He's Here!

After an emotionally exhausting week, AJ Alan Arndt decided to make his debut!  I'll try to recap:

On September 23 Brent and I spent the night in the hospital laboring.  I had consistent contractions for about 10 hours between home and the hospital...but around 6 am on Saturday, everything STOPPED!  Our doctor and the nurses felt that baby was "face up" causing me such intense back labor and once he flipped back the right way everything went away.  ARG!

On September 29 I had a normal checkup where my doctor located the heartbeat just below my left rib cage.  She did an exam and could not find his head.  She laid her hand on my leg and calmly said, "Jenn, I think he is breach.  If he is, we need to do a c-section this afternoon.  I cannot let you go into labor!"  Immediately she called down to get me down to radiology for an ultrasound.  I quickly made a call to Brent and he met me just before we were called back by the ultrasound tech.  I could not contain my tears or control my emotions, but almost instantly the technician informed us (and showed us) that his head was down!  YEAH!

That evening, contractions began around 10 pm, but I was able to fall asleep.  I slept until 3 am when they woke me.  I moved out to the living room and laid in the recliner and watched the clock.  They were very consistent, but not strong (or as strong as I knew they would get).  I heard Brent's alarm go off shortly after 6...heard him push snooze...so I went back and showered.  When he woke up I told him that I was in labor and planned to go into work for a bit.  His eyes popped and his mouth dropped open, but I think he knew that there was no stopping me (yes, I'm very OCD and wouldn't relax knowing I left things open-ended!).  So I went into work for a bit, finished a couple things up, left post-it notes, etc.  I then came home, got the kids dressed and we all headed out to Lynn's house to drop the kids off.  When we got home from dropping the kids off, Brent did some things outside and I sat and tried to relax in the recliner.  At 9:30 the contractions were getting intense and I knew that we should head to the hospital soon.  We got there around 10 am, went through the registration process AGAIN and then the RN checked me - 7 to 8 cm!  The two nurses scrambled to get the room ready, they called and interrupted our doctor, and told me to stay in the room!  Dr. W came around 11 and tried to break my water, but it would not...so I labored until about 11:45 when I got the urge to push...Dr. W came in and I was fully dilated and able to begin pushing.  I must say the nurses and Dr. W did a great job because there were at least two occasions where I said "I cannot do this!"  or when my hands would lock in the "claw" position and I would be told to relax and breathe! 

At 12:06 pm AJ Alan Arndt was born weighing 8 lb. 9 oz. and 20".  He is perfect!  Dr. W showed us a perfect knot that he had tied in the umbilical cord...proof that yes, he was very busy in my tummy!  :)

 Big boy!

 Tired Mommy & new baby boy!

 Meeting AJ:  Finley cannot get enough of her new baby brother...she very gently rubs his head, kisses him, talks to him, etc.  Ace could take him or leave him, he does not like it when "baby" cries, and poked him in the eye the first time he saw him!  He's settling right in to the big brother role!

 Finley would pull the foot stool over to the bassinet and just stare at AJ with a huge smile on her face!

 The kids had a sleepover at Lynn's house on Friday night so Brent could be with AJ and I in the hospital.  They had a great time with Lynn and I was very excited to see them again on Saturday morning!

Peaking in at their brother, now 1 day old!

 Finley is such a great big sister!

Finley got to sound the chimes on Sat. announcing to the hospital, clinic, and nursing home that her new brother is here!