Welcome to the World, Wesley!

Eight weeks of bed-rest, 48 hospitalized days, 9 books, 16 magazines, numerous crosswords/puzzles, endless monitor sessions, and 4 IVs later.............. he's here!  Wesley Bryant Thomas arrived on Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 1:50pm weighing in at 6 pounds 15 ounces and 19 inches long.  He was promptly grounded upon birth for all the grief he's given to his mother throughout the pregnancy.

The Labor

I knew something wasn't right Wednesday night on my evening monitor session.  His heart rate was lower than it normally is in the evenings and he wasn't moving around as much as he normally does.  Let's face it, our son is a night owl and the session was not reflecting that.  Yet the nurses still said he passed and took me off the monitor after the usual one hour run.  I was having contractions every 10 minutes and continued to do so up until I went to bed.  I figured I would hold off saying anything since they were spaced far apart and I wanted to see if the contractions woke me up in the middle of the night.  I was able to sleep from 11:15pm-3:45am even though I was still contracting during that time frame.  For whatever reason, I was no longer able to go back to sleep after my contractions once 3:45 hit, and from there I noticed I was still having contractions every 10 minutes.  This continued through the morning.  My doctor came in early to check my dilation around 9:00am and I was dilated to a 4, effaced at 90%, and she could feel our son's head.  After that, I got moved to Labor & Delivery.  After getting hooked up to an IV and given antibiotics, I was allowed to walk around the birthing center so I did that several times, tried to nap unsuccessfully, and talked to Adalynn's teacher for a while about her issues at the preschool.  Nothing seemed to change.  About 1:20pm my doctor came in to check my dilation and said I was at a 5, and she also broke my water.  She said I could continue to walk around as much as I wanted, and I was thinking this would be a long labor since it took 4 hours to dilate one centimeter.  I wasn't feeling like getting up just yet so I kept laying there and soon thereafter the contractions went from being annoying to downright painful, and I was convinced I had to push.  I started to panic and Eddie got a couple of nurses in there who calmed me down and checked my dilation again - I was already at a 9.5 in just those few minutes.  My doctor quickly came back, and of course by then it was too late to ask for any pain meds.  So Wesley arrived in quick fashion in less than a half hour, thankfully.

First Picture; Showing Off His Physique

Adalynn's Reaction

We wanted to make sure that Adalynn was the first to hear her brother's name and meet our newest addition so we had to wait until Wesley underwent all his evaluations and Adalynn arrived to the hospital before the name was revealed (hence the late announcement).  Adalynn gets to the hospital and as she's going from my Mother/Baby room to my room in Labor& Delivery, she was yelling "My baby came out!!!!" to anyone who would listen.  She pronounces his name "Wessely" , which is so cute.  She kept giving him hugs and kisses and held him a couple of times, and she gets this funny reaction when he cries that is a combination of shock, alarm, and excitement.  But she lost interest after about an hour.  We'll see how she reacts tomorrow.

Big Sis Adalynn with Little Bro Wesley

The Name

Wesley Bryant is a family name.  Eddie's middle name is Wesley, so our son is named after his father.  Bryant is the name of my uncle who introduced me and Eddie.  We thought it sounded like a strong confident name, and we hope Lil Mac grows up with those traits.

Named after Daddy

The Aftermath

As freaked out as I was about a normal childbirth, I never stopped to think about the fact that the recovery isn't so fabulous either.  All I can say is OUCH.  Now I get pain meds.  And unfortunately, my feet are still very swollen and I don't have the feeling back in my legs yet either.  I thought some things would go back to normal quickly, but I was mistaken.

Hey, this isn't fun for Mommy either

Our Boy

Wesley was crammed so low for so long (remember I started feeling pelvic pressure at 16 weeks) so as a result, he's got some serious conehead action going on.  Eddie says he would have been 18 inches long if it wasn't for his pointy noggin.  The wives tale is correct - he does have plenty of dark  hair, and not just on his head so that explains my terrible heartburn.  Despite the fact that he's technically premature, he obviously is good-sized and is doing well.  He hasn't had to go to the NICU, and the only preemie action they have taken is to check his blood-sugar levels before he eats to make sure his ranges are normal.  As long as that continues to go well and he can continue to keep his temperature on point without assistance, he's being treated like a term baby and can go home with me on Saturday.  Amazing. 

Our hairy Conehead