"This is crazy."  In the delivery room, Ruth Ann made that observation more times than anyone could count.  Here's a quick rundown of other notable items in the last week* (*or so, I'm honestly not sure what day it is):
  • Time spent in labor at the hospital: 5.5 hours
  • Time spent pushing: 20 minutes
  • Times Ruth Ann asked if her legs were still there and/or if they were huge: 7 - 10
  • Time Bryan spent unconscious: 0.00 (I even cut the cord, holla!)
  • Time spent in the ER after going home: 9 hours
  • Sleep stolen by Team Timmons the first night home: 0.00
  • Subsequent sleep: Some, here and there (this number is on the rise)
  • Supportive calls, texts, visits and refrigerator re-stocks: Let's just say it's a good thing I recently changed our phone plan.  Thanks so much to everyone for everything!
  • Things I'd change on our way to getting this little guy: Not a one

(Mugshot)

Now for the details...Fair warning - this will be a lengthy post, fraught with joy, some scary moments, and some reflections on the first week of parenthood (some of it may not make sense, see bullets 6 and 7 above).  Oh, and pictures.  Plenty of those.

Stinker

For those keeping score Avett was due on 9/25, so on Sunday night when Ruth Ann said that her back was hurting, we both thought that it was probably from sitting in front of the computer all day knocking out grad school work.  I rubbed her back (bonus points), fed her some Tylenol, and we went to sleep.  Monday morning, she thought some things may be starting to happen in the downstairs region.  We haphazardly (over)packed our hospital bags, and headed off to work.  Ruth Ann called the doctor's office in the morning and they pretty much said that they didn't want to see her until she was having consistent contractions 5 minutes apart.  OK, fine.

I didn't hear from Ruth Ann again until the end of her school day, but evidently she'd been laboring away most of the day and had started having contractions around 3:45.  We decided to get her packed up and meet at home.  Now before you jump me for asking my uber preggo wife to drive home, you have to realize the message they put out in the birthing class.  Labor will be loooooooooong.  Hours and hours, and you don't want to spend all that time at the hospital when you could be at home and much more comfortable.  Blah, blah, blah...So, I wanted to get us home, consolidated, and ready for what was next.

That was all a moot point.  Before I could leave work, RA called again and said that her contractions were consistent and getting closer.  She called the doc again, and the same story - we don't want to see you, thanks very much.  I ran over to her work and we got in the car and drove to the doctor, which was just a few blocks away.  I went in, told them the scoop and they wanted to get her in.  We hobbled back to a room, the doc came in and checked, and she was dilated to 4cm.  Time to go to the hospital and yes, they would call ahead and tell them to expect us.

Now, the hospital is really just about 15 minutes from the doc's office.  By the time we got there, parked, checked in, and into a room (ask RA about that process), she was really feeling the contractions and ready for that epidural.  And she was dilated to 7cm.  Zoinks.  They don't do epidurals after 8cm, so the race was on.  The anesthesiologist was on her way, but for me, the race was to get out of the room (I avoided the start of the epidural and the IV).  I'll spare you the details of the actual delivery and give you these highlights: Ruth Ann did amazing (word has it that the doc was even bragging about her), I kept a little bit of distance from the action but stayed upright the whole time (and even cut the cord), and both Grandmas were there to welcome the little man.

Brand New

Stats

With Mommy

After a couple busy days at the hospital (seriously, those rooms should have revolving doors), it was time to go home.  Good thing we were prepared:

You could eat him up, right?

After an extra careful drive home and some welcoming from the fam...

4-legged siblings

What keeps making those strange noises?

...we started to settle in.  I was thumbing through some paperwork from the hospital and realized that the little man hadn't taken a whiz all day, and that if that was the case you should call your doctor's office.  It was after hours so I called the nurse line and after some Q&A, they suggested we take him to the ER.  What the what?!?  Just a few short hours ago, we were getting a clean bill of health and now we've got to go to the ER?  I won't bore you here with all the details, but after some ultrasounds on his kidneys and bladder, and a very bad experience with a Peds doctor, we were told that he was just a bit dehydrated.  They ran IV fluids all night while we did anything but sleep, and cut us loose just in time to go to our next-day scheduled appointment with our pediatrician.

Sporting a new bandage

We had a great visit at the doctor's office where they told us that a little dehydration is more normal than you'd think, and that we probably would have been OK not to go to the ER (lesson learned, ask to speak to the doctor on call after hours).  They pretty much told us to keep doing what we were doing, and wanted to see him back on Monday for another quick weight check.  Monday rolled around and our boy tipped the scales at 5 lbs 12 oz, so he's regained birthweight and then some.  That's quite an accomplishment with as many poops I've changed.

Starting to get some cheeks

Lack of sleep aside, I feel like everyone (dogs included) are adjusting well to this new adventure and we're enjoying every minute with this little bugger.  I'd write some more, but let's be honest, you stopped reading halfway through this post and just want to see pictures.  That's understandable, as cute as he is.  Here you go...


Little Hands


Little Feet

Artsy Fartsy

With the Grandpas.  My hair really tells a story.

Most clothes don't fit me too well these days

Progress Report


 And, for those of you that made it to the end, how about a bonus video?


Stay tuned for what will undoubtedly be an endless supply of entertainment and subsequent blog posts from the new and improved Team Timmons!