It's a Boy!

Our baby was born on July 31.  He weighed 7 lbs, 12 oz and was 20.5 inches long.  My wife was past her due date and went in for another weekly checkup with an ultrasound.  The doctor was concerned that his abdominal growth had slowed down in relation to the rest of his growth.  So she had us come in for induction.

My wife picked me up from work on Tuesday around noon.  But when we got there, there were no rooms available for us.  We lounged for a few hours in the waiting room until finally a room was clean and ready.  Then we waited for a few more hours before our first of many midwives came in. She suggested a plan for induction and how we would proceed.

They administered first Cytotec then Cervidil to try and get things going.  And Pitocin.  The contractions did increase in both intensity and frequency, but not enough.  Her cervix never came down and was stuck at 6-cm dilation.  But her water did break!  After many hours of contractions, little Trystan must have gotten impatient since his heart rate decreased during and after contractions.  So they decided to pull him out via caesarean section.

We reiterated that dad (since mom couldn't) would hold the baby skin-to-skin as soon after the delivery as he was ready.  Our original plan was to have mom hold him on her chest with cord intact before cutting his lifeline and cleaning him up.  But after they yanked him out, they cleaned him up, swaddled him in a blanket, and handed him to me.  Totally not what we asked!!! It really irritated me that they didn't listen to our request.  I felt that the nurse who had that shift was really annoying and inexperienced.  So after holding him for a few minutes, I got the nurse to unwrap him and put him inside my shirt.  Finally!  And oh so wonderful!

Taking his vitals.

First holding him.

Holding him skin-to-skin inside my small shirt.

Looking up at me with those beautiful, curious eyes.

Autistic big brother meeting him for first time.

Another big brother. :)

First set of stairs. #FutureUltraRunner