Finally!!!! Andrew Julius Caswell was born on 12/31 at 9:00AM weighing 7lbs 12oz and measured 20.5in.
Basically, the way it went was that after I got my membranes stripped and walked and played basketball, then ate some spicy food for dinner, my water broke (slow leak) at 9:35pm on 12/30, and we headed to the hospital that evening. I "labored" all night- I played Sudoku all night while Elijah snored up a storm on the couch and my mom slept sitting up. Around 8am, Dr. Irion decided I had a high leak which was keeping me from progressing faster, so he came in and artificially broke my water again to get things going. My pitocin was turned up along with the AROM and because I was delivering naturally, the contractions got extremely intense and painful once I hit the transition stage. But with encouragement from the nurses and Dr. Irion, I delivered Andrew. My OB, Dr. Kaelberer, didn't make it in time because I transitioned way too fast for him to get there. However, he did come at the end to put me back together :) Delivering naturally was far beyond any kind of pain I've ever had, and even though I felt like I had been hit by lightning right after it was over, it definitely was worth it- I felt a lot better faster and I feel like my body is healing quicker compared to when I had Jacen with the epidural.
Andrew LOVED his bath. The kid hardly made a peep.
That would be me, of course. I'm surprised my hair was decent. By the time I went to sleep on New Year's Eve (I didn't even make it to 10:30pm), I had been awake for 38hrs. Hopefully next New Year's Eve I will be more alert.
Jacen met his brother around 11am the morning of the delivery. He first thought he was cute and wanted to look at him a lot, then eventually in the evening, he decided he wanted to hold his baby brother. He was so excited and kept giving him kisses, and waving his hand right in front of his face saying, "Hi baby Andrew!". It really was adorable!
First family picture :)
We noticed Andrew looks like the male version of me when I was born, but somehow when we took him home he looked just like Jacen as a newborn.
We sure love our little family and we're so grateful to be healthy and safe :) I hope everyone had a great New Year's!
