Wyatt Thomas Graves finally made his debut at 12:56 pm on May 12, 2008. He weighed 7 lbs. 6 oz. (the EXACT weight that the ultrasound on Friday, May 9th had estimated!) and was 20 1/2 inches long.
Our first family photoI want to thank all of you who were praying fervently for him to come on his own rather than us having to resort to an induction. Even though he waited until it was almost too late, those prayers were answered! Here's how it all went down....
I was already scheduled to be induced on the 12th at 6:30am. So Sunday night, Kyle and I went to bed, planning to getting up around 5 am and heading to the hospital at 6am for the induction. We had mentally prepared for a long day of labor and knew we needed a good night's sleep to be ready.
Well, I woke up at 2:30 am with terrible "gas pain". No matter what I did, I just couldn't get comfortable and I was actually getting mad that the "gas pain" was keeping me from getting a good night's sleep. I took 2 Gas-X hoping that would help.....but it didn't......and after about an hour of tossing and turning I realized that this pain was coming and going every 5 minutes and then quickly progressed to every 1 1/2 to 2 minutes! I admit, I was in a bit of denial because I had finally just accepted that I was going to have to force this baby out against his own will. But it's funny, because as much as I wanted to go into labor naturally, I was actually a bit MAD that I was going into labor in the middle of the night the DAY BEFORE I was scheduled to be induced!!!
Good things come to those who wait --- that morning I learned that sometimes you have to wait, even all the way up until the point where you've given up hope!
So we were admitted to the hospital at 6 am in ACTIVE LABOR -- whoo hoo! I was already dilated to 5 cm and 90% effaced. I was having very intense contractions and sitting in the bed was the WORST position to be in, so I said, "Epidural now, please" and then life was much, MUCH better.
Epidurals ROCK! At 12:45 I started pushing and at 12:56 I heard our precious baby boy's first cry as he entered the world! Kyle, my "cheerleaders" (mom, Beka, Heather, & Ginger), and I were all in tears as we caught our first glimpse of the little Wyatt.
He's not to happy to be laying naked on that cold scale!
Wyatt is Ginger's FIRST grandbaby!
Papa & Mimi are proud of their new grandson!
Aunt Beka & Aunt Heather were there to
witness their nephew's birth
My friends (& co-workers) Melanie & Rachel were there
to take care of Wyatt once he was born.
Rachel & Kyle doing Wyatt's footprints before his first bath!
Wrapped up like a burrito in his basinette
We brought him home on Wednesday, May 14th and that's when reality REALLY hit: he's ours and we are completely responsible for him! Talk about overwhelming. But then again, we know we're not alone in our new adventure.....thank goodness for having family that lives closeby.
Ready to go home!
