{Introducing Robert Dixon Meyers}

How do you begin to describe the experience of welcoming a new baby into your family? There truly is nothing like having a baby. I would do it again and again if only Cory agreed!

On Monday morning I woke up, took a shower, and got ready for the day as usual. I recall thinking that it would be great if my water broke as I was getting ready in the bathroom; it would be easy clean-up and I would know for sure that my baby was coming. I suppose I got my wish! While I was checking my email I had to get up to chase a cat off of a counter and my water broke! That was at 8:10 am.

I immediately called Cory, only to discover that he didn't have his phone with him. I left him a message and started calling other key people: my grandmother, my mother, my mother-in-law, and my sister-in-law. No one answered their phone except my mother, who was at school teaching! I didn't panic, but I couldn't help but wonder how things would play out. I had to have someone at the house to care for Sasha and Clara.

Finally, I called my mother-in-law's school and got in touch with her. Thankfully, she dropped everything and came over to watch the girls. Cory also got the messages (there were more than one by this time) and called to say he was on his way home. In the meantime, I got the girls up, dressed, and fed. I finished packing my hospital bag, unloaded the dishwasher and cleaned the kitchen. I had so many things I wanted to get done before I left! I really didn't want to come home to a dirty house, so I did what I could to take care of the worst of the messes.

Cory and I got to the hospital at around 9:45 and were checked in by 10:15. I got settled in a room and got an IV of fluid going so I could have an epidural as soon as possible. I was having contractions but they weren't very strong and weren't consistent. Regardless, as soon as I got an entire bag of fluid, which took about an hour, I asked for the epidural. I did NOT want a repeat of my agonizing delivery I endured with Clara. Call me a wuss, but that is an experience I only want to endure once in my life.

I was nervous that the epidural would make me sick the way it did when I had Sasha, so I told the anesthesiologist that I wanted a light dose and anything he could do to prevent nausea. Whatever he did, it worked! I felt fine and was quite comfortable.

My mother and sister arrived around 2:00. Shortly afterwards, I started to feel very intense pain "down there" with each contraction. I endured it for a while, but by about 2:25 I couldn't stand it anymore. The nurse checked me and I was dilated to 8 cm. She left the room, and five minutes later I thought I was going to go crazy if I couldn't get rid of the pain. I called for the nurse again, and I was ready to push! After an initial practice push or two, I gave one really good push and Robert Dixon was born. I had asked Cory to be the one to tell me if the baby was a boy or a girl, but as soon as he was out I looked and saw for myself. I was actually the one to say, "It's a boy!" Cory is so thrilled to have a son it's ridiculous.

I was in intense pain for some time after Robert's delivery, and for a few minutes we weren't sure if the placenta was going to come out on its own. But thankfully everything worked out.

So it's with great pride that I introduce to you Robert Dixon Meyers! He weighed 6 pounds, 12 ounces and was 20 inches long. He is the biggest of my babies, but still so tiny. I'm not sure what I'm going to call him yet. I like the idea of calling him Dixon, but the nickname potential isn't that great. I don't want to call him Robby, Bobby, Rob, or any other variation of Robert, either. But I don't know how I feel about just Robert. What a dilemna! We're just going to feel it out for a while and see what seems to fit him best. I'll explain more about his name sometime soon, but for ease of posting I'm going to call him Robert for now. This picture was taken shortly after Robert was born. Man, I look beat! Cory took this picture of Robert's little foot. I'm impressed with the boy's photography skills! He rarely picks up the camera, so this is pretty cool.Later that night, Cory went home to bring the girls in to the hospital to meet their baby brother. I had them looking super cute in the morning, but they ended up playing hard on their Aunt Megan's farm that afternoon which led to them needing a bath. No one does their hair the way I do, so while they don't look horrible, this isn't quite the image I had in mind for their first meeting with the baby. Nevertheless, they were still cute in their big sister shirts and I am so grateful to Diana and Megan for taking care of them for us.

We didn't let anyone tell them if the baby was a boy or a girl until they got to the hospital. They were so smitten by the baby that I don't think they cared much that he's a boy. They both just wanted to hold Robert and give him kisses. The next day was fairly peaceful for me. I didn't have a ton of visitors during the day, so I got to hold Robert and just relax as much as I could in that rock hard bed. At 2:46 I took this picture of us together - Robert is exactly one day old here. We left the hospital Tuesday evening so I could help Sasha and Clara get back to "normal". Clara wasn't doing too well at home without her Mommy, so I left the hospital earlier than I had planned. Today I managed to snap this shot of Cory holding his son.

We are beyond happy and feel overwhelmingly blessed to have this little boy in our family. Already I can't imagine life without him.

Be prepared for lots and lots of posts about our little man!