It's a BOY!

Well, well, guess who decided to join us a few days early? It's our wonderful, fantastic little BOY! Will David Singleton was born September 9th at 8:30 a.m. He weighed 8 lbs 7 oz and was 20.5 inches long. We're sooooo, so immensely thankful that he arrived safely and is healthy but, wow, he made a surprising entrance. We had our scheduled (and re-scheduled) c-section planned for the 14th, but he just wasn't going to wait. All was normal until about 5:30 a.m. on the 9th when I felt a pain just like I had when I went into labor with Kate. I thought they'd probably go away or would at least be spread out, but the contractions kept coming and picking up steam. I showered and started packing, but I wasn't still totally convinced that it was really TIME. I was more convinced when I called Ryan at 6:30 and told him he better start thinking about coming back (poor guy, he'd just been at work for 30 minutes after driving all the way out there!) I phoned my doctor and he said to show up about 7:30 and they'd see where things stood. Since my last labor was SO excrutiatingly slow, I thought I'd have lots of time to get there. Even so, my mom got there pronto and it was a good thing because I could barely function by the time she got there. HOLY OUCH. I really had blocked out the pain of back labor. We drove to the hospital (not fun) and got there by 7:30. Nobody was in a great hurry until the nurse checked me and I was 7+ cm!! All of a sudden, there were about 10 people hovering over me, all in "this baby is coming out NOW" mode. There was already someone in the operating room being prepped for a planned c-section, but they had to boot her out so I could go in (I'm sure she hates me and I don't blame her!). Once they got the epidural rolling, my outlook improved quite a lot. Luckily, Ryan made it and was there in the operating room the whole time. We were just having a chat when we heard a muffled cry and then a much louder cry and, BANG, the baby was there. Ryan got to check and announce that we had a boy, and then he cut the umbilical cord and we got to see Will for a few minutes before they took him off to get weighed, measured, poked and prodded. I got stitched up quickly and was soon back in the room where Kate, Grandma Connie and Grandpa Bill had already met Will. We weren't expecting Kate to be there when Will arrived, but circumstances made it so and she did great. She actually seemed fine with it all, which was a huge surprise to us. She decided to name Will "Hot Dog." Will passed all his checks and was soon eating his first meal. He took to it like a champ which was not surprising considering he literally had blisters on his hands from sucking on them in the womb. The day that followed was a joyful one and all his grandparents were there to see him. Kate was happy to be spending the night with Grandpa Bob and Grandma Starla while Ryan and I stayed at the hospital. We could already tell Will was a way different baby than Kate. She came out a spitfire from the start, but he's much more laid back. He's looking like a squishy newborn now, but we think he and Kate will look something alike because there are definite similarities to how she looked when she was born. We'll see. For now, we are just SO happy to be home and together as a family. We are also so fortunate to have so much help around us right now. I couldn't be more thankful to have a support system like ours. I know it's not special to have so many willing, helping, loving hands. We are a lucky bunch and are ready for the wild ride we are just beginning. I know it won't be easy, but we're just where we want to be: a family of FOUR!! Lots more photos to come.....:)