The Veldmans: Grant Gregory has arrived

This post is so far over due, I apologize.  Grant Gregory joined our family on Oct. 23rd at 7:46 pm. He weighed in 9 lbs 11 oz, and was 21.5 inches long (however, when measured 6 days later they measured him at 23 inches, so I'm fairly certain that they didn't measure him properly when he was born).

After dropping Ava off at daycare that Tuesday morning Nate and I headed to the hospital to be induced. They broke my water at 9:30 and we started to walk the halls. It didn't take to long before the contractions started. By 2:00 I was 6 cm dilated, got my epidural, and within 45 minutes I was fully dilated.  We waited awhile before pushing, then waited for doctors, etc. Finally, after 65 minutes of some hardcore pushing, Grant joined us with a large cone head. The poor little guy was stuck under my pelvic bone on the right so he had a very large cone on the side of his head.  He had a hematoma on that left side of his head as well.  In all honesty, I was thinking to myself that I was grateful that I packed all those hats. :) The poor little guy must have had a horrible headache that night. By the next morning he looked so much better and by Friday you couldn't even tell that he was once a cone head.

Since he was born so late in the evening Ava didn't end up coming down to see him until the next day. Grandma Becker was the only one that saw Grant on his birthday, as she was actually at the hospital before he arrived. Mema & Boppa brought Ava down after daycare on Wednesday. She came bounding down the hall with her present in hand. It was so nice to see her. She held Grant for a short time, gave him a kiss, said how cute he was, and then she was done with him.  She has been very gently with him so far. We keep saying that she's going to want a new brother all the time because every day somebody else shows up with presents for the two of them. It's like it's her birthday.

Nate went home with Ava Wednesday night to get some sleep on something other than a hard chair that converts into a "bed". He came back to the hospital Thursday morning to take Grant and me home. Ava got to stay at Mema & Boppa's with Grandma Becker. Grandma stayed until Sunday morning and helped with Grant throughout the nights so that Nate and I could get some sleep. it was so very much appreciated! I don't know if he just really liked her or what, because he was up quite a bit when she was here.  Since she left he has been getting up only once a night. We can't beat that!!! I'm praying that it continues. He really is the perfect little guy, very chill and a good sleeper. The only issue that we've had is him latching on when feeding. This started on Monday. I don't know if it's because of the trauma from his circumcision or what.

Well I'm exhausted and can't think straight right now so I'm going to leave you with these pictures. I'll catch you up on the past week when I post next time (hopefully very soon) and add some more pictures.