Grant Loyd Adams

THE FACTS:

Grant Loyd Adams was born at 12:36pm on Sunday, January 2nd, 2011.

He weighed 8 pounds 3.6 ounces and was 20 inches long.

We are SO HAPPY to finally have him here!!

(Those are the facts. If you want the nitty gritty details, the story is below.)

THE STORY:

My entire family came to Arizona for Christmas. We had a FANTASTIC time (blog post will have to come a little later) - but just for the immediate record we did have a very Merry Christmas. The "plan" was for the baby to arrive while my family was in town so that everyone could see him. But, this baby had his own plan. My family all left on Sunday morning around 9am - and sweet little Grant arrived about 4 hours later. The bright side is that I got to party it up with my family the ENTIRE time instead being couped up in a hospital recovery room. And anyone who knows me well, knows that I REALLY. HATE. missing a good party.

Early Sunday morning I started feeling contractions around 2:45am. I decided to let Greg sleep until the contractions started to come regularly. The first two contractions were 10 minutes apart, the next was 7 minutes later, the next was 6 minutes beyond that and then a particularly painful one a mere 5 minutes after. I decided at this point (around 3:30am), I better wake up Greg. He called my Doctor who told him to get me to the hospital. We called my sister Laura (around 4:15am) who was the designated Emma-sitter and then called my Mom who was invited into the labor room as the second string coach after Greg. We got to the hospital around 5am.

Banner Desert Hospital stuck me in a triage room, asked me a series of ridiculous questions that seemed even more ridiculous dispersed throughout evil contractions. Is my highest level of education really consequential to the birth of a child? Yes, and my Masters Degree brain wanted to SCREAM, "forget the questions and just give me the d*** epidural!". I was dilated to a 5 - so they decided to hook up the IV's and admit me for labor.

The nurses moved me to the labor room around 7am and immediately started me on Penicillin (because of my Group B Strep). The Penicillin injected felt like a million dull pencils were being shoved into my veins... seriously almost as bad as any of the early contractions. The BLESSED epidural was finally administered around 7:30am by an angel anesthesiologist. Life got better and we waited for my body to dilate.

Nurses and doctor periodically checked on me, but mostly we (Greg, my Mom and me) all slept while we waited for my body to kick into high gear. I got another slightly less painful dose of Penicillin around 10:30am and my doc broke my water around 11am. Up to this point the epidural was doing it's job. That soon changed.

At 11:30am I started to feel some serious pressure "down below" and then almost immediately I started to feel some excruciatingly painful contractions. I asked about another boost of epidural and was given good and bad news. The good news was that the baby had dropped to the birth canal VERY quickly. The bad news is that it was so quick that it was too fast for the epidural to catch up and I'd have to "finish the job" without additional pain meds. The next hour was basically the most extreme pain I've ever endured. It consisted of (what seemed like) one really long, intense contraction while they prepped the room and rushed to get the doctor. I started pushing around 12:15pm and after three INSANE pushes Grant Loyd Adams was born.

Kudos to those of you who purposely choose to give birth without pain medication. But, I am not one of you and was not prepared for such an ordeal. Luckily it went fairly quick and when it was over I had a beautiful and healthy baby boy.

The "after party" was very peaceful and nice. Emma was whisked quickly away from me and the delivery room because of some serious meconium aspiration - and I didn't see her for almost 4 hours after she delivered. Grant's birth was so much more wonderful because we got to hold him and love him for a long time in the delivery room. The nurses took care of all of their "business" in the same room, so we were part of everything. It was a very sweet experience, especially appreciated based on our bad experience after Emma's birth.

The hospital staff was wonderful. They took excellent care of us. I wish I could say the same for the hospital food. GAG ME. Luckily there are an abundance of fantastic restaurants close to the hospital and Greg was happy to be my take-out delivery boy. He didn't even make me tip him.

So far, so good. But then again, what is there not to love about a brand new baby, so perfect and pure? He has started nursing like a champ, and sleeps whenever he isn't eating. He hasn't opened his eyes much, but when he does his sweet little gaze melts my heart.

We got home from the hospital this afternoon and have been recuperating and enjoying time with our new family four-some. We feel so incredibly blessed to have our second miracle IVF baby home safe and sound. It is so overwhelming the love we already feel for our new son. We are grateful for modern medicine that makes it possible for us to even have children - and then deliver these children with as much assistance and comfort as possible.

Welcome Home Grant!! WE LOVE YOU.

A special thanks to Aunt Laura and my Mom who have helped out TREMENDOUSLY with Emma. This is Emma's first visit to the hospital. She was VERY cautious and apprehensive of the whole event. It was clear she was a little freaked out by the hospital - and when she first saw me - I was also still hooked up to IV's. She did not want to hug me or give me a kiss, she just wanted to sit by Laura. We gave her a present "from Grant" and she was fixated on that for the remaining visit. Emma is a very perceptive child and I'm sure this was a strange experience for her. She asked Greg and my Mom if I was going to stay in my "hospital clothes" or whether I was going to wear "regular clothes". Why in the world would she be embarrassed by my hospital gown being worn in public? So strange. :) Little fashionista I tell you.

Poor little dude scratched his face silly before we got the infant mittens on him. His nose and head were also fairly bruised from the super quick "exit" through the birth canal.

Exhausted, but happy parents. Emma refused to be in the picture, so it's just the three of us.

Never mind my horribly swollen feet - just threw this picture in to show my darling pedicure I got the week before delivery. Chose the baby blue to summon the baby out a little sooner... didn't exactly work how I wanted, but I guess he did show up 3 days early, so I can't complain.

I asked Greg to go home and sleep each night at the house with Emma. I didn't want her to feel abandoned and I knew he would sleep MUCH better in a bed. Banner Desert has HORRIBLE spouse accommodations. He was able to spend the morning with her on Monday and when they came for their second visit, Emma was feeling much more comfortable and happy. She made her new baby brother a cute card and was more than happy to present it to him. Now that Grant is home, Emma has been the doting, loving and ever-attentive big sister that we were expecting her to be. She has said how "cute" he is about 1,000 times just this afternoon.

We did not decide on his name until after he was born. We've had a list of about 8 names for the last 6 months and rotated through them every week. Grant has been my top choice for the last month, so we settled on that a few hours after his delivery. The first name has no significance and no ties to family/friends - we just like it. The middle name Loyd is Greg's middle name and his grandfather's middle name. A fun little tidbit about his initials GLA is that he shares them with his Daddy.

The nurses took Grant each night to the nursery and just brought him back to eat. This helped with my sleep deprivation a little and I was appreciative. Greg and I both went into labor with colds thanks to a family bug that was spread around during the holidays. New Years Day I actually felt really achy and had a horrible sore throat, but prayers and priesthood blessings helped my body heal quickly so that I could deliver a baby with most of my strength. I actually feel as good as can be expected now. I'm obviously sore and tired, but doing well and just so happy to have Grant home and out of my belly. I was getting REALLY tired of being pregnant those last few weeks.

Coming home from the hospital in his car seat for the first time. Caught this cute little smirk by chance - he must be happy to be home.

Home snuggly and safe and comfortable in his sister's Pepto Bismol pink saucer. I bought neutral colors in all of the large ticket baby items, except for this saucer. Ha Ha. I told Greg it helps get him in touch with his feminine side.

We feel so happy and blessed to have sweet Grant in our family! Thanks for all of your well wishes and congratulations. We feel very loved.