The Story of Baby Gray

I know you have all been waiting for this...the story of how Baby Grayson joined our world!

On Sunday-Feb 15 Rob and I went to check into Shawnee Mission Medical Center around 8 PM. We of course were scared out of our minds--I had already cried once that day. They got us situated in our room and around 9:00 Nurse Maggie came in and started the Cervedil-to help ripen my cervix. About 3:15 AM my water broke on it's own--and it was off to the races! At around 4:00 AM the contractions started coming about every 5 mins. It was really weird-we could clock them. Dr. Piquard came in about 8:15 expecting to break my water-but was very happy to see that I didn't need it. She came in during one of the major contractions-and of course I was crying. She asked if I wanted my epidural yet-she said that being dilated to a 4 was not too early to get one. So I said bring it on! By this time our family was there-helping Rob and I get through the contractions. Then my saving grace came--the epidural. It was amazing. Once I had it-I didn't even realize when I was having contractions--I was just chatting away with everyone.

Nurse Joann checked me at about 12:00 and I was dilated to a 9-we were moving right along! Then around 1:30 it was go time! Dilated to a 10-ready to go! Everyone left the room but Rob and Nurse Joann. Everything was being brought in-the tanning lights-his little cradle-and then I started crying again. Dr. Piquard hadn't arrived yet-but Baby Grayson wasn't waiting. Started pushing-which if you haven't done it-it's really exhausting-and all I wanted to do was sleep and eat something. When Dr. P came in-she walked in and started talking-"Hey Kiddo--whoa--ok we are ready!" I think she was there for maybe 5 minutes before he came out. I only pushed for about 45 minutes--and then 2:49 PM here comes a perfect 8 lb 6 oz 19 1/2 inches long baby boy! Rob was crying--I was still so out of it-I didn't know what was going on. But all of a sudden I had a baby boy on my stomach-and then he was in Rob's arms! 10 fingers 10 toes everything was perfect! I just laid there and I have no idea if I was awake or not-that epidural was amazing! Plus it was great when they kept coming back to give me higher dosages-which was fantastic!

So Rob went with Grayson to the nursery to watch them do everything-bath him-give him some shots, etc. The family all stood outside the nursery and looked at him through the window. During this time I was being all cleaned up and taken care of. Then he was able to come back to his momma and the family came in. The first thing I wanted was McDonald's-Yum! I hadn't eaten since Sunday night-and it was probably about 3:30 at this time. So I got my McDonald's-and then we had lots of visitors. Probably around 6:00 they moved us from the delivery room into the room we would be staying in. I try to remember the ride to the next room, etc. but I really can't. All I remember is that I tried to walk-and my legs were totally numb.

The first night in the room-we kept Grayson for a little bit-but then our fabulous Nurse-Sherry-suggested that maybe she take him to the nursery because he had a little mucus in his nose that they needed to get out--we really think she saw how exhausted we were and wanted us to sleep-I was still on some major drugs-and Rob was going on about only 2 hours of rest. So we racked out-then she kept coming in every 2 hours to help with feeding him. On Tuesday his pediatrician-Dr Nelson came and checked him out-and mentioned how cute his face is-which of course it is! Everything was perfect for him. Had lots more visitors on Tuesday-then Tuesday night had Nurse Sherry again-and she mentioned again that maybe we should take him to the nursery since we wouldn't be able to probably get a good night's rest for awhile after we left. So around 11:30 PM he went back to his friends-and we passed out again.

Came home yesterday afternoon-mom's been here to help with whatever-which is fantastic. Last night was let's say...pretty good for 2 people that have never had a 2 day old baby to take care of. He slept mostly through the night-momma didn't--daddy did a little-but that's about it. I figured out that in order to get him to sleep-I needed to put my finger in his hand over the Pack N Play so he could hold onto it-and he was fine.

Today he is having some pictures taken around 2 PM-so that should be fun. What every baby needs--a professional photo shoot! Here are a few more photos of the little guy that Aunt Sara took at the hospital. Of course we have tons more-I just have to download them. Enjoy!