Landon's arrival!!

Get ready... this will be a long one with lots of pictures.... but since this is my blog/journal I'm want to write it all down so I remember it. So bare with me. (or just look at the pictures!)

First let me start this by going back to Monday Sept. 21st, my last Dr.'s appointment. After the miserable last week of not being able to get induced after the amnio showed the baby's lungs weren't ready, I went in for another ultrasound and my normal OB visit. The ultrasound on Monday showed that the baby was of course bigger, estimating him to be around 10 lbs. 11 oz. YIKES!! So Patrick and I talked with my Dr. (who was kinda at a loss of what to do with me!!) and he told me that with a baby this big, you have to of course worry about being able to deliver a baby of this size normally. So he gave us the option to have a c-section or to try to be induced, but taking the risk of not being able to get the baby out without complications and then just having to do and emergency c-section anyways. I told him I really wanted to avoid a c-section if at all possible, so we decided to schedule getting induced on Thursday the 24th at 10pm.  The Dr. sent us home with all the info to get induced in a few days, and instructions to pray hard and for Patrick to give me a blessing. So we did, hoping that all would go well and I could avoid having a c-section, because for some reason... the thought of having one just freaks me out. I was actually a little nervous going to the hospital this time around, but said lots of prayers and tried to have faith that everything would work out ok, and that the Lord was watching over me and the baby.

So just hours before I left for the hospital on Thursday... my best friend Kym came down from Salt Lake to help me with the boys while I was in the hospital! How great is that??!! It was so wonderful to have her here and to not have to worry about the boys at all while I was in labor and after delivery. I can not tell Kym thank you enough for her help and her willingness to drive all the way here to help me! What an amazing friend!!!  :)  BUT she did insist on taking pictures of me and my HUGE belly just before I left for the hospital. She and my sister have been dying for pics of my huge belly and huge cankles. So here I am... oh so painfully very, very pregnant! The pics of the cankles will have to wait. Kym's camera caught the essence of them much  better then mine did. I have a strict rule of no prego pics of me. I am still wondering why I made this exception. I must really love my sister and Kym!!!  Go ahead... laugh away!  :)

So we get to the hospital and get all settled in, sign all the paperwork, all that kinda stuff. They start me on the Pitocin at 11:15pm. Anyone who knows me, knows that my labors take a while, so we were sure it was going to be a long night of just waiting around. When I got to the hospital I was at a 3 and 50%, so I had hopes that it wouldn't take as long as some of my other labors, but I was wrong! It took just as long! My contractions did steadily get stronger, but after several hours, I was had only made it to a 4. Bummer! So the nurse told me I could get my epidural whenever I wanted, so to just let her know. I was good for the time being. I had been trying to get some rest while just waiting, after all, it was the middle of the night! Then about 6 am I had barely fallen asleep and I had this horrible huge painful contraction. They weren't letting up, only getting harder and more painful. When the nurse came in to check on me a few minutes later she said, "oh, your not smiling so much anymore, would you like that epidural now?" I was like "YES PLEASE!!!!" Partly cause I hate the pain, and partly because I knew from my last babies that once I get my epidural and they break my water, things tend to go much much faster. So she went off to call the Dr. to get me my sweet relief of drugs, and he was of course in a surgery, and I would have to wait till he was done.  Lovely! It was about 7 am when the blessed relief of modern medicine stepped into play, and all was great again! Seriously... epidurals are the greatest thing ever... once they are in... I still HATE the process of getting it in though. Ugh!

It was about 8:30 am when my Dr. came to break my water. By then I was at a 5... after 9 hours, only half way there!! But I knew that now that my water was broken, things would speed up. After that, Patrick was starting to get hungry so I told him he should go then and get breakfast, because if he waited too much longer, he may not get the chance. So he decided to run across the street to Einstien's to get a bagel. While he was gone, I was comfy and resting when all of a sudden both my nurses run into the room and grab an oxygen mask and tell me to put it on and turn onto my left side because the babies heart rate had suddenly dropped. They were running in and out, calling my Dr. and monitoring the baby. Thankfully after just a minute or two, his heart rate went back up to where it should be, and they told me to stay on my side, and keep the oxygen on for a while. When Patrick  came back just 20 minutes after he'd left to find me like that, he felt bad for leaving, of course something would happen in the 20 minutes he's gone. But all was well, so we just kept waiting. At about 11:30 am, my nurse checked me and I was now at a 6. Geez, this was gonna be a long day, I kept thinking! Then about 30 minutes later I called my nurse back in to check me since I was suddenly feeling lots of pressure. She checked me again, and I was at a 8 and the baby had almost fully dropped. Then about another 20 minutes went by, and I called her in again, because I was feeling even more pressure, and now it was lower, so she checked me again, and I was completely dilated and ready to have this baby!!! So she ran out to call my Dr. to come and he said he'd be there in 15 -20 minutes. So they started getting everything ready, all the extra nurses came in, they were having me get all ready and in position to push. The nurse was going to have me push a few times before the Dr. got there, but by that time when they got my legs up into the stirrups the nurses were like, "um don't cough, laugh, sneeze, or move because if you do, this baby will be here before the Dr. is!" So I tried not to do any of those things as we waited and waited!! The Dr. was taking forever to get there, and then once he did finally get there (it was more like 45 min. not 15-20 like he said) he ran past my room and yelled in that he was going to the bathroom first and would be right there. LOL!!  This wasn't making the nurses very happy! So he finally comes in and says, "WOW, there is a baby right there!" The baby was already crowning!!! I only had to push once and his head was out, I pushed again, he was born!!!!! Seriously?!?! Just 2 pushes for a baby that was supposedly so big and we weren't sure I'd even be able to deliver him?!?!

YAY!!! He was finally here!!!

Landon Thomas Patton

9 lbs. 4 oz. 21 inches long

Born @ 1:04pm on Sept. 25, 2009

The super excited and very proud big brothers!! He is very loved by his big brothers, they love to hold him, and give him hugs and kisses. Conner was very cute with the baby, he kept telling me that the baby has feet, and ears, and fingers, and everything just like he does.   :)

My friend Kym
We were hoping to get to come home on Saturday afternoon, but Landon was making "grunting" noises when he'd breath, so his pediatrician wanted to keep him another day to run some test and make sure his lungs were working ok. I wasn't too worried about it, Conner did the same exact thing, and was fine, it only lasted a couple of days. Everything came back that little Landon was fine, so we finally got to come home Sunday afternoon. We were so glad to be home with our new little baby!

I can't believe that he is already almost a week old!! He is really a good baby, pretty easy going. He has this cry/squeal thing that he does that just makes Patrick and I laugh. It sounds just like a pig! Its so funny. 

We are so happy to have Landon in our family!!! We are so blessed!!!