Monday, November 9, 2009

Welcome Baby Hank!


I've been meaning to update about Hank's arrival for a few days now, but as many of you know being a new mommy is a very time consuming job!Hank arrived right on time with 30 minutes to spare on November 2nd via c-section after a long 24 hours in labor. The birth plan was out the window in the first 10 minutes! My water broke the night before which meant thatI had to be admitted to the hospital even though labor had not started yet. The whole next day was long as I had frequent, regular contractions but was progressing very, very slowly. The nurses had me up walking the halls all afternoon trying to move the baby down, and get things going. As the day went on the pain was getting more and more intense-I had a plan not to get the epidural
until 5 cm dialated; however after 24 hours in labor I never made it there. About 5:00 I got the epidural, and it was amazing!I highly recommend it! By 10:00 that night, I was still not progressing very quickly and the baby was starting to show signs of distress. The call was made by my midwife to do the c-section.

It's funny because the one thing I wanted to avoid was the c-section, but when the time came to make the decision it was the easiest decision of my life. I was worried about the baby, and I was exhausted-it was time. The whole surgery was a blur, and the full body epidural was the most bizarre experience of my life, but the one thing that kept me going through it all was that I only had moments until I knew if the baby I was carrying for 10 months was a boy or a girl! The suspense was incredible, and they let Johnny make the call as soon as the baby was pulled out of my belly! That moment when he yelled "it's a boy!!!" is one I will never forget.

Henry James Ritger aka Hank arrived at 11:22 pm on November 2nd, 2009-his due date. He weighed 8 lbs 14 oz and was 22 inches long. He had dirty blond hair that sometimes looks a little red depending on the light and dark dark blue/grey eyes. He is perfect! We spent the next 3 days in the hospital, Northside was wonderful, they call it a baby factory for a reason-they really know their stuff! I have had a very speedy recovery from the c-section. I was up and out of bed the next day, and off pain medication in 2 days. By the time I got home I was feeling good with hardly any pain. I still have to follow doctor's orders for the first 2 weeks with no driving, lots of resting and time off my feet which has been challenging for me.

So, Hank has been home about a week now and we are working on getting into a routine with each other. Daddy is back at work this week, so we're on our own. He is a very mellow baby, hardly ever cries, and with a little work has taken to breast feeding like a champ. He sleeps in about 3-4 hour stretches right now, and I have to get up about once a night to feed him. I am pretty exhausted, but we take a nap together in the afternoons and that seems to help. We aren't really sure who he looks like yet, some people say he looks like mom and others say dad. I think it will be a while before we can really tell. We are so lucky to have such a happy and healthy baby!

Welcome to the family Baby Hank! Here's a few pictures of his first week!














1 comment:

  1. So sweet - congratulations! We're not finding out this time (due in May), and I'm excited for the surprise reveal.

    Glad to hear your peace about your birth experience, even if it didn't go like your birth plan.

    Hope you're all doing well! :)

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