Kesler Ryan Nickels- He's Here!

The second son of the Nickels family has arrived! It was a whirlwind of an event, but boy are we happy with the results.

With a name soon to be decided, it has been a fabulous last 24 hours and we'd love to share the story. Tuesday October 26th was my official due date and we were feeling ready. All of the errands had been done, Soren had taken off Monday to get his list of to-do's done, the house was clean and the bags were packed. Easton was born the day before his due date so we had good reason to suspect this little one would keep the same plan. On Friday I had been dialated to a 2 and had been contracting for weeks.

Tuesday morning I sent Soren to work, but about 9:30 am I started getting contractions in my lower back. This was exactly how Easton's 5 1/2 hour labor started, so I felt fairly certain things were moving along. I called Soren and he came home from work ready to go. Unfortunately, nothing happened. Things stayed in the same place with no real progression all day. I had consistant contractions, but they were sparce at times and weren't getting any worse. We tried going on a long walk, getting on the elliptical, doing laundry and vaccumming and nothing worked.

To some degree I was okay with this because Easton was having a hard day.  He wouldn't nap with Dad home and when he finally did at 4 pm, he woke up in a terrible mood. It wouldn't have felt right to leave him with anyone at any point that day. So we just spent the day together and wondering when this baby was going to show!

At around 9:30 I showered and my contractions started coming on harder. I was in enough pain to stop what I was doing so we decided to call the hospital. They convinced us to stay home for a while longer and I agreed when I realized that getting to the hospital wasn't going to make the pain go away. (I was planning on another natural delivery.) We started a movie and packed the car up. At 11:00 pm our neighbor came over to spend the night with Easton and we headed out. My contractions were about 5 min. apart and I had to kneel or get down on my hands and knees to get through them. We pulled up the car at the hospital at around 11:20 and left it at the curb.

Soren helped me in and they gave me my gown to change into. During a contration in the bathroom my water broke and went everywhere. I was really glad we weren't still in the car for that! I made it back to triage and they checked me. I was already dialated to a 7! This surprised me, but not for long because the contractions really started coming then. They called for about 6 nurses and my doctor once they saw how fast things were moving. We made it to the delivery room and they tried to get my monitors hooked up. I was in a LOT of pain by then and the breaks between were getting shorter and shorter. I finally got one I just couldn't take anymore- I started yelling/screaming through it and nothing was relaxing. I knew I had to start pushing and could feel him coming. Soren could already see him. After that one long contraction of death, I had one more and his head came out along with the rest of him! Three nurses delivered him; my doctor was halfway to the hospital listening to me scream over the phone. They pulled in a random doctor down the hall to help finish things and we were basically done.

Baby was born at 11:54 pm, about 30 minutes after we arrived at the hospital. He was 7 lbs. 7 oz and 19.9 in. long. (A pound and an inch smaller than Easton- no wonder he slid right out!) It was the best and worst experience of my life. The condensed pain was the worst, but such a short labor is the way to go!

No one could believe how fast things went, oh but I was glad it was over. So, so glad.

We spent the night getting things washed up and checked and even got a little sleep. Soren went home before Easton woke up and even knew we were gone. That was a big stress relief and blessing for me. They came back later that morning and Easton met his little brother. So far, so good. Easton was very curious and kind. He tried to give the baby his binkie and was concered about the band-aid on his foot.

My mom is flying in tonight and will be with us for a week. We get to go home tomorrow morning as long as we all look healthy. I can already tell this recovery is going to be cake- another bonus to a short delivery. I feel great and couldn't be happier.

I love bath time photos!

Dad's first time with him.

Snuggling.

Friends already.

We are so happy to be a family of 4. New babies are so wonderful; I just wish you all could squeeze him and touch his soft little cheeks. We'd love any and all visitors so feel free to come see us.