Joshua Richard Dyer

The waiting has come to an end. Sunday November 7th at 2:36 am we welcomed the arrival of our little Joshua. It all started when I woke up Saturday morning with back pain. I spent the day trying to figure out if I was in labor or not! (Mostly because the week before, on Josh's due date I had false labor pains- Braxton Hicks and didn't want to go through the anticipation only for it to be false...AGAIN.)  Plus the pains I felt weren't what I had imaged contraction pains to feel like, so when we finally arrived at the hospital around 5pm my contractions were between 3-5 minutes apart and I was definitely in labor! My water was broken at 10. I got an epidural around 11, and let me tell you how grateful I am for modern medicine! I was finally able to rest after about 16 hours of labor and I guess I relaxed enough because within a couple of hours I was dilated to a 10. The hard part was that we had to wait for my doctor who was in an emergency C-section in another hospital. We waited for about 30 minutes before I started pushing, and my doctor got there just in time.

Joshua unfortunately ended up swallowing a lot of fluid and was rushed to the NICU where he was put on oxygen and hooked up to IV's and monitors.

I have an entirely new appreciation for parents with sick babies. It was hard for us to not have him in the room with us, we didn't get the bonding experience that I had anticipated. Even though we were able to visit him throughout the day, it was for short periods of time because he needed his rest. My heart is full of gratitude for everyone who kept little Joshy in their prayers, and for a husband who is a worthy priesthood holder and was able to give our son a blessing. I know that the Lord was watching out for us and I knew everything would be okay.

The next few days were difficult. I was discharged Tuesday and moved to another room in the back of the hospital for families who have babies in the NICU. I stayed there 2 more days without a nurse, but at least I was close to Joshua and I tried best I could to pump milk to feed him and even got to nurse him near the end of our stay. The day they took the IV out of his head is one I will never forget! I was SO ready to get him out of there! It was like breaking out of prison, no more cords connected to his little body, no more oxygen, no more antibiotics, no more nurses, no more washing my arms up to my elbows every singe time I wanted to hold him, no more walking down a cold long hall in the middle of the night after pumping, no more setting the beeping machines off because the monitors would fall off his feet and chest, it was a pure sense of freedom.

Having him home has been a dream. I love everything about him. His tiny nose, the little smiles he makes in his sleep, his limp soft body, his lips, ears, hands, cheeks...oh those chubby chubby cheeks, his smell, his eyes, the way he cries, everything. I literally can stare at him all day. And I do.

The love I have for that little person is incredible. I never thought I could love someone so much! I would do anything for him.

So far we have had 4 nights as a little family. All sleepless, all wonderful. Yes we are exhausted. Joshua has the day and the night confused so mommy and daddy are very tired. But very very happy. :)

How can you not love this face???