Lachlan Kai

Lachlan Kai arrived yesterday, August 5, at 1:08pm! He weighed in at 8lbs 13oz (smaller than Jonas!) and was 19.25 inches long. Before I forget all the details, I need to write down the birth story...

Troy and I arrived at the hospital around 4:40 in the morning. After checking in, the escort tried to put me in a wheelchair, but I informed that I would soon be strapped into bed and would not be riding in that chair. He was not thrilled with me! We got settled into our room and had all the routine monitors, IVs, bloodwork, questions done. When the nurse checked me, I was still the same as I was in the office on Monday. Bummer! My pitocin was started around 6am but didn't cause any noticeable contractions until 8.

Dr. Harden came in at 8 to break my water (what a gush!), and she checked me again. I was only 3-4 cm by now, but she assured me things would pick up and said we'd see her at lunch to hopefully deliver the baby.

Around 9:45 I got VERY uncomfortable and was ready for the epidural. Too bad the lady next door to me had just requested hers too, so I had to wait a whole hour! Finally the anesthesiologist (who happened to be one of my teaching assistants in anatomy at med school) arrived and put the epidural in. My nurse checked me again, and I was only 4-5 cm! We started preparing ourselves for a long day but hopefully a nap now that the pain was gone. All was good for half an hour until I realized I was still feeling my contractions on my left side and my right side was totally dead. My right leg didn't even feel like it was part of my body anymore! It took another hour to get the doc back in to mess with the epidural, and I finally got some pain relief! As I prepared to settle in a for a short nap, Dr. Harden showed up to check me (it was exactly 1pm). I expected her to say something like, "You're 7cm; see you in a few hours," but instead she said, "We're having a baby now!" I was already 10cm and he was at +3 station. Troy came out of the bathroom to find the bed disassembled, Dr. Harden all sterilized, and we were ready to push. Troy had to hold my dead leg for me, and almost kicked himself in the head with it!

I pushed for 7 minutes and his head came out, with his cord wrapped two times around his neck. Then she told me he had shoulder dystocia (shoulders too wide) and my nurse jumped on bed to push on my stomach to pop his shoulders out. Glad I had that epidural! The rest of Lachlan followed easily but they rushed him over to the warmer, so Troy didn't get to cut the cord. It was a nervous few minutes for Troy and me while we worried about what might be wrong with our little guy. He was very purple and took a little while to cry, but by 5 minutes his APGAR was up from 5 to 9. Dr. Harden also found that he had a "true knot" in his umbilical cord, and we are truly thankful that nothing bad happened from this (If it got pulled tighter, it could have cut off his blood supply). There was some worry that Lachlan's collarbone might be broken but he's been moving both arms without problems. Aside from some bruising on his face and neck, he looks just perfect!

Our first night went well, considering all the interruptions you get in the hospital, and we are looking forward to going home this evening.

Reef and Jonas visited this morning. Reef was very excited about coming to see Lachlan but the first thing he asked for was his present! Lachlan brought both boys a car transporter truck, a jeep, and 2 books. No wonder I gained more weight this time! After a few minutes of playing, Reef did come over to check out the baby and commented on how tiny his feet were. We even convinced him to hold Lachlan for 2 seconds. Jonas, on the other hand, is still pretty clueless!

Lachlan has enjoyed all of his first visitors too, even though we are horrible at taking pictures of him with his new friends. Thanks to Bruce, Justin and Jill, Rachel, Katelin, Lindsey, Gigi, Grandma, brothers Reef and Jonas, and KC for visiting!

Now for the important stuff....PICTURES!

Troy gave Lachlan his very first bath!

Our first family photo as a family of 5!