Welcome Home, Jonah! Part 2.

My previous post was a quick one to get the announcement of our new arrival posted. I did want to post a few more details regarding our past several weeks.

It all started early Thursday morning (05/22/2008) when my wife woke up during the night with some contractions. This wasn't really all that out of the ordinary and she was able to get back to sleep without too much difficulty. Once she woke up, the contractions did get stronger but they still weren't too bad. Like I said, contractions weren't all that uncommon so we weren't getting our hopes up, fully expecting them to pass and nothing to happen. We actually had our weekly Dr. appointment scheduled for 10:30 that morning so we figured we'd just wait and see what the doctor had to say...again, fully expecting to find out they were normal Braxton Hicks contractions.

I was at work and the plan was for me to meet my wife at the doctor's office while Jesse stayed home. Knowing we were getting close to the due date and that we have an 18-month-old to keep up with, my Mother-in-Law had already planned to visit and stay with Jesse while we were at the appointment. I got a phone call mid-morning from my wife saying the contractions were getting worse. Well, by 10:00, the contractions were hard enough that my Mother-in-Law had to drive my wife to the appointment.

Still not expecting a lot, we were surprised to find that my wife was already dilated to 4 or 5 centimeters. My wife must be pretty tough because she was still smiling through the contractions. Anyway, the doctor said it was time and called the hospital. Soon, we were racing to the hospital.

Late-morning/Early-afternoon was pretty uneventful at the hospital. The contractions got stronger and more frequent. And my wife got pumped with fluids to get ready for the birth. Eventually, the epidural was administered and that smoothed out the contractions. My wife could still feel the contractions but they weren't painful.

So we waited and waited some more.

By 4:00 in the afternoon, we were getting close. By around 4:15/4:20, it was time to start pushing. Not that I had a lot to do with it, but it seemed to go pretty smoothly. By 4:53, we had a new little baby boy.

The doctors did have to rush Jonah to the room's baby alcove to clean out his lungs (he had a stool mishap in the womb). That was a little stressful...not getting to hold him right away. But, we were told ahead of time about the situation and we knew what to expect. We were very grateful for the warning.

We spent two days in the hospital and everyone recovered well from the birth. We had a few visitors but not so many that it was crowded or stressful. We appreciated the peace and quiet. The doctors and the nurses were awesome. We especially liked the night nurses. All were incredibly helpful, patient, and knowledgeable.

I was fortunate to be able to take two weeks of vacation with the birth. Memorial Day even fell in there so I got an extra day off. The time off was terrific. It was, of course, a lot of work. It continues to be a lot of work. But, still, it's an amazing blessing. I can't wait to go home at night.