meet Levi

Levi Armstrong Thomasson. you've heard quite a bit about him along the way, and here he is!

Levi

if you have been following this pregnancy, you know that Levi has taken his sweet time to meet the world! at my 40 week 5 day OB appointment (last wednesday), i was dilated 4cm and 90% effaced and still no Levi. our OB practice won't let us go longer than a week overdue, so our induction was scheduled for the next day. my husband and i arrived at the hospital early Thursday morning, excited and oh so ready to meet this boy! my doctor broke my water at 7:30am, i labored for a few hours, received my epidural around 10:30am and was ready to push by 12:30pm! i was thankful for a smooth and quick labor. i am also extremely thankful for epidural. it can be a beautiful thing. my few hours of labor without medicine were intense and downright painful. i realize that labor is not intended to be a comfortable experience (thanks, Eve!), but i also realize that God has given us means to ease pain in this world and i appreciate the opportunity to take advantage of that! it allowed me to be more ready for the delivery of this boy, which was very important as you will read in a moment.

my OB came in, announced i was fully dilated and the pushing began! three or four contractions later and this guy was out! i love love love those first few moments holding my baby, covered in vernix and exercising those lungs, and taking in the sight of an absolute miracle! as the nurse took him, she asked for guesses of how much he would weigh. we all threw out numbers-- mostly in the 9 pound range. she placed him on the scale and a whopping 10 lbs 12 oz came up! holy moly! i would have never believed you if you had told me our little one would be the size of a one-month-old! 23 inches long, 14 inch head, 16 inch chest-- this kid is not messing around! he was definitely the talk of the nursery, and i had nurses from the floor who didn't even work in the nursery asking if i was the one who had the big baby!

ready to meet our baby boy!

first moments together

sweet little feet

our big boy!

daddy-son bonding

our family of four

taking a closer look

welcome to the world, baby Levi!

what's funny is that even though i realize that almost 11 pounds is large for a newborn, he still feels like a little guy to me. i am used to my 20-month-old, after all! let me just say that i am so glad breastmilk is free because if we had to buy formula to keep this guy happy, we would need a second income! when he is not eating, he loves being held and snuggling with us! and i know i sound a bit biased, but he gets cuter and cuter every single day! i am excited (but not in a hurry) to watch him grow and see the personality of this long-awaited baby!