa - Push It (this was a from a website, but was still shot down)

Multiple Eminem songs were suggested

While they may not be "labor appropriate", I would really like to see the look on the faces of the nurses and doctor when one of those come on over the speakers.

The Wife has a call into the doctor's office today to see if we can move up the date at all, due to some concerns that come into play in the last week of pregnancies, as a result of the gestational diabetes and SUA.  We have no reason, based on this pregnancy, to be worried, but it sure would be nice to not have to think about it for a week.  Hopefully we'll at least get some news of a few days earlier than we are scheduled... or a few days from now.  

16 Days

We're down to the last 16 days of waiting for The Boy to arrive.  Not much has changed in the last few weeks.  At 2cm and 40% effaced, we're just hoping that one of those numbers jumps up quickly and we can get him here faster than the scheduled induction.  The Wife was at the doctor today for her weekly appointment and when she said, "see you next week", the doctor responded with "maybe".  He seems to think that it could happen at anytime now.

We spent yesterday cleaning and getting final preparations done.  We re-arranged some furniture and cleaned every single room in the house.  The goal was to be able to leave for a few days and come back to a clean house.  Now we just have to maintain our cleanliness.  So really, the faster he comes, the easier that will be on us.  Later this afternoon would be awesome.  

The Homestretch

home-stretch
n.
1. The portion of a racetrack from the last turn to the finish line
2. Informal The final stages of an undertaking

We're in it.  Three weeks from tomorrow is the due date.  Three weeks from tomorrow night, the induction will "start" at 8pm with the overnight dosing of Cervidil.  The actual induction will be taking place on the 25th... at 5am... with the Pitocin drip.

The Wife was at the doctor for her weekly check yesterday and he informed her that she was almost at two centimeters dilation and 30% effaced.  He is at approximately 6 pounds, 6 ounces as of yesterday and everything was looking good. The doctor is also "relatively certain" that she would not be induced in three weeks and that The Boy would be here before that time came.

We still have everything ready and waiting for him.  We even bought a new coming home outfit for him, upon the realization that the newborn size that we had was probably not going to be big enough.  It's made out of bamboo and it's so soft.  I don't have a picture, so here's one of something completely unrelated to anything in this post:

The view that he will enjoy in his swing