Welcome, Felix Robert Abts!!

It's amazing that approximately a half hour after my last post, at 2 pm, my water broke and my contractions started immediately. Actually, it wasn't clear what was happening, because I had just hopped out of the shower when my water broke. But just to be safe, we packed up the car and headed to the hospital. An hour later, I was already 3-4 (possibly up to 5) cm dilated, and by 6 pm, I was almost 9 cm. At that point, my contractions were coming hard and fast (every 2 minutes), and I had an epidural which was a blessing. Especially when the baby decided that it wanted to come out face up and I had a fair amount of continuing pressure/pain from back labor. After pushing for about 2 and a half hours, the delivery doctor pulled the baby out at 10:57 pm on July 12, 2009, and asked "Did you know you were having a boy?" And there he was.

Nick and I hadn't settled on a boy's name by the time we got to the hospital. Felix was Nick's choice (mine shall remain secret in the event we have another boy), and because I was so happy and felt lucky to have such a short (9 hour) first labor, I agreed it was a good choice of name. And thus, our son became Felix Robert. (We each have an uncle named Robert, but we mostly liked how the names flowed.)

Felix was active in the womb and showed no signs of being any different outside. According to Nick, he was rolling around the place while being measured and weighed (6 lbs, 4 oz, 18 inches).

We came home from the hospital yesterday afternoon, and it's being understandably challenging. Felix and I are trying to get the hang of breastfeeding, which is difficult when my milk hasn't come in yet, and he wanted to feed every hour without allowing much time between for sleeping or recovery. His doctor recommended some supplemental formula this afternoon, and that has helped to calm his feeding patterns and satisfy his hunger. He also has a touch of jaundice (being early and sustaining a nasty bruise on his head during delivery didn't help matters). Hopefully he will continue to thrive, especially as we all get to know each other better.

And because everyone's been waiting, pictures: