02/02/10 Eli is Born!

Our Tuesday started off a little early. After 41 weeks of waiting it's time to induce. We woke up and made our way to Evergreen Hospital. We arrived just after 5:00am and were admitted to one of the birthing rooms. Patricia was set up with an IV and things started to move pretty quickly after that. At 1:01pm our son, Eli Zachary McCormick, makes his way into the world. He is 9 lbs. 8 oz. and comes in at 22.25 inches long. He doesn't cry right after delivery which is a little worrisome but the nurses take good care of him.

Eli is given an initial apgar score of 9. After a little observation the nurses are concerned because he is working a little too hard to breath. They call down a NICU nurse who administers some O2 and tries to get Eli breathing steadily. Sometimes newborns have a hard time adapting to breathing air so we're not overly worried. His apgar is downgraded to a 7. Finally, after everything has settled down and his breathing becomes a little more regular they give him a final apgar score of 8.

Our nurse is still a little worried about Eli's breathing and the breast feeding hasn't been a big success. They decide to get a chest x-ray to see if the lungs and heart look ok and they test Eli's blood sugars and bilirubin every once in a while by pricking his heels. a few hours later Eli's blood sugar is a little low which starts to cause some more alarm. We ask to have one of the NICU nurses come back to look at him. They decide to take Eli up to the NICU for observation. They give Eli some formula in a bottle and he immediately gulps down an ounce before settling in for a little nap with Dad looking on. After a short scare and four hours of observation they let us go back to the birthing room where we settle in to enjoy our new baby boy.