Michelle had an appointment with Dr. Bulow to check her fluid levels late Friday afternoon. We were thinking that might be the night, so Friday was a hectic day of packing and preparing for a possible check-in at the hospital. Sure enough, we were sent right over to the hospital.

Here’s Michelle right after we checked in, at about 6:30 Friday night.

If you’re easily grossed out, don’t read any of the next paragraph.

As with Alex it was my job to cut the umbilical cord. I pride myself on doing all the weird, unnatural things that seem to come with being a parent of a young child–changing diapers, knowing who or what Elmo is, etc–and I was excited to have a role in the festivities, so I went into it with the right frame of mind. But I didn’t cut all the way through on the first cut, and a jet of blood shot out and made a classic spatter pattern on the ceiling. You can just make it out in this photo–sorry for the lousy picture, but maybe it’s for the best. See an interruption in the pattern in the upper right hand quadrant of the pic, right towards the middle? That’s where I hit myself in the face and head with the blood.

Nicky was born at 12:17 Saturday morning. He was 6 lb 13.7 oz. Alex was 6 lb 13.2 oz when he was born. They were both 20″. Can’t get much closer than that.

This was a much easier delivery for Michelle than her first. She only had to push for about half an hour during delivery, and she did a great job.

Here are Michelle and Nicky with our ob, Dr. Bulow. He did a great job too.

Grandma and grandpa had Alex at the farm Friday night, so they weren’t able to make it over to the hospital, but we were happy Uncle Jeff could be with us.

We stayed in the hospital through Saturday night. Sunday, Michelle felt up to leaving, and I hate hospitals, so I was sure ready to go. We got Nicky dressed for the first time.

We brought Nicky and mommy home from the hospital late Sunday morning. Both are doing well.

Alex met his little brother early Sunday afternoon–he wasn’t allowed in the maternity ward due to the Great Swine Flu Panic of aught-nine. Since then, Alex has been so good with Nicky. In the morning, when he wakes up, his first question used to be “where’d mommy go?”, but now it’s “where’d baby go?” and he’s very interested in (and gentle with) his little brother. Here he’s showing us where Nicky’s eyes and nose are.

Alex also moved to his new room this week, and he’s doing a great job with that too. We were a little concerned about introducing so much change at the same time, but hopefully he looks at his new room as an upgrade–because it is an upgrade, no question. We’ll be moving Nicky into Alex’s old room eventually, but for now he’s bunking with us.

We’re very proud of you, Alex!

Grandma was able to visit on Sunday, and she ended up staying until Monday morning helping out. Thanks Mom! We should get you an overnight bag stored here permanently because overnights after births seems to be a recurring theme.

Nicky is mildly nocturnal, as newborns are wont to be, so this week we’ve just been trying to get caught up on sleep and settled in to our new routine. We took some pictures of Nicky the other night when he was wide awake, and I can’t believe how much he looks like Alex did when he was born.

Welcome home, son!