Rory!

My body has been returned to me! Not in the best shape, might I say, but I'll take it.  I did get a chance to get in a thorough belly button cleaning before it recessed to a far greater cavern than I remember.  But let's talk about this little nugget.  

He is pretty much the perfect baby.  Fat and hairy, and passing all blood sugar tests unlike his brother- who I think he looks a lot like.  His birth story is pretty run-of-the-mill as far as the miracle of life goes.  There was the part where my epidural only worked on one side and after several back-up shots, my legs were powerless blobs that only happened to share a bed with me.  At one point they fell off the stirrups and threatened to bring the rest of me with them.  It is a weird sensation feeling your leg with your hand and it not feeling you back.

We went to the hospital at 6 a.m. on the 15th to be induced.  My nurse was a bit over-eager recommending I hold off on the epidural in favor of bouncing on a large ball.  I declined.  Being immobile and numb appeals to me in almost every situation. She finally conceded after a stretch in the rocking chair and evident discomfort on my part.  The anesthesiologist is my favorite person, but left his student to monitor after administering it.  It was not working but the poor thing didn't know what to do so she kept insisting we give it "five more minutes". Finally he came back and a few doses later I was feeling much better.  I did feel my water break and when the nurse rechecked me she was surprised I had gone from 3 cm to 8 cm.  I was not surprised as it had been 4 hours and lots of Petocin since the initial check.  I asked if my doctor was on the way and they seemed shocked she would come but said they would call. Impressed with this group, I was not.  Dr. Hartshorne did show up in time and after a quick change performance was ready to coach me on two pushes and make her millions.  Still, she is hard not to love. Thus entered Rory James Hoft into the world at 11:12 AM weighing 8 pounds, 8 ounces and 19 1/2 inches long.

I spent quite awhile in the room before being transferred due to immobility.  My sister brought Silas and her crew to meet Rory. Silas was pretty darling and very excited about delivering the superhero softies he had bought as a "welcome to the family" present. He was probably mostly excited to receive in return his "thank you very much for having me" gift. My sister brought him wearing his David costume which made him look like a patient himself.  I guess it follows in the lines of her wearing no underwear to meet me many years ago.

My in-laws may never look at me the same after a particularly bratty spell where I attempted to order lunch after a 24 hour fast. First I was still listed as on a liquid diet 3 1/2 hours after delivery and then I was told the cranberry juice and jello that was delivered unrequested counted as lunch and I would have to wait until dinner.  We had one particularly unpleasant night in the hospital with lots of crying on more than one of our parts (mostly the newborn's).  After that he has been a great sleeper and eater with enough stools to make any pediatrician proud.  A second thanks to everyone for all the diapers.

We happily left the hospital on Saturday morning and traveled home by way of Sonic with our oldest quietly singing to his new brother and mom and dad tearing up at the adoroablness in the front seat. God is good!

 

We loved having hospital visitors this go round!  We dropped the ball on pictures with Uncle Wes, Aunt Allison, and the cousins.