Nathan Patrick made his appearance May 23 at 6:48 pm. Weighing 6 lbs 15 oz and 21 inches long.
The labor and delivery went really smooth and fast. 4 hours total from the time I arrived at the hospital to when he was born. I had been at work that morning and began feeling cramping. They were not really bothersome or coming at any certain intervals. Around one o'clock I was leaving for a lunch break, and decided to come home for some rest. Once home I noticed the cramps were getting a little stronger and lasting a little longer each time. By 2 pm I decided to call the doctors office just to see what they would say, the nurse decided that with being 38 weeks I should go to Labor and Delivery to be monitored. I called work to tell them what was going on and headed to the hospital. I arrived at 2:45 and began paperwork for admission. By 3:15 I was in a room getting hooked up to the fetal monitor. Contractions had started and were coming every 6 minutes. The doctor kept me for observation for the next hour to see how things progressed and then we would make a decision on whether I would stay or be sent home.
In the meantime I called Jared's squadron to get him a message. I knew he was flying that afternoon, but wasn't sure if he was finished or not. He was still flying so I left the message with someone in the Squadron and told them to have him call me once he was back in the building. As soon as I got done with this call, I began receiving calls from Jared's co-workers and his commanders wife asking if I needed anything or help with Cydney. I was very grateful for the offers of help and comforted to know that everything would be taken care of in the event I could not get a hold of Jared.
Cydney was still at Day Care and the only concern I had was if I did not hear from Jared in time, how Cydney was going to be picked up. Jared called about fourty five minutes later and said he was on his way to pick up Cydney and hand her off to some friends who would keep her for the night. I was so grateful for her to have somewhere to go. While I have not yet met Sara (the wife of one of Jared's co- workers), I can't thank her enough for taking in Cydney at the last minute. Jared said Cydney was so excited to see Daddy come pick her up from school he felt bad having to hand her off so quickly and when he was explaining to her where she was going she got a little sad. Everything turned out fine, Cydney enjoyed herself at "Ms. Sara's" and asks when we can go back again.
Once Jared got Cydney situated he called me back to see how things were going. I was now having contractions every four to five minutes and the doctor had decided the baby was coming that night. Jared arrived at the hospital by 5:00, came to the room and changed clothes just as my epidural was arriving. Once I received that I was able to relax a little, have a Popsicle and wait for the doctor to come back and check my progress. She came back and said I was ready to deliver. It was now 6:30 pm, the doctor and nurse began preparing the room for delivery and called the nursery to send down nurses for baby. After a few pushes he was born.
As we sat there waiting for him to be cleaned up we had to decide on a name. After some talking about the ones we liked and saying them out loud we decided on Nathan Patrick.
The whole experience was a whirlwind and I can't believe how fast everything went this time around. We are blessed to have our precious Nathan here and loving every minute of being a family of four.
Cydney is getting more tolerant of his crying. She did not like it at first and would ask for me to make him stop. Now she will state what she thinks he needs; to eat, a new diaper, or just a song to calm him down. She has stared to "play" with him some, reading him books and showing him her toys that she is playing with. It is really cute to watch her want him to do things with her. She likes to be our helper bringing us diapers, blankets, picking out Nathan's clothes or just sitting with me while feeding him. Cydney bought Nathan his teddy bear so that he could have his own toy and not take her "Didgee".
Nathan is a good sleeper and a pretty calm baby. This first week home has been a test in learning to juggle the needs of two along with keeping up with house cleaning, cooking, and keeping Cydney on a somewhat normal schedule to keep her from having too much change. I am thankful Jared was able to have some time off work to help get our new routine set.
