Introducing our sweet new arrival...baby Will

Our baby boy is finally here and we couldn't be more thrilled!  

William "Will" Monroe Pulley was born @ 1:54 pm Wednesday, May 20th, 2009.  He was 7 lbs. 8 oz. and was 19 3/4 " long (a pound and an ounce bigger than Kennedy).

He was named after my Dad (William Daniel Hobbs-"Dan") and late Papa (William Fay Hobbs), as well as Patrick's late Grandpa (Harvey Monroe Pulley).  We loved how Kennedy's first and middle name are family names, and wanted to use the names of other significant people in our lives when naming Will.  

After 26 looooong hrs. of active labor w/ Lil' Man (Tues./Wed.)...we were finally admitted to the hospital early Wed. morning.  It's a very long story basically, but no thanks due to the on-call doctor Tues.!  A "posterior cervix" kept me from getting admitted TWICE Tues. (even while being dialated to a 3 the first time, a 4 the second time, and 2-3 min. apart intense contractions).  Even w/ my due date being the previous Monday!      

After receiving a very sincere apology from the new dr. on-call Wed. morning a/b the continued pain I had been in for no good reason...we learned I was dialated to a 5 and I received a beautiful epidural.  Woo hoo!  Thank you Lord for technology!  I was then encouraged by the sweet dr./nurses to take a short nap to regain some strength b/f they broke my water.  It was very smart and very thoughtful of them, and I truly appreciated the quiet dark room for 2 solid hrs.!  After they broke my water...I progressed completely within 2 hrs., pushed for 10 minutes, and out came our sweet baby boy!  

I am overwhelmed w/ thankfulness when I even THINK a/b the fabulous doctor and nurses who helped us deliver Will.  Even though my personal dr. was unable to deliver on Wed., the wonderful man who delivered was a true blessing to my entire family (w/ 41 yrs. of experience)!  My day and night nurses were fabulous as well, and took wonderful care of Will and myself Wed. and Thurs.!  

The Lord helped me through the entire 32 very unexpected hrs. and I'm also thankful for the strength and patience he granted me throughout it all!  So much for the common "2nd time around is SO much faster" idea, huh?!  My sister was a huge help for the 2 days leading up to Will's birth (as well as a lot of fun), my Mother-in-law was there through it all, Nana/Aunt Vicki/Elise made the trip from Ft. Smith to be there when we all "thought" I'd be admitted Tues. mid-day, and Mom even missed her entire night's sleep Tues. night to stay awake w/ me through the intense pain after we were discharged the 2nd time.  We have been blessed w/ beautiful family members who were willing to be there w/ us through it all, and we are forever grateful for their love and support.  Oh, and a very special "thanks" to our sweet friend Caroline!  She watched Ayan and Kennedy for part of the day Wed. @ our house, so Steph/Mom/Dad wouldn't have to miss a thing!  What a huge help she was!

We are all MORE than in love w/ Will and are enjoying every single moment w/ him already!  He is a wonderful eater, a great sleeper, and a very easy-going baby so far.  His big sister is in love w/ him and has to know where he is and what he's doing @ all times.  : )  She looks forward to each and every time that she gets to see his eyes open and gives him continuous hugs and kisses all day long!  We definitely see a lot of her in him already, but can't wait too see how much more evident it all becomes in the weeks and months to come!

...you KNOW we'll be posting some more pics as soon as we can, so stay tuned!  (still trying to convert all of the large pictures taken into smaller files available for uploading)