We're Home (Finally)!

Kimmie did such a good job of updating the blog while we were in the hospital. Thank goodness for that, because I definitely didn't plan to be there for 6 days!! When I went in Sunday night to start the induction process I figured Shim would be born the next afternoon and home by Tuesday or Wednesday. Things didn't exactly work out that way.

I checked into the hospital last Sunday afternoon. Earlier than I expected -- they totally ruined my pool time and called me in to start the induction! They did a bunch of medical things, which I won't talk about and Ben hung out and watched TV with me until about 9:15. I was tired and knew I would be getting an ambien to help me sleep and figured he needed to come home to get a good night's rest since he probably wouldn't sleep too well the next few nights.

Early Monday morning, they came in and woke me up and did a few more medical procedures which are gross and disgusting and I don't like to talk about. They started me on a pitocin drip about 7:00 a.m. and Ben, Mom , and Kimmie came in to join me shortly afterwards. My contractions started pretty quickly and by about 10:00 I was begging for my epidural. Things progressed fairly quickly and I was in active labor by about 4:30 that afternoon. I was scared to death and it wasn't easy, but I ended up pushing for about 2 hours before the doctors finally decided that my little Shim was stuck and I wasn't likely to push him out the old fashioned way. When they told me this, of course I was upset but I knew that this was what was best for me and for Shim. I cried and cried and was sacred out of my mind. Ben quickly got his scrubs on and by some miracle, something was said about having someone else in the delivery room with me and our nice anaesthesiologist allowed Mom to put on a set of scrubs and come in the room too!

Jackson Wyatt Longmire was born at 7:46 PM! He came out looking healthy and crying (and that was the most reassuring sound in the world) but unfortunately his right leg was completely white. He was kicking and moving it but it looked like there could be a circulation problem so the NICU team decided to take him to the transition nursery for observation. Of course I was worried sick and cried more, but was glad that he was being well taken care of. Mom and I went to recovery while Ben followed Wyatt (the fetus formerly known as Shim) to the NICU.

I'm not sure what time they got me to my room, but I was a mess. I was worried about Wyatt and upset that I had only met him for a second before they transferred him away. They did eventually admit him to the NICU and Ben got to go in and hold him for a while at about 12:00 that night. That made me feel much better and Ben kept bringing in positive reports each time he saw Wyatt. I finally got to go down and meet him at about 10am on Tuesday.

Honestly, everything else for the next couple of days is all a big blur. I just know that I was sore and tired and didn't even shower until Wednesday morning (gross). Even then I had a pretty hard time getting out of bed and walking around, I spent most of the days traveling back and forth from my room to the NICU to feed Wyatt. As it turns out, the color in his leg was fully restored a few hours after birth but once he was admitted to the NICU they had to keep him and run several tests to rule out the possibility of any heart or circulatory problems or infection. I hated seeing my baby boy with IV's in his arms (and even in his head at one point) and hooked up to all those monitors but at least spent the week confident that he was healthy and it was just a matter of time before he was released. Sure enough, they released him to my room late Thursday afternoon and we were finally able to check out and come home late Friday afternoon.

Now that we are home, we are just trying to get settled. And I've only had 2 or 3 little breakdowns. I'm sure there are more to come though. Wyatt is doing great so far -- he is a good little eater and sleeper (I hope that continues) and just as sweet as he can be. Ben and I took him to see his Pediatrician this morning and he got a clean bill of health so I guess so far we're doing things right. I do have to admit that we're having a little problem with the whole "little boy" thing. Wyatt has been through 3 outfits today, and peed all over himself, my sister, and my mom! If anyone has any tricks to prevent the rouge urine, please sent them my way! (I've heard the peepee teepe doesn't work all that well?)

I will eventually get all my pictures uploaded to flickr but for now I'll leave you with this one taken this morning! We're totally biased but Ben and I both think he's pretty darn cute!

First Look at Wyatt!

Hey everybody! Here's a couple pics of Wyatt from Big Papa!

Katie just got back from getting to see and hold Wyatt. He is doing good and they say he keeps getting better! Mama Katie is doing better and we're gonna keep her resting up! Thanks for all your good thoughts, prayers and love that you've all sent.

And here he is....

It's a BOY!

Jackson Wyatt Longmire was born via c-section at 7:46pm. He was 8 lbs and 6 oz. and 21 1/4 inches long. Katie and baby are doing well! And yes guys, Ben is doing great as well. I'm sure he is dreaming of all the GT/golf stuff he can get Wyatt. Pictures will be posted tomorrow. Baby Wyatt is currently in transition because of some discoloration in his leg (which he was moving around fine), and it was getting better & better before I left. The hospital just wants to be extra sure everything is fine before they release him.

Post by: Kimberly

Waiting on Shim...

Post created by: Kimberly

We're at the hospital and making progress! The pitocin drip has been in since 7:00am. Katie is starting to feel pretty uncomfortable but she's being a good sport and letting us take some pictures. It could still be a long day! I'll keep you posted!

