He's here!

Harrison Lee arrived Monday morning at 8:45AM. Here is his story...

On Monday morning I woke up to a intense contraction at 2:30AM. I walked around, took a shower and the contractions continued. They were more intense then the typical Braxton-Hicks contractions I've been feeling for some time. I woke up Randy and the look on his face was priceless. His eyes got really big, he sat half way up and needed about 1 minute to absorb the situation. He started to time the contractions, although they were painful, they were only 30 seconds long. I continued to walk around our room, having to stop and breathe through each one. After the contractions became closer to a minute long Randy said "Let's go!"

My mom was staying with us so we woke her up. She wished us well and off we went. The drive to the hospital normally takes 20 minutes. We were preoccupied and didn't time this trip but Randy thinks it was record time. We arrived at 4:30AM. When they first checked me I was completely dilated but Harrison was high in the birth canal and facing the "wrong" direction. Because his position could make pushing take longer than normal I received a spinal. Before the spinal the contractions were strong but I am still surprised I maintained my focus. I tried to let my body accept the situation instead of fighting it like last time. It worked for the most part. But I do have to say I was on cloud 9 after receiving the spinal. It was wonderful. I could tell my stomach would tighten with each contraction but I didn't feel any pain. The on-call doctor broke my water around 5:30AM. Harrison did end up turning to the correct position but remained higher up in the birth canal (zero station). Once my OB arrived at 8:15AM we started pushing. The first 15 minutes didn't result in much so my OB left the room. That's when Harrison's head made the first appearance. The doctor returned, had me pant through 2 sets of contractions, I pushed for 2 more sets of contractions and he was born.

Once Harrison was born the doctors and nurses commented he was a big boy. It wasn't until he was put on the scale we understood exactly what that meant. I couldn't see the scale but I heard Randy and the nurse gasp. Then they revealed he weighed 10 pounds 1 ounce. Yep, a big boy he is!!!!

Lily came to visit that afternoon. Initially she was quiet. When she first saw him in the crib she pointed and said "baby." She gave him the bear she made for him. She enjoyed commanding the entire family to walk with her in the hallways. She even helped push Harrison in his crib. The family took her to dinner and when they returned she became Miss Personality. Harrison gave Lily a present too and it included Dora stickers. She put stickers on the family and then decided to decorate Harrison. Luckily she only put the stickers on his blanket cuz she covered him in them.

The next day Lily was more interested in Harrison. She held him but this meant holding him for 2.5 seconds then pushing him away. She wanted to keep pushing him in the crib too. She has done really well with him. She has been saying the words "mine" and "no" a bit too much. But we're working on that.

Now we are at home. The first afternoon and evening went really well. Randy and I both spent time alone with Lily and having the family (my mom, in-laws, Joy, Bobby and kids) has helped entertain her. We all enjoyed a great dinner and now Lily is sleeping peacefully. For a long time Randy and I have been spoiled by a toddler that sleeps 7PM-7AM. Hopefully Lily will maintain her schedule but our new baby won't be on that schedule for a long, long time.


Randy and I after I received the spinal...





Immediately after he was born...




Harrison Lee...




The new family of four...




Lily enjoying the praise after giving Harrison another sticker...




Harrison Lee, our big boy...