It's a Boy!

Sorry this post is so late - we've been a little pre-occupied lately :)

Both Matthew & I have started this post a couple of times, and had intended to give some detail about James's birth, but in order to actual publish something, I'll keep it short & sweet!

James Hardin Nett was born on 3/12/2011 at 2:22pm (one week ago today!).  He weighed in at 7lbs 2.5oz, and was 20.5" tall.

My water broke the day before at a doctor's appointment, so we were admitted to the hospital right away (around 5pm).  I was in labor for 21 hours (although the first 5 were a piece of cake!), followed by 35 minutes of pushing.  Apparently, I'm a very good pusher :)

We had a couple of scares during labor.  When my water broke, we noticed that there was meconium in the amniotic fluid.  Meconium is the baby's first poop (which usually comes after the baby is born).  When mecoium is present, there's a risk that the baby will breathe it in during delivery, which can cause serious respiratory issues.  As a result, we had to have a team from the Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU) present when he was born.  You can tell if the baby aspirated the meconium if he doesn't cry right away.  I don't think I've ever heard a more beautiful sound than his cry (it seemed to me that it took forever for him to belt out that first cry, but Matthew said it happened right away).

I also developed a fever around 10am, and since my water had broken several hours prior, there was a concern that I may have contracted an infection in the placenta (chorioamnionitis - Medical name provided by Matthew).  I had to be given antiobiotics before we could deliver.  After the birth, a blood culture was taken to see if an infection was passed on to James.  He and I were put on antibiotics for 48hrs.  If his culture was positive he may have been in the hospital for 10 days, but luckily they were negative so we got to leave the hospital Monday evening.

We're so thankful that everything turned okay, and we feel incredibly blessed to be James's parents.  Thanks to everyone for thinking of and praying for us during this time.  We can't wait for you all to meet him.

So who do you think he looks like?  Leave us a comment.