Kai

Kai has arrived!

Tuesday night (the 13th), while we were waiting to leave for my induction scheduled for 1AM, I started having contractions. I thought they were just more Braxton Hicks contractions, but when they didn't go away after several hours, I started timing them in the car on the way to the hospital, around 11PM. There were a few errant ones, but they were pretty consistent at seven minutes apart. I started to get hopeful that I was really going into labor on my own, but I didn't quite believe it yet. I was anxious to hear what the doctor would say when I was admitted.

We arrived at the hospital and I was put on monitors and the doctor checked my cervix a little after midnight. I was already 3cm dilated, so we were able to skip the first half of the induction! That put us about 8 hours ahead of schedule. They did end up putting me on some Pitocin to speed up the contractions a bit, and I labored through the night. Around 3:30AM I got my epidural.

At around 7:15AM, the doctor checked me, broke my water, and I was completely dilated and ready to push whenever I was ready. But since I was not yet feeling the urge to push, she said we could let the baby "labor down," or come down the birth canal a bit on his own. However, just minutes later I felt ready to push. The nurse asked me to wait a few minutes while she checked her other patients, and I said okay, but within another couple of minutes I couldn't wait any longer, so I buzzed her back to the room. At about 7:25, I told Justin, "This baby is coming out soon. Before 8:00."

The nurse came back into the room and I pushed a few times. When she could see the baby's head, she called for the doctor. I pushed for about a half an hour (and it was the only part of the entire labor that was extremely painful), and at 7:56, there was Kai, perfect in every way. He was 9lbs 6oz and 21 3/4 inches long. He has a lot of black hair and blue-gray eyes. He looks a lot like Alexander did, but with a little less cheek.

This is his first picture and his first bath:

Here we are about to attempt breastfeeding for the first time. He latched right on and was immediately a pro.

I had Justin stay with me for a few hours, and then I pushed him out the door so that he would be able to attend Dad's Day with Alexander at his preschool. Kai was a great baby while at the hospital and we were able to go home Thursday night. We got home after the boys were in bed. Friday morning, when Alexander woke up, he opened my bedroom door and, upon seeing Kai sleeping on my chest, he gasped. "Mommy! Kai is so cute!" he said. And he is.

(BTW, Blogger has changed the way to upload/format pictures and I haven't figured it out completely but wanted to get pics up, so....)