Introducing... Iris Morgan!

On Thursday, August 30th, Nick (my chauffeur for the week) took me to my check-up at the doctor at noon. My doctor checked me out and told me things were progressing, but that she was going to be out of town Friday through Monday. Uh-oh! We were really hoping she'd be there to deliver the baby. She "helped things along" again and told me to walk. So, Nick took me back to work, and I went for a two mile walk in the 90 degree heat. Sure enough, I started having contractions, and when they continued every 3 minutes after I stopped walking, I knew they were the real thing. Nick came at 2:30 to get me to the hospital. Thankfully, Cassie was available to pick up and watch Felix for us.

This labor and delivery was definitely different than with Felix. It took longer for things to progress, for one thing. But I was assigned the exact same room that Felix was born in. :o) I got an epidural around 5:30 and my doctor broke my water at around 6. Things picked up quickly after that. I started pushing at 7:15 and the baby was born at 7:25 pm. They pulled her out, and since I had myself convinced that I was having a boy, it was with some surprise that I said, "It's a girl!" 

Things have gone pretty well since. We got a big family suite (which wasn't quite big enough when cooping up Felix on Friday), and had visits from family. Nursing's going okay (lots of cluster feeding, but then will take a long nap - which I appreciate). Felix has been a great big brother, except that he wants to pet her head. We're going to have to make sure we give him plenty of good attention, though, so he doesn't resent her.

Iris has been pretty content so far. Lots of sleeping, but when she's awake, she's very alert and looking around. She's such a little peanut, but thankfully she hasn't gotten jaundice like Felix had. She looks so much like Felix did when he was born. Same chin, same ears, same long spidery fingers. She's our little wonder.

Felix: 3 yrs & Iris: 3 days

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: