Come Aboard.

I know word got out that Mr. Brody arrived this week, and our apologies for bieng a few days behind on the blogging front but the hospital didn’t have internet access and they said that I should focus on recovering . We got home from the hospital Thursday afternoon.

Here are his stats:

Brody John Ness arrived at Sparrow Hospital on Tuesday, July 29, 2008 at 11:58 p.m.
Weighing in at 6 pounds 4 ounces and 21 inches (very long and skinny). Currently he has hazel eyes and light brown hair.

The Baby Story (for those interested in hearing all about the big day):

I went in for my routine 40th week appointment at the doctor’s office Tuesday morning. During this appointment (if you make it into your 40th week) they do a non-stress test and an ultrasound to check the amount of amniotic fluid. He passed his non-stress test with flying colors. The ultrasound was a bit of a different story. They informed me that he was a little low on amniotic fluid (4.4) that surrounds him and said that it was about time for Baby Brody to come into this world. So they set up our induction for 3:00 p.m. that day, just enough time for me and my mother to get home, inform Timmy to finish up packing his overnight bag and go have a late lunch at Buddy’s…(I made Tim have the biggest beer that they carried to calm his nerves .

At the hospital, they informed us of the process they set up for our induction. They were going to start with a medicine called Cytotec. After having that for four hours, they were going to switch me to a second type of medicine (forgot the name) for the next two hours then give me Cytotec again for the next four hours. If this didn’t work they were planning on giving me Potosin that next morning. The on call doctor at the time came in right before her shift change when they gave me the first dose of medicine and again explained that this process usually takes a long time and on average 3-4 doses.

Even before induction, I had a hunch that labor was going to come quick for me even though I was the only one that believed me. Tim was on the phone telling people that it would be way into the next day.

So with them expecting that I was going to be there forever, they had us order dinner after one hour into the first dose. After the second hour, they wanted me to go for a walk around the hospital floor. It was during the walk I noticed that I was having contractions and they were pretty strong. I had nothing to compare them to since I never felt them before but my stomach was hard as a rock.

Back in the room I asked Tim if he could count them for me. At that time he still didn’t believe I was having them but did me a courtesy . They were consistently two minutes apart for one minute long. I wasn’t hooked up to the monitors because they had us go for that walk and the nurse was taking her time to hook me back up (thinking as everybody else that this wouldn’t work on the first dose).

Our doctor was on my side . He walked in to talk to us since he just got on shift. As he was talking he noticed my stomach harden and was a little upset at the nurse that I wasn’t hooked up to the monitor. He felt my stomach and said that I am having really good contractions and will not be needing any more medicine. Once on the monitor he was back often saying that I am progressing really quickly. I got my epidural and it was perfect timing because right after I was fully dilated and it was time to get the show on the road.

Just a side note: I love epidurals! I called the doctor who gave it me ‘Mr. Happy.’

To make a long story short, once I got those first early contractions I was only in labor for 5.5 hours. Brody was born naturally (with the help from suction) on his due date at 11:58 p.m. He did have the umbilical cord wrapped around his little neck and leg but he was fine after a bit of unwinding. Brody is pretty small weighing in at only six pounds, four ounces and leaving the hospital at 6.1. We are working hard to change that quickly!

We had a lot of visitors during our stay and we want to thank everyone that came by, called and text messeged us and all of the great presents we received.

We were in the hospital for little over 36 hours and came home Thursday afternoon. We already had a bunch of visitors at the house too!

Brody had his first doctor’s appointment today (Saturday) and is getting rechecked on Tuesday to make sure he is gaining weight.

That is about it for now, but there will definitely be more soon with better pictures! We decided tonight that we are buying a nice camera to take pictures of this little man. Our friends Mark and Nicole were over tonight and sold us on getting a Nikon D60. Thanks Mark!

Thanks for letting us share. More pictures are in the Photo Gallery.  Comments are always welcome.

Love,
Andrea, Tim and Brody Ness