It's a...

BOY!!!

It's true, our baby was born! We welcomed Samuel Wells Allred a little early (2 1/2 weeks) on Friday, October 21st at 7:54 am by c-section. He weighed 6 lbs. 5 oz. and was 19 inches. Bryan and I had a tough time deciding on names for this guy but quickly came to the conclusion that he just looked like a Sam and it fit perfectly. His middle name is after Bryan's Grandpa Allred.

I started having contractions Thursday evening and by 11 that night, they weren't just "Braxton Hicks" like I had been convincing myself. So since I couldn't sleep, I decided to do dishes, a load of laundry, pick up the living room, finished packing my hospital bag and then finally called the hospital. Since I was a scheduled c-section for 11-1-11 (no VBAC at our hospital) they said to come on in. By this time, they were about 7-10 minutes apart. After arriving at the hospital, my doc was called and the c-section was scheduled for 7:30 Friday morning. I was monitored through the night, given IV fluids and luckily never went into active labor so I could withstand the contractions coming 5-10 minutes through the night...was just uncomfortable and unable to rest. I've always needed the help of Pitocin to get my contractions really rolling with my other babies, so I figured they'd just stay the same and they did.

The c-section went great, I was awake for it this time (Maddie's was a crash c-section and I had been intubated & out for it) and we did really well. I was a little nervous and shaky but tried to enjoy the birth of this baby and not let what happened last time overtake me. When Sherry pulled him out, we were a little surprised...I hadn't gotten very big with this pregnancy so we'd convinced ourselves it was a girl, as did most of our family but we're THRILLED he's a boy! God knows what we needed and it was another baby boy. How I love my boys. He had great APGAR scores and his cry was so beautiful and strong...I'll never forget it.

Sam did have a little issue with keeping his respiratory rate regulated throughout the morning so the nurses monitored him in the nursery but allowed me to come in there on the stretcher to be with him. His sats were 100% and he looked wonderful with no heart murmur, so it was determined it was more of an "early baby thing" and by lunch time, he had figured it out and we were able to come back to our room as a family. Mom brought in the kids and watching them meet their new baby was so special... How lucky little Sam is to have siblings who adore him. There is never a moment this baby isn't being held around here between those 3, Bryan and I. We are relishing every minute of it and I'm afraid he's going to be pretty spoiled!

Sam & I were discharged Saturday afternoon, we like to do things quickly. It's been so nice being home, he's nursing well, his milk supply came in last night and he's waking every 3 hours on the dot to eat. The first night, I set an alarm and Bryan asked me why...I mentioned that I'd need to wake him up and he laughed. My brain is still in "heart baby mode" at times...He was right, Sam let's me know when he's hungry and so far, he hasn't missed a meal. He's already back to his birthweight today but he's a little jaundiced so we are checking his bili levels. Hopefully tomorrow we'll start to see the number go down, it was at 10.7 today and up from 5.3 on Sat. We're all very much in love with this little guy and the word blessed doesn't even begin to describe how we feel right now with our newest addition. These past few days have been incredibly healing and my heart is so full of joy.