Welcome Clark!

We decided to be induced on Friday 22nd. My due date was the 18th and we really thought I would go into labor on my own but I didn't! I was at a 3 and 80% effaced the week before my due date so I thought I had a pretty good chance but it didn't happen. We induced on Friday so my mom could come and help with the kids and so we could take advantage of all of Paul's paternity leave with the baby here. 

We went to the hospital early on Friday morning and got started on pitocin around 8am. My doctor broke my water around 10. After that the contractions started to hurt pretty good. I got an epidural  around 12. It worked great for about an hour and then I started having some really intense contractions that I could feel around 1:30. They got worse and worse and I thought about asking the anesthesiologist to come back and make sure the epidural was ok  but I didn't want to sound like a wimp. It got painful enough that I couldn't hold back a few tears so Paul went and found him :) The nurse came in too and checked me. I went from a 4 to a 9 in an hour and was ready to push! So a bad hour, but worth it! The anesthesiologist gave me another dose and it kicked in shortly after the baby was born so I wasn't in any pain for all the after-birth stuff which was really nice. All in all, it went great. I'm so relieved and grateful that the delivery went well and most of all, that Clark was born a healthy boy. 

We didn't know what we were going to name in when he was  born so we thought about it for about an hour afterwards. We looked at him and decided Clark was it. I love it. We spent a nice hour together after he was born before they bathed him and dressed him, etc. He was able to nurse pretty quickly too. 

Later that day we had visitors come to the hospital to meet little Clark. I couldn't wait to introduce him to Susie and Braden. Those are special moments. Susie is the cutest big sister! She loves little Clark! Braden thought he was pretty neat too. We all admired him together for awhile before Grandma took them out for dinner with the rest of the family. 

My aunts and cousins came to see him too. They waited until after the kids had met him. Samantha and Clark share a birthday! So here are the birthday kids:

My mom was able to stay until Sunday morning. It was so nice not to have to worry about the kids. Paul stayed with me at the hospital on Friday night and we told the nurses we wanted to go home as soon as we could on Saturday so they were really helpful in getting us out of there. I don't like to stay at the hospital! 

This last week has been really great. Having Paul here makes all the difference. He takes great care of the kids and handles all the stuff around the house. I've been able to nap and rest and enjoy Clark. Braden has had a really hard time not getting as much snuggle time with Mom. He's my little snuggler. Sometimes he gives me funny looks when I am nursing Clark like -"what in the world are you doing?" I know it will be a lot harder when Paul goes back to work so we are enjoying having him home for now!

Clark is sleeping a lot. He seems to have a good temperament so far. We usually go to bed around 9:30 and he wakes up around 1 to eat. Sometimes it takes a little while for him to go back to sleep and then he has been getting up around 5 to eat again. We love our little Clark! He is so precious!