Caleb's Birth-Part 1

Monday started bright and early for Eric and I. We had to be at the hospital by 5:30am to get ready for surgery. I was an anxious mess all of Sunday. I wanted the surgery to be over and to know my baby was ok. Thankfully, I had an amazing team of doctors and nurses who took wonderful care of me and helped calm my nerves. 

All ready to go...

Dr. Rees and Dr. Bennett did an amazing job with the surgery and had Eric pop up and peek over the curtain to see Caleb be born. I waited anxiously to hear that first cry. There is no better sound than hearing that first cry come from your baby!

 They brought him around so I could have a peek before they took him away to get checked out and cleaned.

 He was a screamer! 

 The nurses felt like he had too much fluid in his lungs, so they had to take him up to the NICU for a while to try and get the fluid out and monitor him for a bit. The grandparents all got a quick glimpse of him as they wheeled him by. 

 I was so happy to have everything finished and over with. I had to recover in Labor and Delivery for about an hour before I could move downstairs to Mother/Baby. I got to call the kids at home and tell them that Caleb was born and was healthy. They were so excited!!

Eric stayed with Caleb in the NICU and gave the rest of us updates as they came. They had to put a tiny C-pap machine on poor little Caleb, which he did not like one bit!

 After about an hour, they wheeled me into the NICU so I could see Caleb. I could only touch his little foot. This brought back so many memories of Tessa's birth, I had to fight back the tears. I just wanted to hold him and know that he was going to be ok. 

 After a couple of hours of monitoring, they released Caleb from the NICU and took him down to the nursery to give him his bath and get him ready to come be with me. He wasn't a big fan of his bath either. You'd think with all the screaming he did, his lungs would have cleared out faster. 

 And finally, he was mine!!! 

 He reminded us so much of Adam as a newborn. Adam used to scowl like crazy. 

 My heart broke for all the other babies and their parents in the NICU who didn't get to hold their babies as quickly as we did. We were so thankful to have another perfectly healthy baby. 

Later that day, the other kids got to come to the hospital to meet their new brother. They were SO excited!!

 Holy cow....we have 4 kids!! 

 And then play time started....

 Gwen kept saying, "He's so cute" and she calls him, "Calove".

 Tessa is the perfect little mommy and is in love with her new little brother. 

 Adam is so happy to have a brother and can't wait to teach Caleb how to play basketball. He said if Caleb gets to move into his room by Christmas, that will be the best Christmas present.