Delicioiusly Happy Parents (and moar pix plz for Ben (and everybody!))

We have one happy, healthy, sleepy baby, two glad and tired parents, and four proud grandparents...and lots of happy Aunts and Uncles and cousins and friends! He's amazing.

Honestly (and I'm the one who has said that I thought most babies were kind of ugly at the beginning) this little Judah of ours is the cutest, most precious, most beautiful newborn I've ever seen. He's incredible. And we are finding ourselves falling more and more in love with him--he seems like he's ours now instead of just a baby like he seemed when he was first born.

We haven't gotten much sleep, but we're going to try to get some more here especially in the next few days while Mandy's parents are here to help. We are really really happy.

Ok, enough gushing already--here's what you really came for:

Waiting for Mom to give him his first bath

Holding Dad's hand before the big bath

Mom, it's so cold!

Had his first rock out jam session

Everybody was pretty tired

Beautiful baby and Beautiful Momma

Sheesh. How did I get to be me?

 

Happy little family!

Proud Grandpa

Judah and his Nana

Mandy's parents brought a beautiful orchid

 

Uncle John stopped by to visit

Awwwwww. I finally understand why new parents gush on and on about their little kids.

He's amazing!

Thank you God!

Judah Paul Thomas, welcome to the world!

We have a baby!

Judah Paul Thomas was born at 3:34 pm Eastern time. He is beautiful, and cried as soon as he came out. It was amazing. We both looked at him and couldn't really believe or understand that he was our baby, the same one that has been wiggling around inside Mandy's belly, kicking her, the one we've been listening to with our stethoscopes almost every day lately, the one we've been praying for and thinking about, trying to figure out a name for. And it's him.

(If you've read the earlier posts, some of the following is some of the same.) Our doctor, Dr. Hawkins, came in at one point before the pushing started and gravely told us that his heart rate was dropping down too low too much, and that we needed to go and have a c-section. Mandy was in tears, and I was fighting to hold them back--I mean, it's not that c-sections are the end of the world (after all, as we both told each other minutes afterward, "I was born by a c-section!" "Yeah, I was born by a c-section too! And look at us!") but it's just not what we were planning or thinking about.

Then we prayed, and I called my Dad, and he and my Mom prayed, and Mandy's parents prayed, and I don't know who else was praying but I know a lot of you were. And then, a few seconds after the Doctor walked out of the room, suddenly his heart rate strip looked perfect. Absolutely perfect. And kept on looking that way. We still thought a c-section was coming, so we didn't make much of it, but after about 10 or 15 minutes, Dr. Hawkins came back in and said, "Now, look at what this little rascal is doing!" pointing out his great heart rate strip. "If you want to we can just hold off on the c-section for a while and see how he does."

So hold off we did, and with lots more praying and worrying about his heart rate which kept on being borderline--just barely good enough to keep him out of a c-section--but still good enough, and eventually Mandy was pushing, and we had to stop for a while and let the baby rest because his heart rate kept dropping down a lot whenever she pushed, and then, finally she could push again, and about 45 minutes of that and Out Came Judah! Crying and flailing and beatuiful, into the world.

Mandy's doing fantastic, and our little Judah is doing fantastic. He's 54 cm long, and weighs 7 pounds 9 oz. He's good at nursing already, and we're exhausted. I'm going to spend some time with my little family, and thank you all so so so so much for everything, all your thoughts and cares and prayers and love and support. You guys are amazing!

 

Still going, still having contractions, waiting patiently

We are still wating, still going strong. Mandy was pushing for a little while, but the baby's heart rate was dropping too much so the doctor wants her to just rest on her side for a while with a good heart rate without pushing for now, even though she's feeling the urge to push.

So we're waiting, and she's having lots of good contractions, and his heart rate has looked generally pretty good while she's been resting. Mandy is amazing, just in case any of you don't know yet. She's doing this like a total champion.

When she was pushing earlier, I could see the top of his head...there's a little bit of hair, can't really tell what color it is through all the goup down there though :-) But I've actually seen him a little tiny bit!

And, can you believe we're gonna have a baby!!!!???? WOW!

Thanks SO MUCH for all your prayers and your comments and everything. Keep on praying. We would really rater not have a c-section, but mostly we just want to have a healthy baby and healthy Mandy. Thanks God for everything so far!

Vaginal delivery coming soon (we're praying!)

Still not out of the woods as far as c-sections go, but:

We're preparing (well, the nurses are preparing) for a vaginal delivery, which is great. Mandy is dilated to 9-10 and 100% effaced, and is feeling the urge to push on some of her recent contractions. All really great things.

If all keeps going well, she'll be pushing as soon as they empty her bladder, just a few minutes from now. That means we could have a baby by a vaginal delivery in about 45 minutes best case, or in an hour or two more likely. And we're all praying that his heart beat keeps on looking just fine, like it does right now so we don't have to go over to c-section instead.

We're praying and singing to him and laughing and Mandy's feeling some pain now through her epidural, which is good.

Ok, gotta run...

Still watching and waiting

So, a few minutes after we started preparing for a c-section, our little baby decided to show everybody that he could make his heartbeat move around a little bit (a good thing) instead of just staying flat. So, no c-section, at least for the moment. I don't think we are out of the woods yet; his heart looks better but not great. But we are still waiting. Meanwhile, Mandy's cervix is dilating really well, up to 6 cm now (with 10 as the goal).

As I'm writing this his heart rate looks even more iffy. The doctor just came in and said she's watching closely and we'll keep watching for now, but we need to see some improvement.

Keep on praying. Thanks!

C-section

Quick update: they are worred about our baby's heart rate which isn't very reactive, and they are wanting us to get a c-section. Nothing emergency, but they don't want it to get to that. We are a little worried about him too, and are going to go with it.

So, c-section, in probably the next 1/2 hour

.and, BABY! (even though this isn't at all how we envisioned it) probably in the next 1/2 hour too.

Pray for us.

We're finally in the labor and delivery unit...progress!

We're all settled now in our new room in labor and delivery. Mandy has an epidural and is sure happy about it...she was in some pretty intense pain before that and now she's falling asleep. It's 8 am here but fortunately we are in a room without a window with the lights off so it's nice and dark for us to sleep some while we can. Our new nurse wants us to start pitocin which gets the contractions going, but as she put it, one of two things happens: either you tolerate it well and have a baby, or you don't tolerate it well and have a c-section. Obviously we aren't excited about the possibility of a c-section, so we are wary of the pitocin. We'll talk with the doctor about it in a little while, after a bit of sleep. Please pray that Mandy's contractions will be going strong enough on their own that we don't need to worry about pitocin at all. Thanks everybody! I'm off to sleep again...Mandy is already sleeping soundly.

Pain and relief

So they say that having a baby hurts a lot, and I'll never feel what that feels like, but I sure am proud of Mandy--she is amazing at all of this, and I know she's had a lot of pain.

A few hours ago, she got some Nubain and that helped a lot with her pain which had become pretty much unbearable at that point. That was good because it let her get to sleep for a few hours. In the last hour or so though, her water broke when she got up to use the bathroom, which is an exciting milestone. And now they are going to be moving her over to the labor and delivery floor (we are in the obstetrics special care right now which is where they do inductions). That's also a big milestone--and yes, Mumsey, now we can finally say that she is in labor! :-)

I've gotta pack up so we can move, but I'll be back with more updates when there's time.

Good night for now...

Hi again! It's getting pretty late here and we are going to try and sleep a bit. If you're still up reading this please pray that Mandy will be able to sleep even though she's having some pretty painful contractions every few minutes--if she's rested tomorrow that will make everything so much better.

We love you all, and good night...we'll write more in the morning (or if something exciting happens before then...)

All ready for bed :-)

And really excited to see that little boy!

A picture tells...

