Stephen Patrick...one day old

As promised, here are some photos of our new little guy!

Jon and I got to the hospital at 9:00 on Thursday, to start the induction process. By the time we were admitted, prepped, and all the orders placed, it was about 11:00 before anything really got started. Most of the day was spent playing the waiting game...not too much activity or discomfort really. By about 4:45, it was decided that we had progressed enough to break my water. After that, things changed. The good part was, after going through a basically similar process with Marie and Joey, we sort of knew what to expect. We knew that the last hour or a little more would be the exciting, intense part.

The last little over an hour consisted of pretty intense contractions. When the nurse came in to see how we were doing, I "stoically" (as she put it) ask if Dr. F was nearby. She decided to check me, but when she could see Stephen's head, she decided that she would change her plan and call Dr. F. Needless to say, he was barely in the room before it was time to push. A few minutes later, we met Stephen for the first time.

We got settled in our room around 10:00 PM and were able to get a decent amount of sleep. I'm pretty sure we can't count on that going forward...



This morning, Grandma and Grandpa Shibata came and brought Marie and Joey to meet their new little brother. They were both very intrigued and took turns holding him. We were a little surprised that Joey was as interested as he was. But after all, Marie was interested, so why wouldn't he be? We are going to have LOTS of help when we get home!!




Grandma and Grandpa Meinhart also came by for a visit this afternoon. Stephen took all the attention quite well. Now we are settling in for our second night. He still needs to get his newborn screening done so that we can go home in the morning. Hopefully we'll get a little sleep tonight as well. It'll be another big day tomorrow!