And we are... five!

Today was my due date, but as it turns out, our baby boy came early and is already two weeks old!

He came amidst a stomach virus that worked its way through our household and then is now finishing through my parents' home. Andrew was sick the morning of January 26th but that was it. However four days later on January 30th beginning in the early hours of the morning  (maybe even that Tuesday night; I don't quite remember at this point the exact timing of it all), Lucy woke up with the virus. After not getting much sleep, I went to work, letting Chris's mom know that she could call me. She didn't so I went to my 38 week OB appointment. Well, I got home and found out I also had the stomach virus from 4:30-9:30 p.m. or so. Chris was working late so thankfully Chris's mom stayed and put Andrew and still-sick Lucy to bed. Lucy was up at 12:30 a.m. sick again; Chris still wasn't home. I'd already written the rest of my lesson plans and called in to work so I wouldn't have to deal with that in the morning.

I had originally planned to take off my first class anyway for Andrew's Parent/Teacher conferences, but I'd mentioned it to Chris on the phone when we were discussing my sickness and he said he could do it so he ended up being home in the morning of the 31st, too. I was up around 7, likely because of my children who wanted breakfast. Lucy protested her crackers by throwing them on the floor, but I drank a little ginger ale and then had two crackers. I woke Chris up at some point and by 7:30 had some unfamiliar pelvic pain. Around 8 I was convinced I was having contractions. I wasn't quite sure yet because I'd only had back labor before with both Andrew and Lucy and those contractions feel different. I started my commentary about how I wasn't ready to have a baby that day; I wasn't supposed to have a baby then. I wanted another week. Chris wanted me to stop discussing it unless I was sure I was having contractions so I took out my laptop and found a contraction timer and started timing. By 8:45, I called my OB's number, was sent to the operator, and talked to the on-call doctor, who suggested I go into the office and see the other doctor because it would be opening shortly. Chris had left to drop Andrew off at school and to go to Andrew's Parent/Teacher conference already so after a short debate, Chris's mom (who had shown up by 8:30) took me to my OB's office. About 9:30, it was quite full. One of the nurses, who had just seen me the day before, looked at me when I came in and immediately said "No" and repeated herself a few times. I obviously wasn't supposed to be there, but I was and told her I had talked to the other doctor who said I should come in and then showed her my contraction timings which I'd printed. She directed me to the bathroom and then to a room where I would wait for the other doctor. I think I ended up in the bathroom several times for my tiny bladder before the doctor confirmed I was at 5cm and should go to the hospital.

I waited for Chris to pick me up from the doctor's office so we could shoot down 50 to the hospital. He
dropped me off because there weren't any parking spaces outside the pavilion. I told the man who was sitting at the desk I was in labor and he directed me to the elevator to the 2nd floor. I went to the bathroom after filling out the check-in paper because there was another woman there and I had to wait... finally I finished checking in and then went into the labor & delivery floor's doors where I checked in again, thoroughly not wanting to stand or walk anymore. I was so far along (and I suppose my doctor had called ahead) I got to skip triage and go straight to a delivery room.

I should have gone to the hospital sooner instead of making the trip to my OB's office. I could've had my Stadol sooner. Contractions hurt. Instead, I didn't get it until I was at 7cm and only received half a dose. I'm thoroughly not interested in an epidural, but some medication is acceptable. Stadol really helps focus the pain in one area, coupled with a cloudy/fuzzy feeling in the head. Well, my water still hadn't broken, but I was progressing fairly quickly so the RN called my doctor up. He was trying to come back at 1 p.m. but the RN told him I was going to have the baby before then. Thankfully he came sooner. Before he got there though, I kept telling Chris I was ready to push, but I really didn't want to until my doctor showed up. My doctor showed up, broke my water, and not long later at 11:40 a.m. I gave birth to my baby boy Patrick David.

The RN had called NICU just in case my baby felt the effects of the Stadol, but as it turned out, he was perfectly fine and instead of my other two being whisked away immediately after birth to the heat lamp with several nurses, he stayed with me for quite a few minutes before they took him to weigh him and do footprints and whatnot. Even though he was two weeks early, Patrick weighed 6lbs 6oz which was an ounce more than Andrew when he was born (6lbs 5oz at 40 weeks).

Apparently a lot of women had given birth that week because all the rooms on the 3rd floor so I got to go downstairs to the Women's Surgical (or something like that) unit. Once settled in, Chris's parents brought Lucy and Andrew to meet their little brother. They were both so very excited. Granted, Lucy was just as excited to see Patrick on my phone or on the camera as she was to see him in person. Chris's brother came by (he works at the hospital) and eventually my parents and brother visited as well as Anthony.

We were all fine that night, but the next day Chris didn't feel well. By the time my mom came by in the evening about when my food had arrived for dinner, Chris had officially gotten the stomach virus. The nurse strongly suggested he go home after my mom had left, so Chris's mom came to get him. I felt much better after he left (I tend to start assuming and feeling as though I'm going to get sick when I'm around someone who's sick) and had a nice night with Patrick.

Chris's mom spent the next day (Saturday, Feb. 2nd) sanitizing the whole house and finished rearranging Lucy's room and preparing Andrew's room for Patrick, besides the fact the crib was still at our friends' house. I waited for Patrick's hearing retest because he failed the first one and then his circumcision, which finally happened around 2:30 p.m. Chris's mom dropped Chris, who was feeling well enough to drive me home, back off and we were heading home by 3:30 or so.

Unlike with our other children's births, we did not have an influx of visitors. It was our family and Chris's parents for the first week of Patrick's life because we warned people of our recent diseases. We still haven't seen too many people because I've been a little paranoid about passing on our sickness and about catching something from other people.

Anyway, when we left the hospital Patrick weighed in at 6lbs. At his first newborn appointment on the 5th, Patrick weighed 6lbs 4oz. At his two week appointment on the 14th, he was up to 7lbs 2oz. Somehow, even with his eating for 1-5 minutes at a time then not eating again for an hour or two and then repeating for the first few days of his life, he was eating enough to gain weight. After his newborn appointment, he did start eating better, for 10-15 minutes at a time, sleeping for 2-3 hours, then eating again. He sleeps well during the day, but at night he wants to be cuddled.

Andrew and Lucy have adjusted quite well and quickly. Lucy stopped climbing on the pram after the first few days and they both still want to hold him and give him kisses or help burp him, which is really sweet.

We're enjoying it for the most part so far.