Geoffrey Patrick Arrives!

Our little man has finally arrived!!!

Geoffrey Patrick Himes was born Friday, December 2nd, 2011, at 7:31am. He weighed 8 lbs 7.3 oz, and was 20 1/2 inches long. He has dark blue eyes, blonde hair and was born in Hollywood, California - how fitting. :) We are SO blessed!!

*Editor's note - I am blogging about these details for my own record. Although I do not feel as though they are too graphic, please be warned. :) *

I started feeling contractions on Thursday night, around 8pm. The pain was dull, but was present and consistent, so I kept an eye on the clock for awhile. The feelings I was having were occurring approximately 45 minutes apart. The way things had moved so fast with Maddie, Brant and I were anticipating a trip to the hospital within 2 hours, but that didn't happen this time. We ended up going to bed and sleeping for a few hours. At 2:45am, I woke up to use the bathroom. The first thought in my head was something to the affect of wondering what on earth all of those feelings had been the evening before, because I had been so sure I was going to be heading to the hospital, but instead had fallen asleep! My body quickly took charge and informed me that we were definitely moving in that direction, as my contractions started to come about 20-30 minutes apart.

I stayed awake, timing my contractions for approximately 2 hours, before making the decision to wake Brant up. At 4:30, I let him in on my pain and told him that he wasn't going to work that day because we were heading to the hospital very soon. My contractions were 12-15 minutes apart. Brant jumped in the shower (because he had to look good and smell nice for all the upcoming activity, right?), packed the remainder of our things and we were off a little after 5am.

...A little back story...we had arranged to have both Grandmothers come into town over a 10-day span, in hopes of little Geoffrey arriving during this time, and allowing us to have a live-in babysitter immediately available for Maddie. Brant's mom arrived the day after Thanksgiving and stayed until Tuesday afternoon. We had a wonderful time together, all the while trying all sorts of "tricks" to try to get labor going, but with no success. Round 2 began Tuesday night, when my mom arrived. After a flurry of delays and a full-on cancelled flight out of San Francisco, she managed to get onto a different flight coming into LAX, only about 2 hours later than originally planned. This was excellent, but proved to make things a bit more exciting, as Brant was in class that night and Maddie and I (being pregnant and due at any moment), had to drive the LA freeways out to LAX at night by ourselves. We, obviously, made it safe and sound.

I had a great time with my mom, trying to remain distracted from the fact that I was still not going into labor and time was ticking before she would have to leave. Wednesday evening, the big wind storm hit southern California, with Pasadena being the epi-center for the storm. The howling winds brought down trees and power lines everywhere - in fact, the city is still in a state of emergency today. The debris was everywhere, schools and businesses were shut down, and the wind continued into the following day. I really wanted to have this baby, but I also was grateful we didn't have to go out in the middle of the night during the storm, to make the 20 minute drive across LA to the hospital. God had it all planned out for me and kept us safe.

...back to Friday morning!...It was so great to have my mom in town, because we were able to proceed with our original plan of leaving Maddie at home with a grandma to care for her. If you have talked to me in the past 4 months, you have heard me explain how this has been my greatest anxiety of this whole pregnancy/delivery. I was so relieved to be able to leave my house and truly not even think about Maddie at all, knowing she was in excellent care. We made it to the hospital at about 5:30am. I was admitted into the triage room where they proceeded to start checking me and asking me all sorts of stupid, er, I mean, important questions. (Remember, I was not in much of a frame of mind to be having casual conversation at this point). I was 5cm dilated and almost 100% effaced. The contractions were coming close to every 3 minutes, but I was still in the triage room, wondering WHAT ON EARTH am I still doing in here?! Get me to the delivery room!! At one point, I remember starting to cry (when Brant was the only one in the room with me), telling him that I was really nervous that I was too late and wouldn't get an epidural. I loved my epidural with Maddie's delivery, and had been banking on it this time around, too. I finally yelled really loudly (which is easy for me to do), "I need to push!!" That got a few nurses' attention, and they returned to my room, did a final check, and finally took me to the delivery room.

My contractions were very close together and were very painful. They immediately gave me oxygen, trying to help me slow my breathing down. I am pretty sure I was looking like I was about to black out, because I certainly felt like it. I can officially say I was in the worst pain I've ever been in, and did not know how I would ever survive it. They checked me again, saying that I was a full 10 cm, and completely effaced. I had the option to start pushing, but because my water was still intact, they could attempt to give me an epidural and hope it would work in time. I barely had to stop and think as I asked for the epidural. Long story short, they managed to get the anesthesiologist there and put the epidural in, with only minutes to spare. I made it through a few more contractions as the drug started to kick in. I told them that I still had the strong urge to push. The doctor decided to break my bag of water and let me go. I pushed through two contractions, and in less than 5 minutes, Geoffrey Patrick made his grand entrance into the world!

We were overwhelmed, to say the very least, with feelings of awe, wonder, love and pure joy at the sight of our son! We have a son!! Our little man is absolutely perfect. I was able to bond with him immediately for an hour after he was born. He was warm and cuddly, hardly making any noises at all. We both just stared at him, taking in the divine blessing that was just bestowed upon us.

My mom and Maddie made it to the hospital around lunchtime, and we had the joy of introducing Maddie to her baby brother, who she has been talking about for months. She immediately began naming his facial features, pointing out his eyes, ears, mouth, nose, hair and cheeks. Baby Geoffrey also gave his big sister a very special present - a baby cabbage patch doll. She loved it and instantly told him, "Thank you, baby Geoffrey!" :) I think they are off to a very good start!

After multiple doctor visits, nurses checking in and out, visitors coming and going, we were discharged from the hospital on Saturday afternoon. Prior to leaving, we snapped a few pictures in the remaining minutes of sunshine that we had left of Geoffrey and the Hollywood sign, which can be seen from the hospital where he was born! Bringing him home was surreal and natural all at the same time. Maddie was thrilled to have us home with her, although she also didn't seem too bothered that we had ever left. We are a family of four, now, with a little girl and a baby boy. I don't know how that ever happened but it did, and it is wonderful. We are blissfully happy and blessed.

We made it!! This is moments after he arrived.
So little!I'm in love.First bath.Proud Daddy with his son.Maddie's very first response to meeting her baby brother - unprompted, too!Let the exploring begin!Our happy family of four!Geoffrey's gift to Maddie.Grandma Kris and Geoffrey meet for the first time.What a joy and absolute blessing it was to have my mom here.Maddie just can't resist giving her baby brother kisses.Taking it all in.Love them so much.Our family, so overjoyed, and a bit tired, too!View from our recovery room the next morning.We overlooked the "Sunset Strip."Handsome little man.Happy to have finally taken a shower!"Mini-Brant."Hollywood sign from the hospital parking lot.Since you couldn't make out the sign too well in the above picture, we took another, focusing on the background instead. Geoffrey was born in Hollywood, and we have proof!After an exhausting first two days of life, he is finally home.