Welcome to the World

HE IS HERE!!!! Let me introduce you to the newest addition to the Barlow Clan, Matthew. We are so excited to have this little guy in our lives.

So....here is the rundown of his entrance.....

I was scheduled to be induced on February 4th. Why the induction? Well, seeing as both Jacob and Andrew were extremely late and my doctor was going out of town on the 6th, we decided to take fate into our own hands. (My due date was on the 5th, so we weren't taking him super early or anything). My parents flew in on January 31st, giving us ample time to play before the baby was set to arrive.

For those of you who know the Barry family, you know we love to eat out. The day my parents flew in, we decided to hit the brunch at the club. I thought I should squeeze in one more pig-out before I had the baby. The next morning, we started off the day by eating breakfast at McDonald's. Lunch was had at an awesome Japanese restaurant, and dinner was consumed at our favorite Chinese place. Needless to say, it was a heavy two days of eating. At some point during our culinary excursions, my dad either caught or ate something bad. That night he was seriously under the weather.

The next day (Feb 2nd) I was scheduled to visit the OB. Shockingly she was running on time, so I texted Scott to see if he wanted to meet up for lunch after my appointment.

When I got to the office, I was put on the heart monitor for thirty minutes. I was then taken in to see the doctor. She immediately launched into a speech about giving me some kind of gel that would send me into labor. She told me that after I got the gel, I would have to sit on the monitor for TWO HOURS (boring), walk around the mall for an hour and a half, and then come back on the monitor. Wait! I am supposed to be induced two days from now! AND I am supposed to meet my hubby for lunch! Problem: there is no arguing with this doctor - so in went the gel.

I texted Scott to let him know we might have another child by the end of the day. Scott immediately canceled a conference call he was supposed to have and came immediately to the hospital. He walked with me for the required hour and a half (though I did take a break to eat a sanwich). We then went back to the doctor where we were informed that my contractions were so close together that I could not go home. However, I was not in full labor, so I had to walk around for another four hours and then check myself into the hospital to see where I was.

By this point I was starting to stress out because I had totally procrastinated getting ready for this baby: no packed bags, no place for the kids to stay that night, baby's dresser from IKEA was still not assembled, etc. Luckily I have awesome friends and family who immediately went into action. Scott packed my bags, my friend, Becky, offered to have the boys stay with her, and our other friends, the Furners, offered to drive the boys to Becky's house.

As everyone was scurrying to help get things ready, I was painfully shuffling around a high-end mall trying not to look like a loser. I was tempted to go into the Jimmy Choo store to ask if I could sit down for a while (there are no couches in the malls here) but was sure they would kick my Target-clothed, 200 pound body out of there the moment I stepped foot into the store.

Two hours into my walk time the boys, Scott, and my mom came to see me. We had dinner together, and then Mateo came to pick up the boys. Andrew was absolutely thrilled to have a sleep over at someone's house, but Jacob was scared that something was going to happen to me. For some reason he thought I might die while having the baby. So sad! I promised him I would be alright and told him to have a good time.

At 8:00pm, Scott, my mom, and I all made our way to the hospital.

Ghost town.

It took us almost 20 minutes to find the labor and delivery section of the hospital. After some confusion as to why I was there, the nurses finally put me in a room and hooked me up to a monitor. The contractions were about three minutes apart, but relatively weak. Both the nurse and I thought I would be going home that night. Well, I had my fingers crossed that I would be able to go home....I REALLY wanted to take a shower.

Forty minutes later, my OB showed up. She checked me out and told me that the baby was still pretty high and that I had not dilated much. I was expecting her to say, "Alright, why don't you head home and try to get some rest, then come back tomorrow morning."

Instead the words were, "Alright, let's get this show on the road." She then forcibly pushed/pulled the baby into the down-right position. The word ouch does not even begin to express my level of pain at that point....let's just say I could taste her latex gloves. She seemed a bit clueless to the fact I was in excruciating pain despite the fact I was sweating profusely and grabbing onto the bed rail for dear life. She then broke my water broken and left me to go into labor.

I immediately asked for my epidural.

