Calvin Daniel Henry!!!!

Well it finally happened!!!!! Our precious baby boy arrived on Monday, August 20th at 9:14 am. He was 7 pounds exactly and 19.5 inches long. We named him Calvin Daniel Henry and will probably call him 'Cal' a lot as well. Here's the story on his arrival--you can read if interested, or you can just browse through the pictures. I know it's kinda long. :)

My water broke at 1:52 am early Monday morning, just the day after my own birthday. I was contracting right away and they were very close together so we hurried to the hospital and were admitted. After laboring for a few hours and then getting an epidural, a very good nurse noticed the baby’s heartbeat was dropping and called in the doctor. (My doctor was actually out of town but fortunately, the doctor on call was awesome! We feel so blessed she was there.) After the doctor checked me she found I was a 9 ½ so they thought that might be the reason the baby’s heartbeat was down. But after putting in an internal fetal monitor and shifting me in different positions, things weren’t changing and in fact were getting worse. All the nurses and the doctor immediately started unplugging machines left and right and rushing around the room. They told me they were going to move me into the O.R. so that they would be ready in case I needed a c-section but that I would probably just deliver like normal in there. I was very worried and started crying. They ran my bed down the hall and got me into the O.R. where they put the monitor back in place and found that the baby’s heart rate was now in the 60’s. That’s when things really got crazy. The hospital staff went into panic mode and I heard them talking about giving me a ‘general’. I knew from the classes we had taken that this meant they were going to have to put me all the way under general anesthesia which is what they have to do when the c-section is such an emergency that a ‘spinal’ (which takes about 10 minutes to prepare but leaves you awake for the birth and your spouse can be present) would take too long. With a general it usually means they have to get the baby out within 1 or 2 minutes, so it’s much quicker, but it also meant that Dan couldn’t be there and I wouldn’t be awake for the birth. I was terrified and scared for our baby but the doctor assured me they were going to do whatever it took to get me a healthy baby. I said a desperate prayer in my heart and then told them to do anything they needed to do to make sure he was okay. So within about 30 seconds they put me out and a few minutes later wheeled our precious baby boy out to a very nervous father/husband outside the operating room. Dan was relieved to hear we were both okay and that the problem had actually been little Calvin gripping his own umbilical cord in his hand so tightly that he was cutting off his life source! Silly little guy—hopefully this is the first and last time he gives us a run for our money—haha, doubtful!

Dan got to be there for Cal’s first bath and videotaped it for me. I woke up in the recovery room about an hour later and got to meet both Dan and Cal in there. It was such an incredibly special moment. I definitely shed many tears in those first moments and pretty much every time I looked at my baby that first day. It was such an amazing feeling to meet my own son and for the first time be together as a family—just the three of us. Standing there with my best friend in the entire world and a beautiful, healthy baby boy that was ours is an experience I will never forget for as long as I live. We feel so very blessed and grateful beyond belief that the Lord has sent us this precious little one. We are already amazed at the love we have for him and look forward to loving him for forever.