Quote from Katie: "This stuff is for the birds!"

Evicted!

Shim is now 4 days overdue and was officially served with an eviction notice this afternoon. I went back to the doctor this morning because they watch you like a hawk once you are overdue. I won't go into great detail here, but they did some testing in the office to monitor baby's heart rate. Those tests looked fine and normal but they also sent me to a specialist for an ultra sound just to make sure. Based on the US results, everything is fine BUT that doctor did say that I could not go past the 41 week mark. Soooooo, that means that Shim has until Sunday evening to decide he/she is going to come into this world on his/her own or else the doctors will begin the induction process.

My hope is obviously that Shim will send me into labor naturally but if not we will get to meet him or her on Monday. In the meantime, I will be here eating eggplant, lots of spicy foods, walking, and doing jumping jacks (totally serious).

Mom and I came up with what I thought was a fool proof plan yesterday in hopes that it would yield a Shim. We had planned a long time ago to paint my belly like a beach ball at the very end of my pregnancy and take some pictures of it. Just for something fun to do. Anyway, life just got in the way and we got so caught up with other things and totally forgot to do so until one of my cousins reminded Mom the other day. So I decided that if we made definitive plans to do something that SURELY Shim would "ruin" these plans for us by deciding to come on out. With this in mind, Mom went out and got all the supplies we would need and I made plans to go up to my sister's house after work to visit with Ellie and to get my belly painted.

Naturally, Shim outsmarted us and didn't come today like we were hoping but on the bright side we did get to take some cute pictures.

Shim Shady

Ben and I had quite a busy weekend, but still no sign of Shim. We just figured we needed to keep ourselves busy to avoid sitting around the house and waiting! Friday night, we went to Scalini's where I tried the Eggplant Parmesan. Supposedly, something in the eggplant somehow helps labor get started. If you go into labor within 48 hours of eating Scalini's eggplant parm, I think they give you a gift certificate for a future meal or something. Turns out that it was a total fail, but at least we enjoyed a good dinner.

Ben got invited to play golf on Saturday in honor of a friend's 30th Birthday. Initially, I think he was afraid to commit to golf because he was worried that I would go into labor but I reminded him that the chance of me needing him within that exact 4 hour stretch was pretty slim. He did end up going of course and just had his phone with him so he could be on standby. (Go figure that I wasn't thinking and called him near the very end of his round! Needless to say, I think I ruined his concentration on that hole). I spent some time looking like a beached whale at the pool with friends and getting some much needed sun on my pasty legs and arms! Then Saturday night we went to a surprise birthday party. So it was a pretty full day -- we were both exhausted by the time we got home.

We got up this morning and went to church. I had to go through about 4 wardrobe changes before I could find something that fit okay. These last days of pregnancy sure don't do much for your self-esteem! After church, we went out and had the BEST lunch at Fox Brothers BBQ. I'm not normally a huge BBQ fan, but this place is excellent. I took a picture of the fried ribs appetizer that we shared. To say they were good is a tremendous understatement. (And to our friends who were supposed to meet us there and ditched us -- you missed out!!)

I don't really know why I'm still posting pictures of myself at this stage -- I think I look normal in the mirror and then see myself in a picture and realize that I am absolutely ready to pop! Oh well, here is a picture of Ben and I after lunch today - officially 40 weeks. Let's just hope we don't make it all the way to 41!

I go back to the doctor in the morning. They will do what is called a non-stress test on the baby to monitor his/her heart rate and make sure things are still okay. As long as they determine that the baby is still safe and getting plenty of oxygen in the womb they will allow me to go on for about 10 more days. (I think I've said all this before, sorry if I'm being redundant)

Tick-Tock .....

We're still just waiting .... waiting on the little shimster to make his or her appearance. Everything is done - room painted, pictures hung, clothes and blankets washed, bottles sterilized, diaper basket filled, toys and gear assembled, car seat in (and inspected). Literally ... everything. Well, except I do still need to wipe down his/her new toys to make sure there are no germs on them but that will take a grand total of 10 minutes to do.

So, the Shim update is there is no update. There is wi-fi in the hospital so I'm sure once there is news to share Ben or my sister will update the blog accordingly.
This is me at 39 weeks. HUGE and swollen! Regarding the whole swelling thing, I asked my sister this morning if giving birth was like popping a balloon. Meaning, does the swelling go down once the baby is out? She said no and that it will take some time. Awesome. Looks like I'll have to continue to deal with flip flops and the loosest-fitting clothes possible.

I do think that when the swelling does subside, I'm going to reward myself with these cute sandals! (Sorry for the tiny picture. I promise they are cute .... you may just have to take my word for it)
Also, just for fun, here is a picture of Ben and his prize fish he caught yesterday. He estimates it was around 6 or 7 pounds!!! Pretty impressive, no?