Westyn's First Day Continued

After some down time, the nurse came back in to give Westyn his first official bath.























You can tell in the video that Westyn didn't really enjoy his bath. Garytt was a little concerned about all the noise.



After he was clean, he was able to put a little shirt on.





The nurse then put his footprints on our keepsake folder that contains all his information regarding the delivery.







Then the nurse wrapped him up in a cozy sleeper.







Westyn's weight put him in the LGA (Large for Gestational Age) category. That meant that he had to have his sugar levels checked every so often for 24 hours. He did great with all the heel pricks and his sugar levels stayed in an excellent range, so that was great news.





After Garytt woke up from his nap, we tried to introduce him to Westyn again since he wasn't all that interested before.










Garytt gives Westyn a kiss...such brotherly love!


Me and my boys!

While Garytt enjoyed playing, Westyn and Mom enjoyed some cuddling.



My sister and her fiance' had pizza delivered to the hospital for dinner, which was awesome! It was nice that Justin didn't have to go out to find dinner for him and Garytt and they didn't have to eat at the hospital cafeteria! Garytt says thanks Aunt Becca and Uncle Kyle!!

Shortly after dinner, my parents made it to the hospital. Of course, they were super excited to meet Westyn and see Garytt!


G coloring...look at that crazy hair after his nap!




He decided to walk around with his hat over his eyes...silly boy.







After a long day, Justin took Garytt home for bedtime. My parents hung around a little longer but they had also had a long day of driving. So, it was soon just time for Westyn and me to relax and nap. It was an awesome first day!

Now, for the results of the Baby Boy Brown Survey!

No one got the exact time correct but Sara P. was very close with her guess of 12:34 pm. (The actual time was 12:41 pm.)

Also, no one guessed the name correctly but there were a number of people who guessed names that begin with W.

However, Mimi guessed the correct date of January 27 and Cousin Patty Dimond guessed the correct weight of 8 lb 5 oz. Great job!

Thanks to everyone who participated in our survey!

Welcome Westyn Dean! The Labor and Delivery

Friday morning just before 4:00 am, I woke up suddenly when my water broke. I woke up Justin by saying, "So, we have some good news and some bad news." Being the morning person that he is, he was quite groggy and I think he managed to say something that meant he wanted the good news first. So, I responded by saying, "Well, the good news is that we are going to have a baby today! The bad news is that my parents aren't here quite yet to watch Garytt."

That statement pretty much grabbed Justin's attention and we were up and getting ready. I did call into the 24 hour nurse line to check in. Then I took a quick shower while Justin loaded up the car with the bags we had pre-packed. (Yes, I know it sounds strange that I wanted to shower knowing that I was about to essentially go do a major work-out, but in the mind of a pregnant person, it seemed really important to me at the time.)

Once I was showered and we had the car packed, we woke up Garytt and quickly dressed him. He really wasn't very thrilled to be up at 5:00 in the morning, and I don't blame him!

We arrived at the hospital, were assigned a room, and set up for a long morning. At this point we still didn't have a plan for Garytt other than having him hang out with us for the whole labor and delivery since our plan had been to have my parents there to watch him and they were supposed to arrive later on Friday...kind of a bummer on the timing. We had a bag of toys packed for Garytt and the novelty of the hospital room was entertaining enough for him for quite a while.


He has no idea what's coming


Not sure who he is calling



So, the nurse went about her business of getting things set up. Of course, she wanted to know what the birth plan was, which I mostly understood to mean did I want an epidural, to which the answer was hopefully no.

Then she hooked me up to the monitors that register both the contractions and the baby's heartrate. Keep in mind, at this point, I still haven't noticed any contractions. Interestingly, the monitor actually showed that I was contracting about every 3 minutes. Normally this type of regular pattern would be noticeable but mine really weren't. While that may sound ideal, all it means is that my natural contractions are unproductive. So, my doctor was notified and she ordered the pitocin to help augment my labor.



Unfortunately, this included setting an IV. If you know me well at all, you know that I have a serious needle phobia. I warned the nurse that I tend to get light headed and have been known to faint when getting a shot or getting blood drawn. (Also, keep in mind that I told the nurse that I wanted to try to deliver with no pain meds.) Yeah, so as she was setting the IV, I did get really faint and nearly passed out. I'm pretty sure at this point, the nurse thought to herself...wow, this girl is totally delusional if she thinks she can deliver this baby with no meds when a tiny little needle prick nearly made her pass out.

The pitocin drip was started pretty close to 8am. Shortly before that, I contacted a friend of mine from my MOPS group to see if she would be able to come hang out with Garytt for a bit at the hospital. Garytt and I actually had set up plans with Becky and her daughter for that morning from 9:30-11 for a play group. She said that she and Kaitlin would come by the hospital after the play group. So, now, I just had to hope that the timing would be such that Becky would have Garytt during the most intense time.

Meanwhile, Garytt was able to watch Sesame Street and even get a short nap in.






Watching "Elmo" and having a morning snack


Ready for a nap


So tired

As it turns out, that is pretty much exactly how it happened. Becky and K arrived around 11:40 and took G out into the waiting room to play for a bit. Becky even brought an entire arsenal of games, toys, and movies...awesome! Right about the time they arrived, my contractions were getting very intense. So, Justin helped get them all set up in the waiting area and hurried back for the delivery.

About an hour later, at 12:41 pm, after just 10 minutes of actual pushing, Westyn Dean Brown was born. He weighed 8 lbs 5 oz and was 21 inches long.


I was briefly able to hold Westyn before they took him to the warmer










A little bit cleaner

I am proud to say that despite nearly passing out when the IV was set, I did manage to deliver Westyn without the use of pain medication...and I still managed to smile for some pictures.


Mom and Westyn right after he was cleaned up


Westyn opens his eyes while Mom talks to him


Westyn's not as happy now.

Then Dad jumped into a quick picture.



After a little bit of bonding time, Justin went out to the waiting room to get Garytt, Becky, and Kaitlin.


The kids meet Westyn for the first time


K looks pretty interested in Westyn...


But G is a little more interested in crackers!




Thanks Becky!!

I can't thank Becky and Kaitlyn enough for entertaining Garytt during the delivery! After a little while, it was obvious that it was time for Garytt to take a nap. So, Becky and K headed out and we all took a moment to relax a little bit.



I have to say that this labor and delivery was nearly identical to Garytt's labor and delivery. With Garytt, my water broke at 4:15 pm and after a pitocin drip that was started around 7 pm, he arrived at 11:50 pm. My water broke at 4 am this time, and with the pitocin started around 8 am, Westyn arrived at 12:41 pm. I think the boys look a lot alike. Westyn does have a bit more bruising but they definitely look like brothers.


Garytt


Westyn

I just can't believe how blessed we are to have such amazing boys!