Wesley Byron Clinton

Here's our new little man!

Born May 31st at 8:53AM
6lbs, 14 oz
19 inches
He came two and a half weeks early--which I had been fervently praying for!

Here's the labor story--skip over the next paragraph if you're not interested:
For the last week and a half I've been contracting spontaneously and have been very uncomfortable. I had an appt on Friday afternoon where the midwife told me I was 3-4 cm and 70%. That night we had mexican for dinner (spicy foods) and walked around Target for 2 hours (no joke!) to try and induce labor. By 10:30pm, my contractions were regular. We went to the hospital at 1:15am (Saturday the 31st) and they told us that they were doing a system wide computer update and that they would have to do all paperwork by hand for the next 3-4 hours. (this kind of stuff always happens to us!) The nurses and staff were fantastic though and worked really hard and efficiently to get me my epidural ;) After an hour or two of waiting, the anesthesiologist came in and started taking my history. As he began to get his stuff organized to administer my epidural, a nurse ran in and told him that they were doing a crash c-section and needed him. He was the only anesthesiologist on and that meant another 1-2 hours for me to wait for him to be done. What I have learned from my two previous labors, was that I don't need to be a hero, so I gladly accepted the narcotics every time they were offered to me during my extended wait. Now after three labors, I have also learned that epidurals just don't work really well for me. They take away the pain in a lot of areas but also miss some crucial areas. After hours of extra boluses administered by the anesthesiologist I was still crying and whimpering in pain. The anesthesiologist offered to try again with another epidural to see if they could hit the right nerve. I sat back up (at this point I was 10 cm but still a 0 station) to get my second epidural. When I laid back down, I still had pain in my lower abdomen, but my back pain was moderately better. The nurses decided to check me again to see if I was ready to push. (Exit anesthesiologist) I pulled my legs back and both nurses quickly said "DON'T PUSH! DON'T PUSH!" Wesley's head was right there. They called the midwife in but I had to wait another 20-30 minutes as there was a shift change of all doctors and midwives. (See what I'm talking about? Always happens to us!) The midwife came in told me to put my legs up while she got dressed. I asked if I should push, I could feel a contraction coming, and she looked at my crotch and said "DON'T PUSH!" She quickly finished getting dressed and told me to push in between contractions with small little grunt pushes and to relax through the contractions. I did little grunts, relaxed through one contraction, did little grunts again, relaxed through the second contraction, but that second contraction pushed his head out and I was done.

Here's some pics from the hospital.



I like this one. "Please! NO cameras!"




Lacy and Anjali love their baby Wesley. When Lacy first saw him, she timidly walked up and said "That's a cute baby." I then told her that he's her baby brother to help her gain a sense of ownership and after that she smothered him with affection--hugs, kisses, tickles, and sharing of toys. Anjali only says "Baby! Baby! Baby!" and points and jabs at him. She's very curious and excited but seems so far that she has loving intentions.

Wesley is a very mellow baby so far. He doesn't really cry, he just kind of squeaks and whimpers a little. He nurses well, and sleeps well. And he's very gassy. I think he looks just like my girls did when they were born except he doesn't have the long feminine eyelashes. His hair is dark, but his eyebrows are blonde. His eyes are dark, but look like they could go light. So his physical features are still to be determined. He's a cutie and we are all enjoying having this tiny little baby join our family!

A couple more pics:

Family of 5!

View from the brand new hospital (Girls silhouette)

Getting ready to leave the hospital (I love how baby Wes looks like an accessory. He's so tiny!)