We actually went in Friday night after a couple versions of the conversation from the "It's Not a Movie" post. Kim actually didn't really want to go in, because she was pretty sure they were just going to tell her to go home after keeping her overnight. Which is almost what happened, actually, but Kim was able to explain her reasons for not wanting to go home with enough clarity that the doctor decided to go ahead and break her water late Saturday morning. After that, it happened pretty fast. I think they broke the water at around 10:40 a.m. Isaac was born at 1:15 p.m. At one point, Kim mentioned the contractions were starting to hurt and requested her epidural (Wikipedia for the curious, but basically it pumps anesthesia into her spine). Around 11:30ish I had to leave for a while, because they want as few people as possible in the room when the anesthesiologist performs the procedure, since poking around people's spines is a fairly delicate operation. So I went downstairs to grab some lunch from the cafeteria, and when I (and, incidentally, Kim's nurse) got back from lunch, they were calling the doctor. Half hour/forty-five minutes of pushing later, we had a baby boy.
It's a heck of a thing, watching a baby be born. I'm pretty sure that I was focusing more on Kim last time, but this time I watched Isaac pretty much the whole way. Heck of a thing. Way more of an impact that watching the births on the pre-childbirth classes at the hospital. Really, the whole process is pretty mind-blowing when you're face-to-face with it.
"Birth: Quite Possibly the Damndest Thing Conceivable"
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Afterward, the observing student nurse (who actually missed the entire delivery; I don't know if she was on lunch or not, but she got there just in time for the cutting of the cord) took the camera from me so we could get some full family shots. She did a pretty nice job, given the low quality of our camera.
A big thanks to Sarah, Neil, Shirley, and Dave, all of whom helped to make this weekend work. And everyone at Woman's Hospital of Texas, of course, though none of them read this blog. And everybody who prayed and supported us over the past three months. Kim hit 37 weeks at midnight Friday/Saturday (which is why the doc was okay inducing labor), and we had a perfectly healthy baby boy. Healthier even than Robbie was, because they didn't have to take Isaac out for any oxygen at all. (Robbie needed a few short minutes of oxygen when he was born) Isaac was seven pounds, two ounces. Which Kim called. When the doctor asked how big she thought the baby would be, she called seven pounds two ounces. And there it was. On the dot. Not even a tenth of an ounce off. He was also nineteen-point-five inches. So he was a pretty good size for a 37-week baby.
Robbie was SO EXCITED to see his baby brother for the first time. I put Isaac down in front of Robbie on the bed, and the three-year-old's face slowly lit up. He patted him a couple of times, and I helped him hold his baby brother.
Kim is doing well (though she just called me unable to sleep because Isaac won't let her lay him down, so she's having a rough night). She's having less pain than she had after Robbie, which is nice. Tomorrow, she and Isaac will be coming home. I'll be taking my paternity leave this week, so hopefully I'll be more help than annoyance. Now the real sleepless nights begin. (Unfortunately, more for her than for me) Soon we'll have to figure out how we're going to do four people with one car, and soon we'll have to find out how we're going to pay for two kids in day care. Very soon, this'll get very hard, and we won't have nearly as many visitors in the early-going as we had with Robbie. We'll appreciate your prayers. And if blogging gets sporadic again, it's 'cause I've got diapers to change.
