Simon Ezekiel

Simon is here! And my cousin is a rockstar!

I have had so many friends have babies in the past few months. And I heard them talk about their pregnancies or discomforts all the time. Meredith was more tired the past few weeks, but I watched her chase Ruthie around. Sit on the floor to sort papers and then jump up to get something from the other room- multiple times- without any hesitation. I went over to her house to see her on her due date and she was out in the backyard pulling weeds. Rockstar!

And now Simon is here! He was late, unlike Ruthie, who was a week early. I think this is going to be foreshadowing of years to come. Ruthie is an early bloomer in everything (except for height and weight!) and I think that Simon may be more relaxed and wanting to do things at his own pace.

He was born on Wednesday, April 13. Meredith sent a text to my mom and I around 8. She said that she was starting to have some contractions and she wanted us to be on standby. My mom asked if she wanted us to come over and she said "maybe." I got dressed, packed a small bag and headed over to her house. I got there around 9:15 or 9:30. My mom had just gotten there and so had one of Meredith's friends who is an L&D nurse. She was having pretty regular contractions when I got there. Every once in a while, she could sit through them but most of the time she had to stand up to help her get through them.

After a little while, she thought that she was going to be sick so she went to the bathroom. Then she decided to take a shower to wash up and announced that it was time to go to the hospital! We loaded up the car and left her house a little before 10. Her OB told her to tell the desk that she was about to push when she got there so they would get her back faster. Good thing she did that because, by the time they took her back and checked her, she was already 8cm!

We hung out in the room talking and answering questions for the nurses. And taking multiple phone calls from my aunt who was in the car with my cousin and frantically trying to get to town worried that she was going to miss the birth!

But she made it. She got to the hospital at about 11:15. Meredith starting pushing at 11:26. 10 minutes and 4 pushes later and Simon was here! And he is precious!

Insert adorable baby picture here*

The rest of the week was kind of a blur. I went back to my parent's house eventually and got about 2 hours of sleep before I got up, took my dad to the airport, ran home to throw on scrubs, and went into work to round. I saw patients as quickly as I could, left work around 9:30 and went back to the hospital to see Meredith and Simon.

Ruthie came up to the hospital later that afternoon to meet her baby brother. She held him and took some pictures, but I think she was more excited about having all the family together and having all her favorite people in one place giving her lots of attention- and a few gifts too.

It's been a fun week. They came home from the hospital on Friday. My aunt went home Saturday afternoon, but couldn't stay away and ended up coming back in town on Sunday. I have only missed one day of going over to see him. I'm trying to go by after work as much as I can to help out with Simon or play with Ruthie or bring anything that they may need.

He is definitely a second child. He is so calm and relaxed. He rarely cries and can sleep through just about anything- including Ruthie stomping and yelling and running around the house. He's wonderful and I am in love already!

* Meredith is not a huge fan of social media so, while I have 800 pictures of him on my phone, I am going to respect her privacy and not post his picture online.