.reasons to smile.: Nathan "Nate" Patrick

Finally a chance to update my blog... hoping to still keep on top of this even with four kids running around now. Four kids does mean more reasons to smile, so more to write about. : )

[I usually reread everything I write before posting, but Nate is hungry... so beware of typos!]

Baby Nate arrived January 10, 2012 at 4:40pm. On my last update I informed you that I had a c-section scheduled for January 11th, but I guess he was ready to join us a day earlier.

I woke up Tuesday morning and just felt crampy, which exactly how the days started when I had the other kids. I had a feeling it meant something, but didn't want to jump to conclusions so just laid in bed for a bit. Mike was gone early that day and already on his way to Madison when I woke up at 6:00am. I decided to get up and take a shower and see how I felt after. I continued to have what I thought were contractions until 7:00am consistently about every 5 minutes. I called Mike to let him know that I thought I might be in labor, so not sure what he wanted to do. He decided to drop off what he had and then head home... did cancel his lunch meeting, too.

I called the doctor around 8:00am and at that time the contractions had stopped. I wanted to know if I should still go in since I was scheduled for a c-section and really didn't want to go into labor and then have to have them quick do a c-section. They said if they started up again I should probably go in and see if any progress was being made. I pretty much sat around during the morning (after I vacuumed and dusted quick). I realized that if I laid down they stopped, but if I was up they were about every 5 minutes. Finally at about 1:00pm we decided we should go in. We called Mike's Mom and she came over to watch Kate and to be here when the other two got back from school.

We got to the hospital around 2:00pm. This is almost the same time we got to the hospital for all the other kids... crazy that the timing was so similar. The hooked me up to all the machines to monitor my contractions and listen to the baby's heartbeat. They said it appeared I was having some contractions, which I was beginning to feel more and more. We waited until about 3:00pm for my doctor to come in and check to see if I was progressing. Turns out I was 4cm when she came in. She said it'd be best to do the c-section right away that afternoon. So, that was it... I never even really had much of a chance to get nervous, which was very nice!

We called my parents and other family to let them know that our baby was arriving a day earlier than expected. I was sad when my c-section was originally scheduled, but I always enjoyed waking up and feeling different knowing that I would probably have a baby that day. I also enjoyed timing contractions and all that... Mike said it was weird of me to enjoy this. But, I really did. So, this ended up working out really well, because I could go through all of that and before anything really got painful I was in for a c-section.

It's really amazing how quickly they can gather the people needed to perform the c-section. We had to wait for the spinal, but once that was schedule everything went very quick! I was amazed!

I had never had a c-section before and was a bit nervous. But, it ended up not being too bad at all. It's amazing how many people are in the room when it's all happening. They were all great and did a wonderful job explaining what I'd be feeling when, so nothing caught me by surprise. Mike was with me most of the time. It was funny, when they started pulling baby out it was butt first and a leg was pretty much stuck up by the head, so it was difficult to get the baby out. Mike could see the baby for awhile before being able to tell if it was a boy or girl. It was fun to watch his face in anticipation. : )

Finally, we knew it was a BOY!! We were very excited because all kids can have a brother and sister... very nice for them all. : )

Nathan Patrick Zimmerman
9 pounds 1 ounce, 21-1/2 inches
BIG BOY!

Mike got to share the news with our family while they finished up on me and I was in recovery. He got to show off Nate from the nursery to everyone... some cute pictures.

I could go into detail about that night and the next several days, but we'll just say a lot of kids got sick (we had bronchitis, pneumonia and other stuff) and kids were being shuffled all over the place sometimes together and sometimes they were separated to try to keep them from catching each other germs. I'm SO THANKFUL to have so much family in town willing to help. There's no way we could have made it through this without them!!

We came home on Saturday morning... it felt so good to come home and see the kids again!!! They weren't able to visit me in the hospital at all because they were all sick. It was a long time without them... I missed them so much! Kate was still recovering Saturday, so was at my parents until Monday morning. We didn't want Nate to catch her pneumonia. So, it was almost an entire week that I didn't see her. Not fun.

The kids made welcome home signs and even had a play all ready to perform for us. It was so fun to see their excitement. They were also so excited to see Nate. Unfortunately, they couldn't hold him that day because they were still coughing.

[fun signs the kids made... can't see it all. it read "welcome home Nathan and Mom"]

[Rachel taking some video of her little brother]

Finally everyone got to hold Nate (not Kate yet) and we were all together. The pediatrician recommended we take some precautions to try to keep Nate healthy... the kids were troopers and did as was needed.