He's Here!

Well, if you haven't heard--or you can't guess from the title--Alex has arrived! He was born on June 7th at 10:29am.

I started having contractions Monday night around 8pm and they progressed through the night. On Tuesday morning, Kevin left for work and a little later I decided to call and check in with the doctor, since the contractions seemed to be coming about 5 minutes apart. The nurse said that she could "hear it in my voice" and suggested that we come on in. Of course I had to clean up the kitchen, make up the bed and take a shower first, but then I called Kevin and he raced home and we left for the doctor's.

Once there, I was hooked up to monitors that showed they were actually 3 minutes apart (and beginning to really hurt!) but I was not progressing enough in other areas, so after two hours we were sent home to wait a bit longer. We went to my parent's house and tried to eat and rest and finally left for the hospital at around 7pm. I was checked there and still had not made significant progress and we were told to do some "fast-paced" laps around the hallways--REAL fun to do, especially since I was stopping every few minutes for a contraction.

Anyway, fast forward about an hour and a half and on a memorable lap around my water broke (VERY hilarious!!)--so I earned my ticket to stay at the hospital. This was about 11pm on Tuesday night. Jump ahead about 10 more hours of very painful labor--the epidural apparently wasn't as 'miraculous' as they claim--and I was finally ready to push. I pushed for about an hour and a half--Ouch, ouch, and more ouch--and I was completely spent. The decision was made to use forceps (mom says I was asking for the Jaws of Life at this time) and after a whirlwind of preparation and the worst ten minutes of my life, Alex finally was born!!

We both had fevers during the labor and there was some concern about his breathing, so he was rushed off to be put on monitors and such, but was really doing great. I had to have I.V. antibiotics for the next 24 hours but did fine as well. We had to stay at Piedmont for two days because of the fevers and because Alex has a touch of jaundice, but finally were able to be discharged on Friday around noon.

So far, he has been a very calm and quiet baby. He sleeps a TON and likes to eat and has enjoyed napping on daddy during the World Cup games. (Kevin was excited to have TWO great things happen this week--Alex AND the World Cup!) We think we'll keep him--though we have NO idea who he looks like. We've joked about changing his name to Saul because he looks very much like an old Jewish man. :)

I'm working on posting some pictures from the last few days at http://www.shivers.photosite.com/ under "Alex". They should be up soon.

Anyway, that's our story! Thanks so much for all of your calls and support. We've enjoyed being able to share this pregnancy with you and will continue to update with pictures and such as Alex grows and changes--don't worry, it won't be every day!! :)

Love,
Kevin, Natalie & Alex