Welcome Nolan William Hughes

He's finally here, and he was so worth the wait! Sorry that it has taken us so long to get this blog up to date, but with this we officially welcome Nolan to "Life with the Hughes'"

I know many of you are interested in hearing the birth story, and I (Jon) will share some of the basics in this post, but I'll leave the whole story for Heather to tell in a later post.

Our little "B" decided to be a bit stubborn and to wait until after Heather's due date to arrive. Heather's doctor offered to schedule us for an induction and (thought we wanted to avoid it) we felt that an induction was probably the route we would go. So on Tuesday, June 15, 2010 at 5 am, we checked in to Bryan LGH Hospital in Lincoln, Nebraska for our scheduled induction.

When we arrived our Nurse had our room, the pitocin bag, the monitors, and had most of our admission papers ready to go. After answering all the questions they already had the answers to :) the nurse went over the induction procedure with us. But, before hooking up the Pitocin, the Nurse asked if we wanted to try and just break Heather's water and see if labor progressed on its own. Well we did, and well it did! Praise God!!!

Here is soon to be Mom looking beautiful and calm. Heather, as most of you know, is the most amazingly composed woman at all times, and during labor was no different. What a beautiful mommy!

The last picture of just the two of us.

Heather, still looking gorgeous as ever. And even closer to being a mom.

We arrived at the hospital at 5:00 am, they broke Heather's water at 7:30 am, and around 4:15 Heather was ready to push!

At 5:07 pm Central, our little "B" made his presence known in this world. And....its a boy!!!! As the nurses and doctor told us our little B was a "he" we couldn't stop smiling. We were a couple of proud parents.

Our little guy had a rough go getting here (I'll let Heather share all the details in her later post) but he had meconium in the amniotic sac and had the cord wrapped twice around his neck. Praise God that they had to break Heather's water at the Hospital and knew right away that he had meconium in his swimming pool. The respiratory and NICU nurses were ready to go when he arrived in case he didn't cry. They told us if he cried, then Heather would get to hold him immediately, if he didn't, they would have to take him right over to the warmer. Like the good baby he is, he cried right away! So the nurses let Heather hold him skin to skin. After a couple of minutes they took him over to the warmer to do his APGAR and to remove any "mec" from his throat. As they took him over, they asked us if he had a name and without hesitation we both (with elation) said "Its Nolan."

Here is dad checking out the little miracle under the warmer. He weighed 8lbs, 3oz, and was 19.75 inches long.

He fits just perfectly.

Beautiful mommy and Nolan, snuggling for the first of many times.

The First family photo of the three of us. We are so very proud of our beautiful Son!

Nolan's favorite pose. He is his father's son (I always sleep with my hand near my face, and so does he). Isn't he the most handsome thing you have ever seen.

The proud Grandpas.

Jon's dad (pictured first) got to stay for a few days, and he quickly fell in love.

Unfortunately, this is the only picture we have of Nolan and Heather's dad as he had to go on a business trip right after our little guy was born.

The Proud Grandmas.

Heather's mom checking the little guy out. She fell in love pretty quickly. And, thankfully, she has been able to stay and help us out ever since Nolan's birth.

Jon's Mom fell in love quickly too. She had to leave earlier than she wanted to, but she and Nolan get along very well and Grandma Hughes will be back in just a couple of days to spend Fourth of July weekend with us (grandpa Hughes too).

Izabel cuddling up with the little guy. She is quite protective of and very good to little Nolan. They are quite the pair.

After all of our family left the hospital, the new Mom and Dad cuddled up with the little guy until the nurse came to assess him. They told us they would assess him in the nursery and come get us in just a couple of minutes for his bath. Heather and I both wish now that we would have gone with the little guy, but after a long day we thought we would just wait for his bath. When the nurse didn't come to get us for thirty minutes, dad jumped out of bed and ran down to check on the guy. The poor little guy was having some breathing problems, so the nurses had to keep a close watch on him. After taking his vitals and changing his schedule to every 3 hours for vitals (rather than every 6), the nurse helped us give him his first bath. Here she is giving Nolan a sweet comeover (he loves his hair being brushed).

After his bath, we took the little guy back to our room, and three hours later, they came and got him for a new observation (approximately 2 in the morning). This time his breathing was still accelerated and he was flairing his nostrils. The nurses called in a NICU respiratory nurse to get a second opinion. She agreed that his breathing was too rapid and a cause for concern. So, they called the pediatrician who ordered lab work done. And they ordered that he stay in the nursery for the rest of the night for close observation. Heather and I switched off staying down and holding the little guy. Here he is before we were allowed to hold him relaxing spread eagle under the warmer with a poor monitor hooked up to him.

After all of his labs came back normal, they let us take him back to our room. BUT! The pediatrician called later to check in and ordered that he go back to the nursery, so they woke us up again to steal our little guy. It was a rough first night for the little guy, but he found a way to calm himself down (here he is discovering his thumb for the first time).

Well that is it for Nolan's first day here with us. He is such a sweetie, and we promise to get more pictures updated soon. We thank God daily for him and for blessing our lives with such an amazingly sweet little guy. We love you all and can't wait to introduce you (those who haven't met him yet) to our bundle of joy.