Took me long enough...

As most of you know, our lil man HAS ARRIVED!! It's taken us some time to get used to each other and we're still working out the kinks, but my First Time Mom Paranoia has subsided enough that I can put him down for the 15 minutes it will take for me to update everyone.

Here's how it went:
Around 11:45 in Saturday the 22nd, my water broke. I called my doc and she told me to head into labor & delivery. We got to the hospital at 1 am (No, we don't live that far- Dave & I had a bit of both dillying and dallying to do before we left). In triage they checked me and found that my water had indeed broken and I wasn't just peeing all over myself, and I was dilated to 3.5 cm. I was told I was not going home, but the nurse didn't seem to think I'd be having him all that soon either. Between 2:30-3am I was finally sent upstairs to be admitted and I got my epidural. I was checked again and had progressed to 6cm so they called my doc & told her to make her way on in. By the time she got there & checked me I was dilated to 9cm. By now it was a party in my room. I could still feel the contractions, but at about a 3 instead of a 10. Melissa, Steve, Joyce and Dave were all keeping me company. At about 5:30am my doc made the announcement: Everyone who isn't staying for pushing, needs to leave. So Joyce & Steve went to the waiting room for what would be a pretty short time. After pushing for about 20 minutes, James Andrew made his appearance at 5:52am on November 23rd. He weighed in at 7lb 11oz and was 20" long. (sidebar: my labor experience? NOTHING like on TV. We watched "Romy & Michelle's HS Reunion" between pushes. It was all very laid back & calm- until the last 5 pushes, that is.)

Although a short labor is a blessing for sure, it does have it's own set of complications. My body didn't have time to loosen up as it should have so I had quite a bit of tearing AND James had quite a bit of bruising on his head. When the bruising started to fade and the red blood cells started to break down, his biliruben levels went up and he ended up jaundiced. I was released from the hospital on Tuesday but James needed phototherapy until Thursday. His levels were never dangerously high but the pediatrician that we are taking him to doesn't round at the hospital I delivered at and the ped on-call would not release him until his levels were ridiculously low. If I were to continue to see the ped from the hospital they would've let me take him home on Wednesday with home treatment. It was a bit frustrating and heartbreaking to leave the hospital without him but Dave & I both agreed that the lil guy's health was worth the trauma to us (this is where I interject props to Dave. Post labor hormones + leaving your baby at the hospital = lots of tears and trips to the hospital to sit in uncomfortable chairs, watching a baby sleep. Dave was so patient with me even when we both knew I was being a bit irrational).

We're home now and everyone is doing great. James is an absolute dream. He rarely cries and it is super easy to read what he wants. It took us a few days but I think he finally knows the difference between night & day. Not that he sleeps through the night but at least he stopped being wide awake through it!! Dave took last week off and is back to work this week, so now I am adjusting to being alone with James. Basically I also sleep like a newborn now- every couple hours for an hour. Joyce has been here almost every day to give me a break (nap) in the afternoon, and there aren't even words to describe what a huge help Melissa & Steve have been. They basically spent every possible minute with us from the moment I went into labor until the moment they went back to work. Having such a great support system has definitely made this an easier transition.

Senor Wiggle-Butt is starting to stir, which at this point means "FEED ME" so I'm off. Now that we are getting adjusted, I'll post regularly. I'm putting up some new photos also- see links over there ---------->