He's Finally Here!

 Introducing...

Henry Nelson Hibbert

Sunday, March 3, 2013

10 lb. 4 oz. 

21.5 inches

 Henry was due on February 23rd, and since Tate and Avery both came a day before their due dates, I expected Henry to follow suit.  Although this wasn't a rational assumption because all births are different and Tate was induced anyway.  But a pregnant woman can hope!

 Eight days after his due date, with the threat of a scheduled induction that night, Henry decided to greet the world.  I woke up at 6am with regular contractions.  After a shower I told Eric we ought to go to the hospital and had to assure him that I wasn't kidding.  We arrived and learned that I was dilated to somewhere between 7-8cm.  So they gave me a room and contractions got more intense and he was out at 8:58am.  Quick and easy!  Just kidding about the easy part =)  A week before his birth, an ultrasound predicted that he would be about 8 lbs.  When Dr. Morrison pulled him out, he exclaimed that he was so big and asked where I was hiding him.  I had actually been measuring small.  I thought it was strange that the doctor could know if he was big or not before he even weighed him because many babies are just a few pounds lighter and how can that be so visible?  But they weighed him and the doc was right-Henry beat my other two chunky babies on the scale!

 I love baby's "milk drunk" faces.  He's a little jaundice and I'm a lot pale.

 His blood sugar was low so we supplemented a few of his feedings with some formula on his first day.  That evening it looked like he choked once on the formula and his breathing was raspy after that.  So the nurse ordered a chest x-ray which came back inconclusive.  This lead to blood work that showed he was under stress, and the doctor suspected an infection due to possible fluid in the lungs.  So, he was given an IV with some antibiotics for a few days in the hospital.  We're not sure exactly what went wrong because in the end, the doctor said the fluid was just a little leftover amniotic fluid that is normal in newborns and clears out after a few days naturally.  But the bloodwork kept showing infection, or stress, that first day so we went ahead with the antibiotics.

 It was sad to see Henry with an IV and have to be pricked repeatedly for blood work.  But all was fine and we both came home Wednesday morning.  He's our little miracle that we thought wouldn't survive in the first trimester because my hormone levels went down.  Then, the early ultrasound made the doctor suspect Down's Syndrome.  But after fasting and prayer, all appeared normal through the 2nd and 3rd trimesters.  Now he is here and healthy and we are blessed.  Henry is named after my dad's dad and Nelson was my mom's dad's middle name.  Also, mom's dad is the one who made the little cradle Henry is resting in in the first picture.  We love this little squishy boy!