1 Week Old

Early in the morning on Wednesday, October 28 the last phase of the journey in welcoming Max into the world began. My contractions started in the middle of the night. I stayed home from work that day so that I would be more comfortable and so I could get things ready. Eric got home that night and we decided to stay home from our birthing class. By the time Thursday morning came around, my contractions were around 5 minutes apart. We called the midwife and she said not to head in just yet. Wait awhile and see if we could just make it to our appointment that afternoon. That’s what we did. She checked me and told me to go back home for a few hours and once the contractions were 2-3 minutes apart to head into the hospital. She felt certain we would have our little boy that night. So around 6:00, we headed into the hospital. We got checked in and they even moved us into a labor and delivery room. But, labor stalled and picked up all night long. We walked, showered, bounced, rocked, everything we could think of the get the contractions to be consistent. But, Friday morning, they began loading in all of the equipment needed to welcome our baby into the world. I called my mom and told her we should have a baby any time now. Well, he had other plans. Of course, contractions stalled again. Around noon, the midwife came to talk to us about concerns and possible interventions. Trying to break my water, giving me an epidural so that I could get some rest and giving me an IV of fluids to keep me from getting more dehydrated. I had been laboring for quite some time and after she examined me, she told me that the baby was facing sunny side up so this was keeping things from progressing. After she talked to us, we went on a walk to discuss our options. We still felt very strongly about not having any medications, so we opted for an IV for me to get fluids in me and trying some different positions during the contractions to get the baby to flip around. Well, it worked! Soon, my water broke and then it was time to push. Before I knew it, I was holding my little boy in my arms and couldn’t have been happier. You could have asked me to run a mile at that point and I really believed I could have. Eric got to cut the cord and we were able to just hold our son and be together as a family for about an hour while all of the nurses and doctors finished things up. I was absolutely oblivious to what was going on around me. All I could focus on was my family. Around 4:00, Eric took Max to the other side of the room with the nurse to get him weighed and measured and I went to take a shower. It felt great to get cleaned up and walk to my recovery room. Once we got there, we ordered food and then settled in for the neverending parade of nurses coming in and out wanting to check things on Mommy and Max. But, things did calm down and we all got some sleep that night. Max slept pretty much the whole night. Just woke up a few times to get a diaper change and feed.
Saturday, we just hung out in our room, watched the Hawkeyes, took a nap and then got ready to go home that evening. We were home by 7:00 that night, had a few trick-or-treaters and headed to bed pretty soon. Max had a pretty busy Sunday with lots of family coming over to meet him and hold him. Grandma and Papa (Danielle’s mom and dad) drove up from Texas and stayed the week with us. It was nice to have them here to help us adjust to life with a baby.
This week Max has done a great job at sleeping. He is a pro when it comes to snoozing. He does really well at night, wakes up right on schedule to eat and then goes back to sleep. We got to talk to his Aunt Mary, Uncle Doug and Cousins Wyatt and Cora on the webcam tonight. We are going to be going down to Texas in December and can’t wait for him to meet the rest of the family.
Here are some pictures from his first week at home.