Little man is here!

So everyone always likes to hear the story leading up to the birth of a baby so here goes our story:

I had a regular OB appt on thursday the 9th at 940am. Dr checked me out and said I was 3cm. He noticed while we were there that I was having pretty regular contractions. They werent hurting me at all, just my belly getting really tight and hard and then relaxing. He told me to come back later that afternoon to get checked again, he sounded pretty sure that baby was going to be arriving very soon. **keep in mind that my entire family all jumped on an airplane and left for texas this very same morning, so if baby did come anytime between then and sunday we would be flyin solo. So i went back home and did the dishes and waited to pick Landen up from preschool. Swung by McDonalds and got the kids some lunch then put Tay down for a nap. Dropped both kids off at my friend Kendra's house for a while and headed back to the dr's office. Checked me again and this time I was 5cm, this was about 3pm. He decided to call the hospital and see if they could get me checked in, they had a bed open, so I was sent over.

Got me all hooked up with monitors and IV fluids (had to get a couple antibiotics for a heart issue I have, but nothing serious). I continued to have contractions all afternoon. My girlfriend kept the other kids overnight and we figured we were in for a long night. One of my really good friends, Carianne, was invited to watch the delivery so i was really really hoping that she would get to the hospital in time! My contractions continued to be nearly painless but they were still progressing my body right along. At 6cm , which was around 7pm, i went ahead and got an epidural even though i wasnt dyin yet, i was just worried that id wait to long and then have to go natural and be in a ton of pain. Carianne got there about 830 and my dr came in to check me about 1015pm. He said i was fully dialated and ready to start pushin. He broke my water and after a couple pushes little Nathan was here!

I stayed in Labor and Delivery for about four hours and was then transferred down to recovery. everyone appeared to be doin good. baby was making a whole bunch of little wimpering cooing noises that we all thought were just soo cute! the nurse in recovery said she was concerned with the noises that he might be having trouble breathing tho. she ran a couple tests and checked all his vitals but everything came back normal. she was still sure that there was a problem so they took him down to the NICU to have him "evaluated". four hours later i call down there to see whats going on and i get a slew of info: baby is having trouble keeping himself warm so he's under a heater, baby is breathing shallow and quick, they have him on IV fluids and started on antibiotics (just in case he has any sort of infection) and they have sent off some blood cultures to check for infections. oh and did i mention they were keeping him for AT LEAST THREE DAYS!?!?!?

ya so we are in the hospital with no family in town, other kids are excited to come meet their brother but now they wont get to for at least three days cause kids arent allowed in the NICU. so i cant nurse him until we get dr orders that its ok for him to eat (apparently he will get everything he needs thru his IV). and we cant hold him cause he has to stay warm underneath the heater! ya so u can probably imagine how happy i was right about now!

so we hung out at the hospital for the three days (i got to stay for two of the three) and joe took the kids home and got sleep while he still could. i stayed the last night across the parking lot at the ronald mcdonald house which was great! sunday afternoon we got the call that he had finally been discharged after getting back all good test results!!

so we are all finally home and together and the big brother and sister love their new sibling. landen is soooo proud that he has a little brother because that is just what he wanted! we have had several follow-up appts with our dr and they are just keepin an eye on his weight. most babies love 5-10% of their body weight within the first few days and then start putting it back on, and he lost a bit more than that (started at 7lb1oz and is now down to 6lb6oz) and hasnt gained anything back yet. so they are having me supplement him with extra concentrated formula at every other feeding and hopefully that will help him get some meat on his skinny little body. our next appt is monday for a weight check and if all looks good then we go back wednesday for his very unpleasant boy snip snip experience.

thats all for now and i will try to get some more pictures and updates on here as time goes by. no guarentee's about how often we will have updates now that i am a mom of three kids! holy cow!