We are still here, still waiting, doing great. Mandy's contractions seem to be a little stronger, some of them are pretty painful. Most of the time she's just relaxing though. Mandy's parents were here for a few hours after dinner time, which was great. After a while they took off, seeing how we probably won't see a baby until sometime tomorrow. Right now our friend Topaz and her baby Luke is here hanging out with us a bit.

We are getting some Cervidil right now, which helps the cervix along in its progress of getting bigger to let the baby out. And, Mandy has been getting doses of penicillin to keep strep bacteria from hurting the baby. And, tonight we might even sleep for the night...they brought me a cot so I can lay down too.

Here's some pictures for everybody because I know you're dying to see them. There are some more at https://picasaweb.google.com/114251925243924395114/MandyDavidAndABaby?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCMb18aOdi5aCJg&feat=directlink if you want to see all our pictures from lately.

My beautiful wife :-)

Mandy's mom visiting

Something to make us feel at home

So excited!

To get penicillin

All expectant

Mandy's parents visiting

Some more contractions

Not a whole lot more happening right now, but Mandy's contractions are picking up a little now. On the monitor she's having contractions every 2-3 minutes or so, which is great. They gave her 1 pill of cytotec back a few hours ago to start the induction which might have gotten those contractions to be that often; at this point they probably won't give her anything else if she keeps on progressing. The baby's heartbeat keeps on looking good too :-) Mandy's feeling pain with the contractions now, nothing enough to make her scream in pain or anything, but just the good kind to let you know things are definitely happening.

Can you believe I'm gonna be a Dad?! and Mandy's gonna be a Mom!? YEAH!

We're just relaxing here right now. Thanks for your prayers and well wishes and bible verses everybody!  (And comments on our little blog here...we love comments!) Mandy's mom has been here with us for most of the time so far. It's been great having her parents here with us.

I'll write more in a while, and I'll try to post some pictures soon. I've been taking pictures but might have to run home to get the cord so I can get them out of the camera and post them. (Good thing we live 1 block away!)

It's starting!

We had an appointment for this morning just to check up on the baby, since Mandy is now 1 week overdue. We were hoping she would go into labor today or tomorrow since tomorrow night (Friday) she was scheduled for an induction if no baby had come so far.

Anyway, at our appointment this morning, they first do a non-stress test, and it was iffy. So they did a more thorough test called a biophysical profile, where they look at the baby with an ultrasound, watching for him to breathe, move, and to make sure there is enough amniotic fluid. Well, our dear baby was soundly sleeping, and not moving, as he does in the morning most days. And Mandy hadn't eaten breakfast, which would usually make him move more. Whatever the cause, he didn't move at all during the test, so he failed the test...which means, they want to get him out rather than wait around for labor to start.

(By the way, labor, at least as far as they define it in medicine, means you are having regular contractions, and the size of the cervix is changing. Mandy has been having contractions, but no change in her cervical size, so she has not been in labor at all--even though she has been having contractions for weeks or even months.)

Getting him out right away means either inducing labor with drugs (if his heart rate looks good) or doing a c-section (if his heart rate looks bad). Right away, somebody came with a wheelchair for Mandy and we went across the street to the hospital where they put us right in a room. They hooked her up to monitors to watch his heartbeat and to measure contractions.

And everything looked good. So the doctor says, well, lets induce--we were going to induce anyway tomorrow, so this is just moving it up a day.

I don't love inducing--it has some risks involved, but as far as what we've seen today, it's probably the best option for now, just because failing the biophysical profile means it's probably safer for him to be out than in at this point.

Mandy's parents are here in town with us, and Mandy's mom is here in the hospital with us right now. Our doctor here today is Dr. Pugmire, who is a really nice lady that I've worked with on my rotations before. And we have a really nice nurse, CJ, who has been working here since before Mandy was born. Mandy's comfortable, watching a movie right now, and I'm off of school right now because I worked a lot of long hours the last few weeks so I would be off for this excitement.

And even if this isn't quite how we envisioned it happening, we sure are excited! We're praying that everything goes really well and that this baby comes soon (although inductions I've seen can take more than 24 hours a lot of times). Please pray with us, k? Thanks a million! We love you guys :-)