Marshall Raymond: He's Arrived!! October 19, 2007 Birth Day!

Baby Marshall has arrived! It has been an amazing week, so now it is time to let everyone know how Marshall's first week went.

My last day of work was on Oct. 17th and I had a week of lounging planned before our scheduled induction on Oct. 24th. However, Marshall had other plans for us. On Oct. 18th, I woke up to run some errands and was surprised by the sudden gush of water at 8:45 that morning. I called Chris at work and he came home to pick me up and take me to the hospital.

Once we got checked in, the nurse did some tests and she couldn't be certain that my water had broke. It appeared intact but there was trace of amniotic fluid but not enough to turn the test fully positive, so they sent Chris and I home after a few hours. That was very frustrating because my doctor seemed to have short-timers (he was going on vacation and wouldn't be available for about 5 days) and didn't walk over from his office to check us out.

We left the hospital with our contractions coming every 15 minutes and they continued to come regularly in shorter and shorter periods but we were too afraid to go back to the hospital because we were afraid of being sent home again. Finally at about midnight we went back to the hospital because the contractions were coming about 4 minutes apart and there was no doubt that baby was on his way. We were finally admitted and after another 6 hours my body still wasn't progressing very rapidly and the on-call doctor seemed to think that my water had broke up high earlier in the day, making it hard to detect, so I was started on antibiotics and pitocin to get the labor to progress faster.

Unfortunately, there was a shift change with my doctors around the time they were starting the pitocin and the epidural which was scheduled right after go pushed back a few hours until the new doctor had a chance to review my chart. I must say up to that point it was the longest 24 hours of my life!

Once the epidural was started Chris and I got some much needed rest and my body was fully ready to deliver at about 3pm. Marshall, however, was not ready as his head was too big. The doctor increased the pitocin and we waited for another two hours for his head bones to shift to allow him to pass. Once he was ready to go, we had him out after 15 minutes. He was so amazing. He had a little cone head and was all sticky white. He weighed 6 lbs and 13 ounces and was 20 1/4 inches long. He was delivered at 5:11pm on Friday October 19, 2007.

His first week has been so wonderful. He is a very good baby and is very laid back. He is a heavy sleeper, so Miss Molly, Mr. Kohl and Mr. Boris can bark to their hearts' content and the little guy will not even stir a little. He had a little jaundice and he dropped about 12 ounces those first 4 days, but his color has been returning to normal and he has been steadily gaining weight. I think the first week with Marshall was so wonderful because he has such an amazing Daddy. He is so good with Marshall. And he took such good care of me as well. Marshall and I are so lucky!

For week two, my mom has been staying with us, but since the little guy is no trouble my mom has been busying herself in the kitchen. She has made us some wonderful meals. Next week, we look forward to diving into the meals our friends prepared for us at our baby shower (THANK YOU SHARLA!).

Here are some photos of Marshall's first week:

Last Pregnancy Photo before heading to the Hospital