Joshua Edward Pilz is finally here!

Monday the 15th at 4:32pm, Josh was born. he weighed in at 8lbs almost 11 oz (10.8) and 21.5 inches long. Labor went really well once it got started. Just like with the girls, I had false labor a few days earlier. I went in to the hospital on Tuesday thinking it was the real deal, and it really quite convincing, but I never got past a 3 so they sent me home assuring me it would happen any day now. I went walking almost everyday at the YMCA hoping he would just fall out due to my friend gravity, but no luck. At my appointment on Friday, I was at a 4, but not having regular contractions, so I went home again this time sure it would happen over the weekend.

On Monday, Mom (who sweetly came Thursday responding to my distress call Tuesday) and I planned to go stroller shopping. But as I was getting out of the shower, my water broke. So, that ended the shopping trip, but yeah it brought home Karl from work and I finally got admitted to the hospital.

Just like with Sydney, despite water breaking, I wasn't having hard contractions for the first 2 hours. I was in pain from my hip so asked to get my lovely epidural in before things really got rolling since I was at a 5 when I was checked in. After a few hours at the hospital we decided to start the pitoccin to get the ball rolling. That ramped things up quite nicely, and so an hour or so later, my wonderful doctor came to check me again, and did something magical with her exam which took me from an "Oh this isn't comfy, but I can still watch a movie in between contractions" status to "Oh my gosh, I'm having a baby RIGHT NOW." After a few minutes to get ready and set up, I was off and pushing and he was born after only a few pushes.

The girls came by with Mom that evening to see him. Both girls oohed and ahhed over him which was really fun! They seemed shocked at how cute & how small he was. However when asked if they wanted to hold him, they back pedaled away as fast as possible! Sydney just shock her head, but Emily, being her funny self, replied "I'm not big enough. Maybe when I am 12" That just made me laugh! It did not occur to her that when she is 12 her 6 year old brother probably won't want to sit on her lap:)

They kept me there in the hospital until today, partially because they like to keep new moms 48 hours, but mostly because they were concerned about his "large" size and whether or not he would have blood sugar issues at the 40 hour point. I thought he was normal size for one of my munchkins, but they have a better safe than sorry policy I guess. We scampered home a few hours earlier after promising we would take him to the doctor on Friday. Not that he ever had any issues with his vital signs, but, oh well. He is happy to nurse, doesn't cry too much, which I am sure will change very soon!

So now we are all home & very happy, if very tired. Mom has a link on flickr for some very cute pictures that she took at the hospital. click here