The anesthesiologist was called in (they do not have one on staff at the hospital) and I was given my epidural. Just as she finished I became extremely light headed (to the point where I thought I was going to faint) and my tongue tasted weird. I am pretty sure I was stoned. I told her I felt funky and she said that was normal and left.

Twenty minutes later my contractions were becoming more intense and I could feel every single one of them. I called the nurse and told her that I didn't think the epidural was working. She told me she could give me just 5 mL more, but then I would have reached my limit. Bring it on!!! As the nurse was upping my dosage, fluid started to trickle down my arm. Ummmm. I think there is a HOLE in my epidural tubing!!!! I pointed out the problem to the nurse who then told me I had had my maximum dosage and that I could not have any more. Boo. I told her I hadn't received any of my dosage because I could still FEEL EVERYTHING! After about thirty minutes she agreed to call the anesthesiologist to see what she should do...although it was midnight and the anesthesiologist had gone to bed.

The anesthesiologist agreed to return to look at the epidural. The result: she had to run the whole epidural again! Yep. Out came the needle in my back and in went a new one. Not fun. I think she was so worried that I would complain again that she gave me a little too much medication. My legs were totally dead within seconds...and I mean dead dead. Later on when I had to slide up the bed it was impossible. Scott got a major work-out trying to hoist my massive body five inches upwards. I was seriously concerned that he was going to throw out his back trying to move me.

By 3:30am, the baby was ready to appear.

For how abrasive my OB was earlier on in the day, she did a great job during the delivery. I only had to push three times and out came Matthew!

He was prefect! The best part about having a baby here is that they do not sweep them away the second you have them. I was able to cuddle with the new guy for about 45 minutes before they took him to be weighed and measured.

Weird moment: the measuring. Rather then stretch out the baby to see how long he was, the nurse grabbed him by both ankles, hung him upside down like a caught rabbit, and measured his height. I honestly thought I was going to have a heart attack!

The next day I was dying to see Jacob and Andrew and introduce them to their new brother. Andrew was thrilled about the baby.

Jacob was still a bit uncertain as to whether or not he was excited about the new brother.

My stay at the hospital was good, despite the fact the food was atrocious! I am talking bland, geriatric, nursing home food. Luckily my mom would bring in yummy sandwiches for me and I had a delivery of brownies from my friend Emily.

My one other complaint about my hospital stay was the fact that my OB performed a rather unattractive examination on me without excusing Scott from the room. The doctor and I were in the middle of a conversation, when suddenly she launches into her exam and I am exposed for the world to see....namely my husband! At this point I am seriously doubting if Scott will ever be physically attracted to me again.

Needless to say, I was thrilled to get home. I think I was finally released from the hospital on Friday, just in time to welcome the boys home from school. Saturday was spent just being a family and getting accustomed to the new addition. It was also the last night my dad was in Singapore. Up until this point in time he had not had the chance to hold Matthew due to the mystery illness previously mentioned. My dad hosed down with some Purel to prevent any transfer of germs and was able to get a quick photo op.

Here is Mommy Baba with the newest grandchild. Mom was stayed behind after Dad left and was a HUGE help! Can I tell you how nice it is to wake up every morning to have the kitchen cleaned, the laundry done, and then have your bed made. Mom even did a nightly turn-down service of our bed. I have no idea when she would do it because I never saw her go downstairs. Anyway, we greatly appreciated all her help.

Here is a picture of all the boys with their grandparents the last night we were all together.

The Monday after I got home from the hospital was Jacob's birthday. We had a little celebration at home and had his big party the next Saturday. Yes, the theme was soccer for both parties.

For his big birthday party Jacob wanted to have a soccer game. As I have mentioned before, his favorite team is Chelsea. Chelsea's arc-rival is Manchester United. To make things fun, we bought all the boys who attended his party a jersey from one of the teams and had their names printed on the back. Jacob then had a chance to have his very own show down between the two teams with his dad as the ref. Jacob was supposed to make the teams fair, but somehow "Chelsea" won 8-2. After the game the boys had a water ballon fight and some cake. All in all it was a great party.

Matthew was an absolute doll the entire time. Translation: he slept out in the hot sun for two and a half hours.

My favorite quote for this entry came from Jacob. He was holding Matthew a few days ago and said, "At first I didn't want him. But now I love him!" So glad to have that resolved :)