Aidan Thomas Kelly was born November 24 at 8:58 p.m. He was 8lbs 4oz. Yes, big,
with a head full of beautiful auburn hair. (He gets it from his Grandma.)
A few days before he was born we had a "scare." My contractions started coming 5 minutes apart, so Jeff and I headed to the hospital in the middle of the night. Thank God Bee was there to stay with Annie! She'd come in to town in hopes of being here when he was born, but the little bugga was stubborn, and we missed it by a day. Annie was very happy to have her Aunt Bee here, and enjoyed some reading time.
It was a false alarm, but we went in for a check-up on Monday anyway. After having a "she's gone past 40-weeks" sonogram (they wanted to be sure he was comfortable enough to stay in a little longer), and getting the news that if I waited I may have a 10 pound baby if he waited much longer, we decided to go in on Tuesday to get the process rolling. I was already a few centimeters dilated, so I wasn't too concerned with the idea.
We went in early that next morning, and Jeff and I spent a peaceful day hanging out, playing Skip-Bo and such. At about 8:00 p.m. I was dilated to 5 cm and feeling good.
Then came 8:30. Nurse checked me and I was a "6." But immediately after she left the room I was in pain. Not "breathe and you'll be fine" pain, but "OMG OMG OMG" pain. Up to this point it was all good, breathing through contractions, not paining even with the Pitocin. But When that 8:30 contraction hit, there was NO WAY, I thought, that I could labor 4 more centimeters without an epidural. My thoughts were that if it hurt that bad at 6, I would die before I got to 10.
Decided I wanted an epidural. No way I'd go 2 more hours without one. Jeff knew that I really didn't want to go the epidural route again, so he talked me down to getting some pain killer through my IV. I agreed, and they had some pain meds hooked up by about 8:35. The nurse came in, hooked on the bag, and left the room. Immediatly after her exit, I was in full-on labor.
I yelled at Jeff to get the nurse, but he didn't even have to leave the room. She heard me. I think the whole floor probably heard me. Seconds later my doctor and the nurses were in the room, and Aidan was gearing up to meet us.
He was born at 8:58 p.m.
And it was love at first sight.
We spent almost every moment together those two days in the hospital, a stark difference from my previous two deliveries. Annie was entirely enthralled with her baby brother when she came to meet him the next day.
She doesn't really like to leave his side.
We brought him home on Thanksgiving day (what a way to celebrate, eh?!). And, in true Kelly Family fashion, our car broke down on the way home from the hospital. Fortunately it waited until we'd exited Division to Slaton, and some friends happened to be driving by at the exact moment we stalled. Thanks to Michael for helping Jeff push us into the United parking lot, and to MomnDad for picking us - and all the hospital flowers and gifts and such - up. :)
We battled a nasty bout of Jaundice for a few weeks, but fortunatley we have a big picture window where Aidan did lots of sunbathing.
The weather was even nice enough for a few days that we got to spend some time outside.
Aidan is an amazing baby. He laughs and smiles every day (since he was about 3 or 4 weeks old). He coos, and imitates my sounds and mouth shapes. Yes, he is very advanced for his age ;). He doesn't really cry much, and he makes some hilarious grunt and chortle sounds.
I'm head over heels for this little guy. Thank God for our precious little Aidan, Annie's "Bean."
