little man makes his appearance

On April 25th at 2:55 p.m. we were excited to welcome Maxfield Atticus into our family. He weighed in at 8 lbs. 12 oz. and 21 in. long. I must say he was definitely bigger than I had expected. We are quite enamored with the little guy and although running a little shy on sleep, we are excited about this transition in life.

The labor and delivery of little Max did not go at all as we had "planned" or expected. Since he was late coming (9 days overdue) we went into the hospital on the evening of Sunday the 24th (Easter Sunday) to begin preparation for scheduled induction on Monday morning. After some irregularities with Max's heartbeat during contractions, the doctor decided that it would be best to induce me late Sunday night. After laboring through the night I starting pushing mid-morning on Monday and had high hopes of delivering him before noon. However, after pushing for 3 hours and making progress things pretty much stalled and my doctor decided that he was just really too big for me to deliver that way. He was also facing the wrong way, which added a great deal of discomfort to the entire situation.

Around 2ish in the afternoon I was moved over to surgery for a C section. It was quite the thing to go through and is still sometimes hard for me to think too hard about without feeling extremely overwhelmed and emotional, but the end result of a healthy baby was so worth it. I think Luke and I both felt a bit traumatized, but we made it through and are just thankful for great doctor and wonderful nurses and God's protection for Max and me.

We were in the hospital for 4 days total and were very impressed with the great care we received from all the nurses and staff. I'll still be recovering for awhile, but seem to be making strides every day. I'm so thankful for Luke, who has been taking such good care of Max and me. He's had even more responsibility from the start because I was confined to bed for a few days and when I wasn't I still required a great deal of help any time I got up. He had to get used to changing diapers immediately and to having a baby in one arm while trying to accomplish things with the other.:) Max loves his daddy; Luke is usually more successful at calming him down than I am.:) I feel incredibly blessed by the love, support, patience and care he has shown to Max and me. I'm so thankful to have him in my life.

We got home last Thursday and have been making the transition into this new phase of life. My mom came and stayed with us for several days cooking and cleaning for us as we learned how to take care of this little guy. She was incredibly helpful and it was such a blessing to have her here. I love my mom so much!:) Luke starts back to work next week, which will feel so weird to me being on my own during the day. Hopefully I'll be up to the task.:) Max is overall a pretty happy kiddo and he's even a decent sleeper. We are so in love with him and while slightly biased, think he's just about the cutest thing we've ever seen.:)

Welcome to this world and to our family, Maxfield!!