Nathan's Grand Entrance

(Nathan at 2 Weeks)

Well... It has been two and a half weeks since our Nathan arrived into our lives, and I cannot believe how fast the time has flown! He is just the sweetest little guy. We love him so much. Even though he looks so much like Owen, he is already such a different baby! He is such a good baby. A champion sleeper and eater! Last Friday, at his two week check up he already weighed 8 pounds 8oz... and is already growing out of newborn outfits! It took Owen 6 weeks to grow out of these! He sleeps and sleeps... most nights he just wakes up once between 3-5am, eats, then goes back to sleep until 7 or 8. I know, I'm SPOILED! Owen was never like that! And when he is awake he is just quiet and observes his new crazy family. I love him so much.

Both boys are asleep right now, so I thought I would take these precious few minutes of mommy-time to document the birth experience I had with Nathan.

I went into labor Saturday (1/28) night. I had my eye on going into labor that Saturday all along... it just seemed like a good/convenient (For Shad) day to have a baby. At my doctors appointment on the previous Friday (1/27) when it looked like I was not going to have him anytime soon I decided to use the weekend to "induce" labor myself! I told Shad we were going to eat all kinds of spicy food, walk the mall until I dropped, and re-create the night my water broke with Owen! So that's what we did; We ate Mexican food and walked the mall while I contracted. The night my water broke with Owen we had gone out on a double date with our friends, the Fischers, to Olive Garden and then played games afterwards. An hour after we got home... my water broke unexpectedly! So on Saturday, as a joke, we went out with the Fischers to Olive Garden and then back to their place to play games!! This time, however, I was contracting all through the meal every 9 minutes! They weren't very intense and not close enough together to get me really excited... plus I just assumed it was from all the walking around earlier. We went back to their place and played the SAME games we played two years ago before I had Owen... and then the contractions stopped. **sigh** False alarm. Shad and I came home and put in a movie... and about an HOUR after we got home my contractions came back... FULL BLOWN every 4-7 minutes and HARD! We timed them for about an hour, but I was in serious pain. So at about midnight we started packing our hospital bag... I took a shower to help with the pain and Shad called the hospital. They told us to come in, because it sounded like this was for real! We arrived at the hospital at about 2 AM... about an hour later I was checked into the hospital waiting for a labor/delivery room already dilated to a 5 and contracting every 3-4 minutes!

Finally, after what felt like hours and hours of contractions I had my epidural in around 4:30... and tried to get some sleep. (Shad had NO problem catching some Zz's on the couch!) The doctor came in at some point and broke my water to help me progress faster. And that seemed to do the trick... by 7 AM I was fully dilated and ready to push! We woke up Shad and told him baby is on the way and the nurse left to find the doctor. Unfortunately there were 3 other women who were ready to push and have a baby... so I was last in line!! After waiting about 45 minutes... trying NOT to push (And Shad slightly panicking that he MIGHT have to catch this baby! haha!) the doctor came (Poor lady... she had a busy morning!!). Luckily, Nathan came out less then 10 minutes later at 7:55AM! Completely perfect, healthy, and looking EXACTLY like Owen! He weighed in at 7 pounds 5 oz, 20 inches long, and LOTS and LOTS of luscious dark hair!

The doctor and commotion was all over within about 20 minutes and Shad, Nathan, and I were able to have some quiet family time together, just the three of us. Shad and I couldn't help but laugh about the irony that yes, the combination of Olive Garden and games worked again! Apparently that is the perfect recipe to induce labor for me! We discussed, debated, and re-hashed all the names we had been talking about for the last 6 months... and FINALLY decided on Nathan Samuli. Which, ended up being the perfect name for him. It was still a little weird, because I kept wanting to call him Owen... it really is crazy how much they look alike! We, of course, had my parents and BIG brother Owen come visit us. And were able to go home the next day with a clean bill of health!!

Overall the whole birthing experience was MUCH faster and quite a bit smoother than with Owen. It was quieter, the last time I was the only patient in the birthing center... so I had every doctor and nurse in the room swirling around me. This time it was much less chaotic. Also, the healing process has also gone a lot smoother, I pretty much am feeling back to my normal self... with the exception of the few extra pounds on my belly! :)

We are so blessed and extremely grateful to have such a sweet, perfectly healthy little boy. He is perfect. I LOVE LOVE LOVE being a mother to two of the sweetest best little boys around. We are so lucky!