Samuel FAQs

Hi All! Thanks so much for all your emails, calls and thoughts. We are settling in well at home and had a very blessed Christmas. A lot has happened in just a short time, so I'm going to post a few retrospective milestones in hopes of catching up in the next few weeks.

Let's start with a few questions folks have asked:

How was the pregnancy?
In a word...different. We wrongly expected that having one child meant that you knew what to expect with the second. Not so much. Granted I'm older now and various risk factors/test results suggesting placental complications/low birth weight caused the doctors to watch things a little more carefully. We had monthly ultrasounds and everything was healthy all along the way. It was nice to see Samuel's smiling face and growing body. I stopped work and started bedrest on December 1st and we waited (not so patiently :) for his arrival with ongoing contractions that would get our hopes up and then go away. Our experience with Bruce was that I had no indications of labor at all until he was ready to arrive and he shot out like a bullet (~3 hrs from "is that a contraction?" to baby in my arms; check out Bruce's blog circa 2009). So, yes, it was different, and I'm glad it will be my last :)

How was the labor/delivery?
Robb and I went in for my regular check up on my due date (December 15th) and the doctor said I had progressed far enough along that we could make an appointment to induce that night. So we made arrangements for Bruce & Duke (A HUGE thank you to Natalie and James Kenealy!) and we went into the hospital at 9pm. By 10:30, they had given me the first induction (for the curious moms, I had one application of cervidil/cytotec) and they told us they'd be back to check on me in 4 hrs and that we should try to sleep. Seemed laughable at the moment, but we did actually get some sleep and thank goodness we did. At about 2:30/3am I was dilated enough that they decided to break my water and then labor/contractions really began. I labored naturally (no epidural) and made it through with the help of my supportive and focused labor coach and husband (Robb!) and the amazing labor and delivery nurses. I'll admit about half way through I wanted to give up and at the end I made everyone chuckle because I was yelling repeatedly "GET OUT, Samuel! GET OUT NOW!". Well he listened to his mama and arrived at 7:08am. They put him right into my arms and I was instantly in love. He started nursing right away (which was great because I had completely forgotten what to do) and he had an APGAR score of 9 (out of 10).

How did we pick his name?
Picking a name in this family is tough (some of you have heard about the infamous spreadsheet & process we used to pick the name Bruce). Robb and I both agreed that it could not be too common of a name, but a name people have heard of and can easily pronounce and spell. I also really wanted a biblical name association and, of course, we both wanted a name with a cool superhero backstory. It took several months, but Samuel won out! Pronounced Sam-yule in English and Sahm-well in Spanish.  For the superhero novice: Sam Wilson is the Falcon and a recently released Marvel storyline features Sam as the new Captain America being mentored by the now aged/original Captain America Steve Rogers. Robb bought the 1st issue, the cover of which features a little boy version of Falcon as Captain America (perfect!).

Samuel's middle name, Byron, is named after his Grandpa Heier. Samuel is Grandpa Heier's 9th (and we are all thinking his last!) grandchild. Sorry Samuel didn't make his appearance while you were visiting, Grandpa, but he's looking forward to meeting you soon!