The story

Friday-- he started his light treatment.



Saturday, Tim likes the double fisted pacifiers.



Sunday



Friday Night the girls and daddy went to the auction at the school. They bought this cake for Timmy called 2 peas in a pod. Sarah and Isabelle tried to eat the peas. Isabelle said it didn't taste very good.

So, I guess it is time for me to write all the details of the birth story-- don't worry I won't include it ALL :-).

We thought we were supposed to call the hospital at 6:00 am, but instead we got a call at about 5:30 to see if we could make it to the hospital at 6:00. My mom was still at her house, and I wanted to take a shower, so we told them we could maybe make it at 6:30. I went and told the girls good bye and that we were going to get our baby. Lisi cheered, I don't think Sarah woke up because she just kind of stared at me glassy eyed and went back to sleep, and Isabelle was already in our bed-- I think she was trying to get every last bit of time being the baby of the family.

We made it to the hospital at about 6:45 or so. From the time they called me until we got there, 4 women came in in labor, so it was no longer slow at Labor and Delivery. They got everything ready and the doctor came in right around 8:00 and broke my water and they started the pitocin. Since I was a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) they couldn't give me very much pitocin, or there was a risk of uterine rupture, so they started slow. When they broke my water Timmy's heart rate dropped, which is pretty common-- I guess it is a shock to the baby when there is no more water to float around in. I laid on my side and that seemed to do the trick and his heart rate went back to normal. I was a little scared (okay a lot scared) that they would have to do another c-section-- which would have been fine in order to get baby Timmy out, but I really didn't want another. So, I was very relieved that Timmy would be okay, and I wouldn't have to have another c-section. At about 10:00 the doctor called to see how things were going and I was dilated to a 4. He was not very happy that I hadn't asked for my epidural yet, so I got one about an hour later. The contractions were hard, but I was dealing fine. Tim really wanted me to get an epidural because he couldn't help me with the pain, plus the doctor wanted me to get one as soon at the pit started-- so I decided it was time. I was so lucky because the anesthesiologist was the one that I had with Isabelle. He set me up and had to run because he had a c-section to do and said he would come back in about an hour to tell me about the pump (only I did not realize it was a pump with a button that I could push when I felt more pain than I wanted to) He said the pain meds would last an hour or so but he would be back before that happened. Well the epidural was not working very well-- I didn't know I had a pump, so I hadn't pushed the button, and it had worn off. The right side seemed to be okay, but I could feel everything on the left side, and pitocin makes for lots of strong contractions. We had paged the nurse a couple of times but she never came. She was not very attentive the whole time-- she checked me when I got there, and when the doctor called at 10:00-- other than that, it was me and Tim hanging out. Finally at about 12:15 or so I could feel the baby moving down the birth canal and I needed to push, so Tim went into the hall to find the nurse. He couldn't find her, so he grabbed another nurse and she checked me and said I was complete and she would call the doctor. So, she pushed the epidural button about 100 times, which made my legs completely useless, but I guess she wanted it to work quickly. The doctor got there, I pushed about 4 times and out came baby Timmy. He peed on the doctor-- that was probably for breaking my water and disrupting his happy home and he screamed while they were cleaning him up. After Tim cut the cord, the doctor gave him to me, and we were so glad this little guy finally came. He was beautiful and healthy and we were happy to have him with us. The girls came a little while later and went and saw him in the nursery. They got to hold him as soon as I was in a regular room.

He has been a great baby. He only cries when he is hungry or has a dirty diaper, or needs to burp. We are all in love with this little guy. He is great incentive for the girls to get their chores done.

Friday his bilirubin test came back a little high, so they put him under lights. I hate it. It is so hard to not be able to hold him whenever you want, we have kind of cheated on that though. Timmy doesn't really like it when he is wide awake because he has to wear the eye covers, so we have let him out when he is awake. He is pretty alert a few times a day and it is fun to just sit and watch him. Today the doctor said we don't have to put him under lights, but we have to have more tests tomorrow. If the jaundice is from something called ABO incompatibility then we need to do more lights. So, we still have the machine. Hopefully tomorrow his levels will be down again, and his blood test will show that it is just newborn jaundice.

By the way, the winner for the guess the weight contest is Rachelle. Yeah Rachelle! I am glad it wasn't one of the higher weight guesses, although chubby babies are awfully cute!