The Boys Return Home, and a New Boy Finds a Home!

The day finally came, Tanner and Dallin got back from visiting their Dad. We took them to our friends birthday party for their one-year-old. Andrea was complaining of some contractions and by the time that we had gotten home from the party, Andrea felt it was time to go to the hospital. So we had seen the boys for a good 3 hours, and we found ourselves leaving them again.

We arrived at the hospital, and they checked Andrea out. They weren't sure if this was it or not, so they monitored her for an hour to see if there was any progression. At this point she was at the same stage, so they told her she would have to go for a walk around the labor and delivery unit for an hour, at which point they would re-evaluate her. So we did this and Andrea was in a lot of pain and was having regular contractions. After about 45 minutes of walking she had to lay back down because of the pain. They again re-evaluated her, but this time they thought that she would continue to progress. This being my first time I thought this meant we would be waiting at least a few more hours, but they gave her an epidural, and then checked her about 45 minutes later. This time, she was dialated fully, and the head was ready to come out. Within minutes, at around 1:15 a.m., we had our new addition. He weighed 6 pounds, 6 ounces, and was 19 inches long.

There was some worry because their was some maconium (poop) present in the womb, and they thought that the odds were good that he would inhale this and get it in his lungs (not sure if this is all technically accurate, but to my understanding this is what I got out of it), which could cause complications. They immediatly evaluated him upon delivery and whisked him away to the ICU for closer observation, because he wasn't fully breathing properly.

Fortunately, I got to accompany him, and he recovered quickly-within one hour he was taken to the well-baby nursery, and a couple hours later we were able to hold him. He has really long feet and he bends them upward, kinda like a frog would. We think he's adorable, and he seems to be healthy in every way. He's tiny, because he's two-weeks early, but all his pieces are of sufficient size (if you know what I mean... afterall, he is a Tippets).

Tanner and Dallin came and visited him early this morning. Tanner immediatly fell in love with him, Dallin on the other hand seems a little more skeptical, he says "he has a tiny brain." We've spent our first day with our new baby visiting with family and friends, and we all realize what a blessing it is to have him in our lives.