Our Little Peanut Is Here!!!!!

After a little drama and excitement, Caleb Jay Johnson was born on Friday, August 24! He was a BIG boy - 9 lb 6 oz & 21 inches long - and had to be delivered by emergency C-section. Who would have thought?! Of course, I skipped all those parts in all the books I read . . . why would I have to read anything about C-sections?! I'm going to have a normal labor and delivery, complete with epidural. Well, apparently my body decided it wanted him to be delivered and Caleb was certainly ready, but my body also decided it wasn't going to cooperate. After breaking my water and finding he'd already passed some meconium (basically, baby poop . . . ), the contractions still weren't doing as much as they should have, and then Caleb's heart rate dropped. There's nothing like a huge entourage of doctors and nurses running into your labor room to make you feel real relaxed . . . but they got him stabilized after a little while. His heart rate bounced around again a few times, and finally the doctor decided that she wasn't comfortable with him being under stress, my high blood pressure (which was still climbing), the meconium, and Caleb's size. Within five minutes of signing the paper to allow the surgery, I was in the operating room and within another five minutes, Caleb was out and screaming! Talk about fast!

He's such a great baby - what a miracle! We are so excited and our days in the hospital were wonderful. It was almost hard to come home - just slightly scary! My mom has been here helping us, and it's been so nice to have an extra pair of hands, especially when I can't move really well at this point. Anyone who has talked to me on the phone lately knows that Percoset does interesting things to the mind . . . Caleb is already smiling (no, it's not gas!), pushing his body up with his arms, and goes from happy to screaming instantaniously when he's hungry! I'm already forgetting what life was like before Caleb - it's amazing how much this little guy has changed our lives already. Everyone talks about the lack of sleep, which is major, but my favorite times are at night when he's wide awake and alert, wanting to snuggle and look around the room. It's amazing! I wouldn't trade it for anything.