Third Time's a Charm

We are so excited to have Rex here! I think all my complaining during pregnancy paid off, because this delivery (sorry to all you moms out there) was a breeze! I feel blessed and very lucky to have had such an easy delivery without complications and a recovery that has been going uncannily well thus far.

I woke up on Friday, took a shower, fixed my hair, did my makeup, and we all headed to the hospital. I checked in at 8:00 a.m., but wasn't hooked up to the pitocin until about 10:15. Before my contractions were too painful, I had a successful epidural and was able to sneak in a nice little nap while Adam took the girls to pick up my mom in East Lansing. As soon as they returned, I had dilated to 8 centimeters (6 centimeters in 45 minutes isn't too shabby, 'eh?) and got the go-ahead from the resident doctor to try a "practice push". She wasn't ready to deliver, and my doctor had just peeked in to see what was happening. I pushed and Rex's head began to emerge!

Doctor Russell yelled, "Go get dressed!" to the resident who was frantically donning gloves, a robe, the sweet deflector-glasses with pink frames (like they really need those, right?) and all the requisite garb. She ran back and told me to push one more time. The baby's head came right out, along with a profusion of amniotic fluid that squirted in a cartoon-like arc directly onto Adam's shirt and arm; I've never seen a look of sheer disgust more telling than his (I was keenly impressed by his controlled tongue, however, when he stopped short of letting the expletives fly), nor a more repulsive display of fluid spraying in every direction that immediately illustrated the necessity of those dorky glasses after all. One more push was all it took before Rex was lying on my (much smaller...ahhhh) stomach and whimpering quietly while sucking his fingers. Poor Adam was again forced to be involved beyond his desire when the resident doctor thrust the scissors into his hand and said, "O.K., dad, cut right here." The whole ordeal was over by 2:00 p.m., just in time for me to have lunch! :)

Rex weighed in at 8 pounds and 1 ounce (90th percentile...I'm so glad he was a week early!) and is 21 inches long. He's so mellow and adorable and looks just like Adam. Amber and Karli can't stop kissing him, holding him, honking his tiny nose, and placing (forcing) his binky in his mouth. They are great big sisters and already love to spoil their baby brother. We are all thankful for this wonderful miracle and new life in our family, as well as the love and support that our families and friends give us. We are so blessed!