June 4, 2008: World Welcomes Wyatt

Well maybe not the whole world, but at least our entire world welcomes our little boy:

Wyatt Carsten Counts
June 4, 2008
Where: EVK Hospital Dusseldorf, Germany
When: 4:45 AM
Weight: 3,710g ~ 8 lbs 3oz
Length: 53cm ~ 21.8 inches
Head: 35cm

Zach was also 53cm long with a 35cm head. And also born on a Wednesday. Odd. Another unfortunate similarity: Wyatt is also in the NICU for respiratory distress.

Quick Labor recap:
Tues, June 3
10am - early labor starts
11am - contractions become regular at 15 minute intervals
4pm - after a long walk, contractions become regular at 10 minute intervals
7pm - after another long walk, contractions get to 6-7 minute intervals
8pm - after lying down to rest, contractions slow to 20+ minute intervals
9:30pm - go to sleep
Wed, June 4
2am - wake up to active labor contractions
3am - wake up Art, shower, call cab
3:30am - arrive at hospital
4:45am - Wyatt is born, after a short 10 minutes or less of pushing

Name explanation:
Wyatt - A name I like and Art loves. It satisfies my requirement for a "y" in the name, but I don't love it b/c it does not have a one-syllable nickname. However, after reading numerous websites and a book w/ 50,001 baby names, I could not find a name I liked better that Art didn't hate. It is French, sadly, for "Brave, Ready for Battle". It is now appropriate since Wyatt is in the NICU.
Carsten - Because our little guy was going to be born in Germany, we decided we wanted a German middle name to honor our time spent here. We looked at lots and lots of German names, and liked this one the best. It sounds cool (to us), and is also German for "Follower of Christ". It's fairly common - we have a few at our church. I think it's similar to Americans naming a son Christian.

Wyatt update:
After being born, I got to hold Wyatt for a little while until the pediatrician came in to give him his first exam. During this, she determined that he was having some respiratory distress. When Art went to visit him, Wyatt was wearing a face mask so his lungs could get support. He had been panting, like a dog on a hot day. A normal newborn's respiatory rate is about 40-50, and Wyatt's was around 150; higher when he was agitated. Not good. The doctors think he has an infection (but how??), and he will be on antibiotics for 10 days. So we know he'll be in the hospital for at least that long. They have had to give him medication to relax, because he is really freaked out. The Dr.s say that his birth was "very fast" and therefore very hard on Wyatt, and he is having trouble adjusting to his new world.

Shayna update:
Recovering nicely. I did not have an epidural this time (no time!!), so the recovery period was much quicker. I waited on my bed in the hallway for a little over an hour so the midwives & nurses could monitor me and make sure I was fine. I was given some medication to ensure I did not bleed too much, as a precaution because of the blood loss with Zachary's birth. I was moved into my room, that I shared with 2 other ladies, by 7am. I went to visit Wyatt shortly after 8am, after breakfast.

Pictures are the first of Wyatt, complete with all his NICU gear, and his monitor set-up.