Our baby boy has arrived!

Denver Kenneth James Gillen was born on January 26th at 5:09am. He weighed 6 lbs, 10 oz and he was 48.5 cm long. 

How it happened:
Tuesday night Chris and I were having a relaxing evening:  Katelynn was in bed, Chris was baking cookies, and I was sitting on the couch reading a book. Chris gave me a cookie to eat, I took one bite and my water broke! I called my sister and told her to head on over to our house and then I called the OB office. They told me to come to the hospital.
Unlike the first time Chris and I remained calm; he had a very excited look on his face and kept wanting to run out and start the car. I didn't do as well as he did because my contractions started right away and were 3 minutes apart (I am quite the baby when it comes to cramping). When we got to the hospital I was 90% effaced and 4cm dilated. It was about 11:45pm.
His birth:
I have to say that having a natural birth is so much more rewarding then a c-section and about 100% harder! When I heard this "pop" and they told me to stop pushing and look - my heart melted. There he was. I started crying right away. It was absolutely beautiful. They put him on my chest and cleaned him off. Chris got to cut the cord. Denver cried a little, but you could tell something wasn't quite right. They called the  nurses from the NICU down to evaluate him. They said to give him 30 minutes to see if he improved. They bundled him up and put him on my chest.

He was just beautiful, but he sounded terrible. He was wheezing and gasping. The nurses took him to NICU to evaluate his condition.
Day 1 (his Birthday):
This was such a stressful and emotional day. Our baby boy had arrived, but was in the NICU. Same thing had happened to Katelynn, but she was on oxygen for 6 hours and then released to us. Unfortunately for Denver, his trip to the NICU wasn't as easy. The first day was full of tests and evaluations. They put a "cpap" (or something that sounds like that) in his nose to help him breath. You'll have to forgive me, they threw a lot of terms at us and I can't remember all of them or what they meant.

We were allowed to touch him but not hold him since they weren't sure what was causing the problem.
Day 2:
I have no photos from day 2 because Chris took the camera home and forgot to bring it back. I'm not sure I would've taken photos anyway - it is extremely hard to go into the NICU and see your baby boy just lying there covered in tubes and wires.
This day was a blur of activity. When we got down to the NICU he no longer had the "cpap" in his nose, he was now in a dome receiving 100% oxygen. We signed lots of waivers for procedures they wanted to do. They discovered that Denver had pneumonia. The Doctor told us that roughly 10% of infants that come through the NICU have pneumonia - they pick it up through the amniotic fluid during delivery. To us this means that no matter what Denver will be in the NICU for a minimum of 10 days.
There were other things that were wrong too - he had pockets of air in his lungs, the pressure in his valves (between the heart and lungs) were not what they should be, and much more. They threw a lot of terms at us. Denver went from being on 1 machine to having 7 machines hooked up to him, and by the end of the day he was on a ventilator to assist him in breathing. They did a  procedure (putting tubes into his artery and vein through the umbilical cord) that was successful and meant that they wouldn't have to stab him for blood samples anymore and they could monitor his blood pressure constantly. Obviously a lot happened day 2, and it's probably needless to say, we didn't sleep well.
Day 3:
Today was a little better. Denver looked pink and his breathing seemed more normal. By mid-morning his jaundice number jumped from 6 to 10 - this was still well within normal range, but since it was such a big jump they put the "billy" lights on him (again, I don't know how to spell anything they talked to us about so I apologize). He looked like "batman."

They released me from the hospital this morning, so Chris and I sat in NICU with him all morning/afternoon. He remained stable all day with no major changes. It was a much more "relaxing" day when it came to Denver. It was nice that the NICU news was good because having to leave without him was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. I won't be able to walk down to the NICU tonight when I can't sleep, but he is only a 30 minute drive away.

I don't think anything could've prepared me for this...maybe I should've expected it since the pregnancy was full of complications and ups and downs, but after passing 36 weeks I was so relieved because that's when Katelynn came and she came through it all beautifully. It was heartbreaking to see Denver this way. They told us in the NICU that white males are the worst when it comes to being in the NICU - they just take longer to come around (of course any female out there knows that males are big babies anyway - LOL). :)
It has been a rough couple of days, but we know Denver is a fighter! He survived all the complications during the pregnancy, he will survive this...it's more a matter of if Chris and I can survive it.
We will try and keep you posted as things happen, but it might be several days before you hear anything from us. Please keep our little man in your thoughts and prayers as he fights through the pneumonia and anything else that arises over the next several weeks.