Slye and the Family Home: He's Here!

2 days old

We are so in love. David and I just can't get enough of this little guy. This is what life is all about!

The past week has been wonderful. Hard, but wonderful. My delivery was very fast for a first time delivery, but very difficult.

We checked in to St. Luke's at 830pm on Monday evening with hopes of starting the process by 9pm. The were putting a balloon in to start things before the pitossin was introduced the next morning. Unfortunately, the residents were backed up with emergencies, so I was not seen until around midnight. By this time, I had taken an Ambien to sleep through the night. Because of the late start, I took the Ambien a lot later than I wanted... probably not the best idea! By the time they were ready to start the pitossin at 5am, I was in REM sleep and opening my eyes was the hardest thing to do! But, low and behold... an hour later I was screaming for an epidural as David helped me through each contraction. They were getting closer and closer, and my water broke around 630am, gushing on the floor - what a crazy sight! Think "The Exorcist" and you can imagine the screaming that ensued! The nurses had not thought that I was ready for the epidural because the "balloon" had not fallen out (it falls out at 3-4cm), but by the time they checked me, I was already 6-7 cm dilated! They were dumbfounded and embarrassed... APPARENTLY the balloon does not "fall out" with everyone!!! I was literally about to kill everyone but David that walked through that door without an epidural! Finally the epidural came - at 7cm dilation!!!! Within an hour after that, I was 9-10cm (I think this was around 8am), and David was on the phone with our parents urging them to get to the hospital asap.

We were hoping it would only take an hour of pushing, but as we all knew, Harrison DID NOT want to come out!!! Three hours of pushing later and Harrison Philip emerged with big cheeks and ready to eat!

The days we spent in the hospital were great - St. Luke's is an exceptional hospital. We loved our L&D nurse, Carrie, and our postpartem nurse, Felishia. Not to mention that our OB is like family to us. She was absolutely amazing, coming to check on us multiple times a day, with her last stop being at 1130pm.... she is truly devoted to her work. We love her so much!

When we arrived home, Mom had a fabulous meal for us and continued to cook, clean, and babysit for 4 days straight. It has been amazing because I am on a pain cocktail for a few weeks and have been ordered to take care of the baby only, in addition to only lounging around and letting things heal! The past three nights, she's been the "nursery" for Harrison just to give us a break before we're totally on our own. We tried being our own "nursery" for the first night home, but that was an absolute disaster and we were both train wrecks the entire day that followed!

So, now that we're slowly settling into a routine and Harrison is sleeping better, we're on our own!!! I cried for an hour this morning before David and Mom left for the airport, but she left me with so much strength and love that I have no doubt David and I will be able to get through our first weeks of parenting together. And don't worry - she'll be back in 3 weeks to visit, I'm sure going through withdrawals from Harrison at that point!

First Days/Homecoming:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Aubreyslye/HarrisonPhilipSlyeSFirst3Days#

More Pics from Week One

http://picasaweb.google.com/Aubreyslye/HarrisonWeekOne#