Cheaters Prosper: A Family of Four

We are a family of four now! Russell Morgan arrived on the 8th. I did cheat to get him here though. My good friend Mandy and I always talked about how we thought using less medical intervention was best when bringing babies into the world. Well, she delivered her little bundle of joy at home with no help (literally, her husband delivered the baby). And well, I joined the leagues of Utah women who were, dare I say, induced! My reasons for going that route were that I was 40 weeks, I was enormously uncomfortable (I could barely walk the last two days), and I didn't want him to come on 9/11 or on Chad's birthday, and I didn't want to deliver a 9 lb baby.

So into the hospital we went. Our nurse starting working on me about noon. At 12:30 the doctor started the pitocin and broke my water. I started contractions at 1:00 and within half hour was about to the breaking point with pain. Luckily the anethesiologist came in and got me my epidural by 2:00. Even he said that my contractions were "humongous" so I didn't feel like too big of a wimp. My epidural didn't work at first though so he dosed me up again about 3:00. Fifteen minutes later the nurse checked me and the baby's head was ready. We waited for another fifteen for the doc and Russell came barreling out at 3:37. So you can see that I cheated in every way possible. I only suffered for one hour and then took every convenience modern medicine could provide. And I don't regret a bit of it. I thought Lydia was an easy delivery, but this guy was ridiculously easy and fast. Yea for me.

Now, I told everyone that I felt enormous, that I knew my baby would be big. Keep in mind that Lydia was only 6 lbs 15 oz when she was born. So will you all believe me when I tell you Russell was 8 lbs 8 oz?


Lydia with her new brother just a few hours after his birth.

Our precious baby. We're doing well. We're conquering nursing with a vengeance. For any of you that remember the absolute torture I went through trying to nurse Lydia you can give me a victory shout because we are doing much better with this guy. I'm recovering well and even faster than I did with Lydia. Russell doesn't have a schedule yet, but I think we'll do just fine. He woke up every three hours last night, but that was a major improvement on the night before. Hopefully it only gets better from here. I can tell you it is so weird to have him here. It's amazing how his presence has already changed the chemistry in our family. I can't help but look at Lydia and feel that she is so much older than she seemed only a week ago. She's been really good about the baby so far. I'm worried about how she'll be when I'm the only adult here to meet her needs though. So far Chad's been around a lot and a few grandmas pop in once in awhile too. Only time will tell. I can say that Monday is looking a little scary because it looks like it's the day that I'll have to do it on my own.

We are so blessed though. A family of four. I can hardly believe it!