Julien has arrived!

If you haven't heard by now (and if you haven't heard, you must be living under a rock with no phone or internets), Julien Paul came into this world at 11:33PM on Friday, March 13th. At birth he weighed 6lbs 14ozs, 19.5in long with lots of dark hair. My first view was in an spinal haze across the operating room -- it would be a few more hours before I could be with him. Poor little guy had an elevated heart rate and was "grunting" (another term for having some breathing issues) so spent his first few hours in the NICU.

From the start of my pregnancy, I had hoped to have a natural childbirth. And up until the end, my labor was fairly "textbook" - contractions coming at regular intervals for the right duration, cervix dilating at 1cm / hour, etc. etc. However, towards the end it became clear that a change a plans would be needed. His heartrate was very high and on top of being occiput posterior, his poor little head was getting swollen from bumping into the side of the cervix instead of through the middle. While my doctor did offer up other options besides a c-section, I felt it would only prolong the inevitable and perhaps make things worse for Julien. For the RIGHT reasons, c-sections are definitely OK and I felt that this was indeed the right situation.

We spent 3 days in the hospital before being released Monday afternoon. My doc was ready to release me on Sunday, but Julien developed jaundice at levels that the pediatrician and nurses felt needed some extra observation and preventative measures. He's been on a biliblanket since Saturday evening and is starting to do better. Poor little guy has had his heel pricked so many times for blood :( At least he gets a break now until Thursday.

When I get more time (ha! what's that?!?) I will fill in more details on the story leading up to the birth and recent events. Until then, we will just be getting to know our new little bundle of joy at home.