Welcoming Fletcher.

The road to meet Fletcher was a long one.  We went into the hospital on 11/11 at 9pm and didn't meet him until the following day at 4:37pm.  As we drove to the hospital that Monday night, Billy commented on how cool it would be to have an 11/11 birthday baby.  I told him I didn't think it would happen THAT fast.  Little did we know how long of a labor we were in actually in for.  

As the sun rose on the morning of 11/12 we were still awake and waiting.  We watched the day become brighter and listened to the news for distraction.  The topics ranged from the number of people getting married in order to have an 11/12/13 anniversary (not a bad day for a birthday either:) to how unseasonably cold the day was going to be.

The steady sound of the baby's heartbeat on the monitor mixed with the sound of music from our playlist in the background.  Billy paced the room and provided me with his silent strength when I needed it.  I instinctively knew we were still hours away from meeting our babe.

After many more hours of waiting, things suddenly went from painfully slow, disappointing progress to my doctor running into the room breathless at the last minute.  Seven minutes later we met our sweet Fletcher "sunny side up" (meaning, he was born face up instead of face down)...finally an answer to why the progress had been so slow.  But he was here.  He was perfect and more than worth the wait. 

Stella and Fletcher right after he arrived.

Special thanks to Stella, my friend and nurse from Max's birth, for checking in on me and encouraging me to get the epidural when I did! :)

A little snooze with Dad on his first night.

Fletcher's first 48 hours of life were packed full of visitors who couldn't wait to meet him:

Lolli and Boobo meeting their third grandson.  Just two hours old.

The Murray's and Jennifer visiting the night Fletcher was born.  

Aunt Jenni came back the next day with Annabelle and Adam to hold him.

Lolli holding him for the first time.

Mimi meeting him for the first time.

GG and Fletcher.  And Sully :)

Boobo and Fletcher.

Aunt Colleen brought gifts for the big boys.  They were so excited!

Mimi and PopPop with the boys.

Huggins and Fletch. 

Erin and Fletcher.

Our hospital stay was a breeze.  I surprisingly felt great.  And Billy and I acted like we were on vacation.  He brought in food from any plaza restaurant I requested and we had quiet meals in our room while we watched our new little babe sleep.

And the care we received from the doctors and nurses was wonderful.  It might have had something to do with the treats we passed out to everyone who stopped by our room :)  We gave out sugar cookies and flavored pink/blue vodka (yes, only we would give out liquor at a hospital) to everyone who visited. 

We usually like to give the nurses a small "thank you" basket at the hospital, but this time we had extra to give out to everyone.  The nurses and doctors seemed to like visiting our room.  Soon even the housekeepers stopped by to see if we needed more towels and nurses who were not even assigned to us would poke their heads in.  Word had spread quickly.

 I printed little stickers that said "It's a...Baby!" since we didn't know the gender.

 Billy had these small pink and blue bottles of flavored vodka left over from an event.  What else were we going to do with them?

 

And then it was time to take our little bundle home.  

The real party was about to begin... :)