The Little One Arrives!

On Friday, May 23rd at 11:35 in the morning, Orin Alexander Zawicki made a grand (but very painful) entrance into the world outside the womb.

This is not what he looked like at that time,

but I thought you would all want a cute baby picture right at the top of the post.

Now I will go back to somewhere near the beginning to fill you in on all the details:

At around 1:00 in the morning, Casey and I were both wide awake: I was up with the realization that I had gone into labor and Casey was up because he had just been hit by one of the worst cases of food poisoning that I have ever seen.

Despite our uncomfortable situations, we spent several hours laughing uncontrollably about meaningless random little things... mostly our excessive toilet use... it was just one of those times. 

Around 3:30 I hopped into the shower to see if it would stop my contractions (warm water is suppose to stop fake labor) When it didn't, I called the birth center and they told us to come in right away.

This is me in early labor on my birthing ball (notice the smile... that went away later on)

Here I am again, holding onto Casey as my situation got progressively less appealing.

And here is the moment right before I lost Casey. I am pictured hanging over my vomit bowl and he is prepping to go to bed. 

Seconds later, my mom and I were on our own for several hours.

I give him credit for being able to sleep through a large part of my labor... that takes real talent 

and he was, in his defense, really sick.

But by the last stage of labor he woke up again and held my hand while I screamed bloody murder. There is nothing about labor that is fun.

Except in the end, it was all worth it.

This was Orin's first moment with his daddy.

After the labor we were transferred to the hospital to begin a 48 hour stay so the doctors could monitor the baby.

We had a lot of time to kill, so we found ways to stay busy: first, a warm-water hair wash and comb for the baby.

We declined a bath after the labor, but by day two we decided we should get the blood clots out of his hair. Casey did a really great job.

Orin was not very appreciative.

But eventually he settled down to do what he does best: nap (and look really cute).

More of sleepy baby.

Later in the day my brother stopped by to visit. He just qualified for Special Forces training and had been given a leave for Memorial Day weekend. I found out that he was coming home the night I went into labor. It was really a wonderful surprise to have him get to meet the baby.

So, all in all, the first day was amazing. I think that we are both still in shock that we have been blessed by such a lovely baby. I can't wait for you all to meet him. 

And don't worry, from now on the blog will be filled daily with pictures of Orin.

I will leave you with this one... he looks a little like a monkey in it, but we managed to catch him in one of the rare moments when his eyes are open.

See you tomorrow.