Calvin Jacob

 Here's our little guy!  Now that he's 2 weeks old we better write some stuff down before we forget :)

Birth Story: On Tuesday, May 15th I woke up at 2 a.m. having some painful contractions.  They were coming every 3-4 minutes and I knew for sure that I was in labor.  I got up, packed up the last of my stuff and watched "Dancing with the Stars" off the DVR.  At 2:30 I woke Sam up and told him it was time to go.  I called the hospital, then Oma, who came right over.  We arrived at the hospital at 2:45 and were checked into the room by 3:00.  I was having contractions, but they were bearable.  I had tested positive for Group B strep, which is a common thing, but it meant I needed an IV with antibiotics during labor.  The nurse asked me if I wanted an epidural--I said "yes" and she put in the call to the anesthesiologist.  To quote her, "As soon as I get the IV in, he can come do the epidural."  She proceeded to try to put the IV in my right arm--no vein.  Left arm--no vein.  Right hand--blown vein.  Left hand--success!  My water broke at some point during this saga and I was getting impatient for the drugs!  It was about 3:40 at this point (I think).  Pain was getting intense, contractions were every 2 minutes or so, and in between each one I was shaking like crazy.  Trying to remain calm, controlled, and polite (!), I asked, "When is he coming?", meaning the anesthesiologist, and the nurse said, "He's in the hall, getting things ready"  I tried to be patient, but it was getting difficult!  Then the nurse reminded me, "If you feel like you want to push, tell me, because we need to call the doctor"  It seems stupid, but that was the reminder I needed--"Oh yeah, we're gonna have to push!"  And then I knew it was imminent.  At 4:00 the epidural showed up and the doctor began his little speech: "I'm Dr. So-and-So, I'm here to do blah-blah-blah"  It was all I could do to not tell him to shut it and shoot me up!  He said, "Between contractions, turn on your side and I will do this."  I said, "Okay" and did just that.  However, when I turned, it was clear that it was time to push, not time to get a shot.  I think I just kind of shook my head, turned back to my back, and there was Cal!  One push, and the doctor who came up from the emergency room caught the baby at 4:11.  I still don't really know who he is--we never introduced ourselves.  My real doctor showed up about 15 minutes later, as did our pediatrician.  Both had been called out of bed and didn't quite make it for the big show.

Calvin Jacob weighed in at 9 lbs, 11 oz and was 21 1/4 inches long.  He's our biggest baby.  He has a nice head of brown hair and his eyes appear to be steely-blue.  His feet were not quite as big as predicted, but they are pretty big!

Following in his siblings' footsteps, he found his thumb!

 This is "Westphall Hat Syndrome"  The hat creeps up and up until it falls off.

 Meeting his big sister.  Reports from home told me that Anne was pretty sad that she did not have a baby sister.  :(  Two weeks later, I think she's finally getting over it....

 THREE!  Yikes!  That's a lot of kids.

 Brothers.  Sambo has been so sweet to Cal.  He likes to hold him and kiss him and says, "Look at his tiny hands!"

 We were ready to head home on Thursday morning.  Two long days in the hospital get a little boring!  While I'm not sure I'd recommend a non-medicated "rocket birth" to anyone, I did feel pretty good when it was all over!

 Deceitful baby--he screamed like crazy when we put him in the carseat for the first time.  Here he looks calm, but that is rarely the case when he's strapped in.

These first 2 weeks have been interesting for all of us.  A family of five has a lot of adjusting to do as we try to figure out a new routine.  I try to tell myself "Each day gets a little easier"  Cal is a good eater and occasionally sleeps for 4-5 hours at night.  His check-up today was good; he's not quite back up to his birthweight, so we need to feed him a bit more often.  He also appears to have a plugged tear duct like Sammy had, so we'll be doing the eye drops and massaging his eye to help that clear out.

That's where we're at right now.  More pictures and stories to come, I'm sure!