The boy is here

Samuel Merritt Duncan has arrived. He was born early on Tuesday morning at 3:30 am and now shares his birthday with his momma, 22 May.

As stated in the previous post, we were scheduled for an induction on Monday. The hospital gave us 4 call times to expect them to call. The first was 5AM. We both got up early to get ready just in case they called. 5am came and went so we decided to go back to bed and try to get some more rest since the next call time was not until 9am. The phone rang at about 6:30 and we both practically jumped out of bed. It was the hospital and they were ready for us. Needless to say, we quickly and nervously headed out the door.

By the time we reached the hospital, filled out the necessary paperwork, and got settled into our labor and delivery room, it was approximately 8am on Monday morning(we live an hour from the hospital). The nurses came in and got Crystal hooked up to an IV and we waited for the doctor to come check her out. He got to the room around 8:30 and decided to see how far she had dilated. She was still at a 1, which she had been for the past three weeks. He then decided to go ahead and break her water to help the process along. At about 10am the nurse had Crystal get up to walk. We walked for an hour around the 4th floor and came back to our room. She then started receiving "pitocin" by the IV. This causes the contractions to be "harder" than normal. After a few hours it was getting to the point that she was hurting very badly in her back, to the point of not being able to take it. The doctor gave her a shot of 'Stadol' which eased her pain for awhile, then it was back to severe pain. We then decided it was time for the epidural.

Let me say that Crystal is terrified of needles, but at this point, the large needle in her back was a welcomed thought. And what a difference it made! Once they got her epidural started, which in itself was not a pleasant experience, she quickly started feeling much better. I think she even began to realize that she didn't actually hate me!

After hours of contractions she was progressing slowly. Every couple of hours the doctor would come in to check her progress only to say that she had dilated 1 more centimeter. But, he was confident that she was still doing well even though a little slow and was sure that she could have the baby. Finally around 1:30am on Tuesday morning she had reached the 10 centimeter mark. With the help of the nurse on one leg and me on the other, Crystal started pushing. It would take her 2 hours!

The doctor finally came in just as Crystal had gotten very close to actually getting him out. With a few more pushes, she had his head out, and it only took her one more to get the rest of him out!

Of course, after making sure she was ok, I grabbed the camera and started taking pictures while they were cleaning up Crystal and Sam. Our hectic day and most of the night was finally over.

And we had our boy. He was 21 inches long and weighed in at 9 pounds 12 ounces! And has the fullest head of hair that anyone has seen!

This is his newborn picture taken about 3 hours after he was delivered! They actually had to comb his hair!

So, we are home now and trying to adjust to our new life and roles as parents. It is going to be awesome! I would like to thank everyone that came by to see us and for all the calls. It means alot that we have such caring family and friends. And stay tuned...I'm sure there will be much more about this kid on this blog!

*Many more pictures can be seen HERE.