Baby Samuel

So, I'm sure you've all been dying for this blog post and checking our blog twice a day to see if we posted it yet, right? No? It doesn't help that baby wasn't actually due to arrive until Friday.

Anyway, I'll give you all the nitty-gritty details, or you can skip down to the pictures if you'd like.

June 23rd I passed a 4 mm kidney stone without any pain or problems. Then in the early hours of July 2nd, I started to get the typical kidney stone symptoms: agonizing pain in my back, regular puking, etc. My dear mother spent that entire day at our house keeping Sophia entertained and reassured as Mama had to "spit in the bucket" multiple times. It was a little frightening for her, poor thing. I was unable to keep anything down most of the day until I finally got some nausea medication that evening. By the time I went to bed, I felt much better and assumed the worst had passed.

At 12:45 AM on July 3rd, the pain started up again. I took my pain medicine, and my nausea medicine, then promptly threw both up. By 3 AM, I couldn't take the pain anymore and told Tim I needed to go to the Emergency Room. Our wonderful neighbor, Matt Een, came and sat at our house with our sleeping child. The hospital staff thought I was in labor, and wouldn't give me pain killers until they reassured themselves that I wasn't. I was begging for drugs at this point, and finally they got my IV in. I was dehydrated, so it took a couple of tries, then they gave me morphine and phenygren (for nausea). They pushed two bags of IV fluid through me to try to flush out the stone. I was completely zonked. We went home around 5:30 AM, and I felt much better. Later that morning, I passed a tiny stone - smaller than the 4 mm one. I was bewildered that it had caused so much more pain, but grateful that it was out.

The evening of July 3rd I had a doctor's appointment. He found that I was dilated to a 4, and everything looked great. We went home to watch fireworks and make plans for the following days festivities. At 6 AM on July 4th, I knew I was in labor. Two weeks early. We weren't ready yet, so we rushed around getting the rest of our stuff packed for the hospital and for Sophia. We went to my parents' house to hang out until the contractions got more regular. Sophia went down to the parade with them. Around 3 PM, I'd had enough, and we headed to the hospital. By now, I was also having kidney pain with contractions, but once they got me the epidural, everything felt better. My doctor broke my water at 4:30 PM, and by 6 PM we were ready to go!

Two contractions later, Baby Samuel was born! He weighed 6 pounds, 4 ounces, and was 20 inches long. He had a healthy set of lungs and let us know how mad he was. But he also let us know how much he loved his Daddy. He immediately stopped crying the very second the nurses handed him to Tim. And Tim has been really good at being able to calm him down ever since.

So, that's our July 4th baby story! But, that wasn't the end of the kidney stones. One week after I gave birth, I passed an enormous 6 mm kidney stone. (Obviously the one that sent me to the ER.) I have felt much better since then, and my hope is the worst is over. We'll have to talk to my urologist to find out.

Thanks for bearing with my long story, and now I'll reward you with some pictures!

First bath

Sophia has been so good with Samuel! She is always excited to see him, and is such a great helper! (Sometimes a little too eager to share her fruit snacks, or shove a binky in his unwilling mouth.) She's been a little crankier than usual because her schedule is a little crazy right now, but she hasn't had any animosity towards the baby. She's going to be a great mother someday. :)

Proud Grandma

He smiles (and giggles) ALL THE TIME in his sleep! So cute!