Introducing!

Baby Rome is finally here!(In fact he's a whole week old now!) He's such a wonderful little thing and each day with him makes me wonder how we ever managed without him.
On Tuesday, May 17, I went in for my 38 week appointment. The previous week I had been dilated to a 3 plus but my measurements had been small and so my Doctor thought it would be better to wait for another week to see if he could grow a little more before coming out. I had a baby shower on the 14th that I was so worried I would miss and I was also working Friday and Saturday on the ambulance. (this was pretty exciting especially on Friday when we got called to a chest pain in Parowan and I started having contractions on the way. I didn't tell my partner, Marc, because I thought he would leave me on the side of the road. Haha! The patient did good, which was fortunate for both of us because I think 1 round of CPR would have done the trick for me.) Every day that week, I thought he was definitely coming but I had planned with my cousin Annie who is the best labor and delivery nurse ever that she was going to be my nurse and I wanted her to for sure be there so I worked really hard at doing nothing all week to make it to Tuesday when she'd be working.
At my 38 week appointment, I had lost 2 pounds, the measurements weren't any better and I was dilated to a 4 plus so Dr. Gatherum sent me to labor and delivery to have the baby. They had already had a busy morning at labor and delivery and they didn't have a room available for about an hour so I sat in the waiting room and waited for David to come. When the room was ready, Annie took us back and told us the plan. She did an awesome job of taking care of any nervousness I had. The plan was to start the IV and get some fluids infusing, get my epidural, have the Doctor come to break my water, use some positioning to get the baby to turn so that he wasn't a posterior delivery like the girls were, then have the baby.
While the IV fluid was infusing, Dr. Gatherum called to ask Annie if she wanted him to come and break my water. She told him he was not allowed to do anything until I got the epidural because she thought I was going to progress fast. Thanks Annie! As soon as I had my epidural placed, Dr. Gatherum came in and broke my water. We never had to start pitocin or augment my labor at all because 10 minutes later, I had dilated to a 7. Annie had me lay sort of on my side leaning on my stomach to get Rome to turn, which he did without any problem in about 45 minutes.
Annie kept asking me if I felt like I needed to push. It seems like my epidural was pretty strong because I never felt that sensation this time and had to be told when to start pushing. I probably pushed for like 5 minutes or less before he was out and in our arms. The entire labor and delivery lasted about an hour and a half. It was so much fun to see him for the first time and to see his red fuzzy hair! He was 6pounds 15.8 oz so they round up to 7 lbs, and 19 inches long, which makes him shorter and fatter than his sisters were at birth. He was grunting a lot after he was born which raised some concern that he was having some breathing distress. He kept it up for several hours and everyone was saying that he was just singing. After unbundling him during a feeding, he stopped grunting and went right to sleep.
The girlies came to meet him not long after he was born and Mckinley was so sweet with him and excited that he was here. In the pictures above, she was singing songs to him. It was so cute. She asked the Doctor when we could feed him "some mashy baby food." Dolce was interested in her brother but had a less gentle approach and so her love had to be more restricted. She climbed into his hospital bassinet and layed down and has since been reminding us that she is still our baby too.
The days events weren't finished yet however. A couple of months before, Annie had asked us to participate in training for a code pink, or stolen baby at the hospital. So, after the pediatrician had been in to check Rome and make sure he was doing good, my cousin Lizzy came for a visit. We carefully placed Rome into a backpack and then Lizzy snuck him out of the hospital. The training seemed to go well, and the staff members acted appropriately and hopefully were able to practice the necessary steps that would need to be taken in a real code pink.
We are having so much fun with our new little boy. I think it's safe to say that boys are just as much fun as girls. We love our Baby Rome so much. We can't believe we are so lucky!