My little King is finally here!

My little king came later than the date given by the 8 week ultrasound which was October 17. According to my calculations he was not supposed to come until the 24th.

I stopped working on the 8th. All my co-workers and patients were amazed to see me at work being that far along in my pregnancy. I just felt great and kept explaining that I wanted to spend more time at home after the baby was born, that's why I kept working. The week after I stopped working I would go for 3 mile walks with other pregnant friends almost every day. I wanted to get things going since my body was not giving me any signs of labor. My due date came and I was beginning to feel a little uncomfortable but I was still predicting to have a baby on the 19th or 20th. My sister Patty was having a scheduled C-section on the 20th so I thought it would be neat to have our babies the same day.

Right before heading to the hospital.I had a pre-scheduled appointment on Tuesday the 19th in which we would discuss induction if I had not had the baby by then. When I went to the appointment the doctor wanted to check the fluid pockets around the baby. He told me the fluid pockets were measuring very low and that I should go directly to the hospital to be induced. I was not expecting this at all. I still had to do some things, I was basically not prepared mentally, physically, and emotionally. I was dreading the pain for sure! We had to follow the doctor's orders, so we had my mom watch the kids while we went to the hospital.

We got to the hospital at 1:30 pm, did paperwork, IV, monitor, etc.

Pitocin was started at 4:30 pm. at 2 mg per hour, the plan was to increase it by 2 every 20 minutes. Caleb had a midterm that evening at 6:30 so since I was not feeling much I told him to go and take his test. He was hesitant, but I finally convinced him.

The nurse did not increase the Pitocin every 20 minutes like she had said, but once it was up to 6-8 mg, the contractions were really painful. I was checked by the nurse and she said I was 3-4 cm dilated. These were not good news since I knew I had to wait a little longer for the epidural. I asked for some pain medicine and was given Fentanyl which made me feel really good (sleepy, and it decreased the intensity of my contractions) for about 15 minutes only. It was too early for a second shot of Fentanyl, with the Pitocin going at 10mg/hr, my contractions were killing me! I told the nurse to go get the anesthesiologist ASAP, I think I sad "hurry!!!" I was in so much pain and I was not getting a break between each contraction. They seemed to come every 1-2 minutes. It was close to 8 pm when I finally got the epidural. I was comfortable finally! the nurse checked me and said I was ready. Unfortunately, Caleb was stuck in traffic, so we had to wait for him. He got there shortly after and I begun to push. I pushed for about 30 minutes and our baby was born at 9:02 pm. The cord was loosely wrapped around his neck twice but he seemed perfectly normal. I was told his APGAR score was 9.

We named or baby Ryan which means little king. He weighed in at 7 lbs 15 oz and was 21 inches long. As soon as I saw his face I said "he looks like Ilan but with black hair."

Proud and tired dad of 3!!!This was our celebration dinner.

It's been a rough first week dealing with physical pains and our two other children. They are extremely...acting out? and in so much need of attention, which at the moment I'm not able to provide. I'm relying completely on Caleb, which is doing the best he can. I do see the light at the end of the tunnel! Soon, we will be back to a normal life. We will get through this, and soon we will have 3 boys playing and probably fighting each other.