Tears of Joy: A first for me

Timeline of Monday, October 10, 2011 (due date +7 days)

(sorry if this is TMI)

1 am, 2 am, 3 am, 4 am - I woke up so excited/nervous I could hardly wait

5:30 am - We checked in at the hospital - I made cookies the night before to take for the nurses. (I found out today that we were the talk of the labor and delivery unit . . . my friend is a nurse there and said the nurses loved that I brought cookies for all of my nurses)

6:30 am - Dilated to a "tight 1" (aka not really dilated yet) they began the oxytocin drip 

7:30 am - The doctor broke my water 

Sometime in the am - The bird pictured below ran into my hospital room window. 

It took him a couple of hours, but he eventually came to and flew away

10:30 am - I got the epidural (greatest invention ever!) and Allen almost passed out : ) 

12:45 pm - Dilated to a 5

2:30 pm - Dilated to a 9! The nurse started to get everything ready for the delivery

Allen practiced sitting down next to me in case he got light-headed during delivery

3:30 pm - Dilated to a 10 and started to push

3:48 pm - The doctor was pulling on his scrubs as he came rushing to the room

3:51 pm - Caleb was born! (8 lbs 2 oz, 21.5 inches) 

His dad cut the cord and grandma took pictures as they took Caleb to suction the meconium out of his lungs.

The doctor talked to me while he stitched me up but I have no clue what he said because I couldn't stop staring over at the little miracle on the NICU table. 

 

What seemed like an eternity later, as I watched Allen carrying Caleb to me, I was so excited to hold him in my arms for the first time. 

I had eagerly awaited this moment for nine months . . . then as he handed Caleb to me, I felt an overwhelming sense of love and joy. 

I can say this was the first time I have ever really cried tears of joy. There are moments that I came close to tears of joy: when Allen proposed to me and when we were married - but in those moments my joy and excitement made me laugh instead of cry (he actually asked me what I was laughing at after he proposed, I was just so happy).

 Little did I know in the moment that I first held Caleb that this would only be the first of many times I would cry tears of joy over the next couple of weeks. For the first few days we were home, I cried tears of joy each time I would kneel to pray before going to bed (and by "going to bed", I mean taking a 2 hour nap before the next feeding). Each time I felt the same sense of love, gratitude and joy for the precious baby God has blessed me with and the husband I am blessed to have at my side through all of this.

Family cuddle time

 

Proud Dad with his baby boy

Proud Grandma

Going home outfit! So cute!