Introducing Parker Scott Holden

Our family of three became four today when Parker decided to make his entrance. Just like his older brother he wanted to come party early and do so quickly!

Mom woke up a little after 4am with contractions. She has been having a few a day for a few weeks now so she waited an hour to see if they continued. Sure enough, every 7-8 minutes there one was so at 5:15am she called the Dr and they said to come on in. We quickly called in Grandmommy to come watch Carter and headed to Piedmont. We arrived at Piedmont and were admitted at 6:15am. Yea for hospitals!

After getting settled in our room, a check around 7:00 showed that mom was 5 cm dilated, 70% effaced and at station -1. The nurses quickly called the Dr who said baby was definitely coming today! Mom was feeling very lightheaded and queasy so she asked for an epidural to make sure she had the strength in case labor went long. Fortunately the anesthesiologist was in the next room so they quickly started the IV bag and put a pressure cuff on it to speed things up. By 8:00, the epidural was in and mom felt significantly better!

The nurses then did another check of mom and she was 9cm, 100% effaced and at station 2. They called the Dr and told her to come in now. They also called the NICU team since Parker was premature (35 weeks). At 8:15, they started getting the room set up, at 8:30 the Dr broke my water and at 8:40 it was time to push. 3 pushes later Parker was born.

Parker Scott Holden was born at 8:49 am. He weighed 4lbs 13oz and is 17-3/4" long. He has a full head of dark brown hair and dark blue eyes.

Since he was under 5lbs, he automatically had to go to the NICU. So after a quick hold, they cleaned him up..

and then let mom hold him again for a few minutes before he was swept away.

After observation in the NICU, it was apparent that he had some typical preemie symptoms so he'll probably be in the hospital a bit longer than mom.

After he got checked out by the NICU staff, mom and dad got to go in an dote on the newest Holden.He definitely has a lot of wires hooked up to him but he could truly seem to care less.We spend the afternoon resting, visiting Parker and chatting with family that came by to visit. Here is a picture with our favorite visitor of the day!
Carter got to go visit his baby brother as long as he wore a temperature gauge on his head. He took his paci and a graham cracker along just in case!
Here is a video dad took of Parker.

We'll keep everyone updated on Parker's progress. Thank you for all the well wishes!