Aaron's Arrival!!

Well here it is:
After celebrating a fun (yet very uncomfortable) 4th of July we went to bed with anticipation that anytime between 8am-12pm the next day the hospital would call and we would know what time our induction would be.

Waiting for the call

Friday morning came and the waiting really began. I cleaned what I could, and realized I still hadn't packed a hospital bag for myself, or finished the laundry, or left any special instructions for Maddix, etc. Well I frantically set out to accomplish everything and with each ring of the phone I became more disappointed, and anxious for it to be the hospital. At noon they still hadn't called so we decided to make some lunch; and of course, that is when they called. At 12:20pm I received the call asking if we could get to the A.F. Hospital by 1:00pm because they had several other inductions scheduled that day and if we were late, we'd be passed over. Believe us, as quick as we could we grabbed our stuff and were out the door.

By 1:30 our paper work was signed, I was put in bed, and my nurse checked to see how dilated I was: I was at a 4. My nurse said my body was ready to go and had we not come in that afternoon we would have been in by the night time for sure... so that made me happy. She also felt around and said if my water would just brake that baby would come right now, but that I had a LOT of fluid packing him in.
Once we started on the pitocin drip I got an epidural while the Nurse Anesthetist was available (I was at a 5) and we just began waiting for the contractions to reach an "official labor," where they were consistently 2mins apart. At 2:30pm I was officially started with labor and now it just became a waiting game for the doctor to come and break my water. I was so happy with the fact that it was Dr. Bean delivering that day and when he came in he made us feel special, that his time was devoted to us, and that it was going to be a beautiful delivery (never mind you he'd just delivered his 7th baby before us and was heading to two more after us). As soon as he broke my water Aaron was ready to come. When I was supposed to start my first push they said, "oh there is his head already," and travis said, "Lace, he has hair:)" I was so excited they could already see him. And with about 4 simple pushes (never even broke a sweat) he came out with his hands next to his head, and the cord around his neck.
Travis said the doctor was so fast about removing his cord and the next thing I know the nurses have him up on my stomach trying to get him to breath. Everyone was very calm about it, but I could tell they were concerned that he wouldn't take that first breath. I just remember his face in my direction all black and blue and just NOT breathing as they ruffed him up with towels trying to stimulate him. I think Dr. Bean could tell it was overwhelming me because he calmly suggested the nurse take him away; so they pick him up by one leg and carried him upside down to his new location where he finally let out a cry. So into the world Aaron came at 5:52pm (just before our nurse had to leave at 6pm, which became our running joke of the day), weighing 6lbs 15oz, and measuring 20 1/2in long.

Travis accompanied Aaron to the nursery where he received his first bath and I waited upstairs for the epidural to ware off enough that I could be moved to the next room.
That night was extremely relaxing with this wonderful peaceful feeling. By the time we got settled into the next room it was 7:30pm so we just called our parents and asked them to spread the word, and that everyone could come visit the next day. We had tons of visitors the next day and yet I managed to not get a single photo of anyone.

 When Maddix came the next morning he ran over to see his baby and seemed very surprised at what baby brother ACTUALLY looked like. He had expected a friend his size. He also looked at my tummy and was shocked that Aaron had fit in me. He held him momentarily then just wanted to cuddle in my arms and watch a cartoon:) And that was fine; I had missed my boy.

Aaron mostly slept our entire stay at the hospital, I mostly ate my delicious all you can eat food (which included 3 shakes) that the hospital had to offer ( I was really impressed with most of it), and Travis took care of both of us; I just love that man. So we stayed the two days, and when it came time to go Travis was so ready, and they practically had to pry me away from my room because I LOVED my stay. It was perfect, and I was nervous to go home and start again; however we left safe and sound and when we got home we were only greeted by Nala because everyone else was at Church so we let her smell him and figure him out. Then when Maddix came home he was quite excited to see us and even asked to hold baby brother, after which he quickly decided to start pushing him off his lap because he'd had enough:) It's a moment to moment thing with him but I hope they end up great friends.

First hugs and kisses from big brother, Maddix

Oh and a funny side note: I had been sitting on ice packs for the first 24 hrs; they were rubber gloved frozen with water inside. Well I forgot about my last one and that night I was hold Aaron while we watched a movie and we heard a loud POP, followed by gushing water. First thoughts: Did the baby pop? Did my tailbone break again? Did my water break a second time? All that in the first moment before we laughed and realized the glove had popped:)

Warning: Picture below is of the umbilical cord

So the doctor told Travis he better snap a photo of the impressive cord. It was spun into a twisty rope, was as thick as a rope, and had a giant knot in it from "all the back flips he must have been doing inside you."