Welcome William!

First, some pics, then the story.

Where in the world does that dark, full head of hair come from?!?

Getting to hold William for the first time since he was born, about 24 hours later. What a sweet moment!

Thank you all so much for your prayers!! Yes, we had a little boy yesterday, April 1st. He was 6 lb 2 oz and we decided to call him William Robert (Robert was my beloved grandfather's name, so now each of our boys have a middle name of one of our grandfathers). He was born at the end of a very crazy day a little after 4pm.

My ultrasound on Wednesday afternoon showed that the baby was at the 11th percentile for weight (they guessed 5 lb, 14oz). If he had been at the 10th percentile, they would have put me on complete bed rest and delivered at 38 weeks. But with the extra percentage point, they were willing to put me on modified best rest and twice weekly Non-Stress Tests. I wasn't thrilled, but I wasn't worried either. I just figured we had a little baby since everything else so far looked so good.

I started out with a Non-Stress Test at the hospital in the morning. While I was sitting there I was having a lot of contractions, and the tech was concerned. Secretly, I was hoping she wouldn't notice the contractions because I had no intention of delivering a baby that day! :) She took the results over to our OB's office and they wanted to send me down to triage at the Family Birth Place for more monitoring to see if the contractions would slow down. After several hours, they were still very regular so they decided to move up the c-section to that day. It was the longest we have had to wait in the hospital, (about 5 hours in triage) but God was so good to give us his patience and peace- and time to figure out a name :).

The surgery went well, but William came out with a lot of fluid in his lungs and unable to get enough oxygen on his own, apparently common for a preemie baby (the pediatrician said today that there is a remarkable difference between a 37 week baby and a 38 week baby). He has been in the NICU since delivery, and I am hoping and praying that they will discharge him tomorrow or the next day or so that we can finally hold and feed the little peanut! (They don't want any stimulation- holding, touching- to raise his heart rate and breathing because he is already working so hard.)

His vitals are all good now and today he is breathing on his own without the oxygen tent, but he still has a high respiratory rate which they will have to wait for him to get under control. We have been told that babies at this age have not mastered the tasks of swallowing, breathing and eating, so he has to be on an IV for now.

We covet all prayers. The older kids are doing well with all the sudden changes. We look forward to being able to bring everyone home, and start our new, "normal" life! :)