Wyatt's BIRTH day!

We are so thankful for the blessing of our new baby Wyatt!  His birth day was a wonderful and special day for our family.  I've been meaning to get this post written ASAP so that I don't forget anything noteworthy and so that some day, Wyatt will know all about the day he was born!  This is kind of long ... it's more for my memory and Wyatt's sake than anything else...

The weeks leading up to the big day were a little crazy for me pregnancy-wise.  You can read about of that here.  Between a maternity triage visit, extra OB appointments and regular OB appointments I got bounced around quite a bit through the multiple doctors at the OB practice that I go to.  All along throughout my pregnancy, the doctors would read my chart and give me their own little scenario for how the end of the pregnancy could potentially go based on the labor and delivery with Lainey.  Lainey was not only a large baby (9 lb 4 oz and 9 days late!) but she had large shoulders (shoulder dystocia) which complicated things and actually could have been a lot worse.  Since subsequent babies tend to be larger than the one before, they wanted to keep an eye on my measurements and do an ultrasound toward the end to see just how big little mister was going to be.  On November 1st, I finally saw the doctor who delivered Lainey and the one that I would say I'm most familiar with and the one I trust and like the most.  Based on how big he estimated the baby to be (he said about 8 lbs and some that day) and the fact that I was already 3 cm dilated and 50% effaced, he suggested induction during my 39th week.  I definitely would have preferred to go into labor on my own but the doctor was reassuring and since my body had already begun some of the work AND since it was my second baby, he all but guaranteed things would go a little smoother this time around.  Dr. H. wasn't even actually on call that day - he was working the clinic which is across the street, but he still offered to deliver our baby and just pop over to the hospital a few times during the day, which was so nice of him.  So, we were scheduled for Tuesday, November 6th...

I think with your first baby, it's scary in some ways because you have no idea what you're in for.  With your second baby, it's scary in some ways because you know exactly what you're in for.  I was definitely battling some nervousness and fear that morning, but I was also so so so excited that by the end of the day, we'd get to meet our baby boy!

So excited to have a baby!

We got checked in around 8 AM and were assigned 2 nurses.  They were both awesome!  Shortly after, the on call doctor, Dr. F. did his rounds and came in to check in with me.  The nurse told him that Dr. H. was actually going to deliver our baby (which was kind of awkward) and he wished us good luck and went on his way.  Dr. H. made it over to the hospital and broke my water at 8:53 AM.  (I only know this because it was written on the white board in the delivery room which I stared at all day)  At this point I was dilated 4 cm.  They had me get up and walk the halls for about an hour or so and then started pitocin.  Around noon, they checked me again and I was still only 4 cm.  I was getting more uncomfortable but it was bearable.  I definitely wanted to avoid the fentanyl that I got while in labor with Lainey - it made me feel totally crazy and loopy - so I just had to grin and bear it while they continued to up the pitocin.  At 2, I was still only at 4 or 5 cm and so I decided to get an epidural.  The same thing happened with Lainey - I never progressed past 5 cm until I got an epidural.  So around 2:30, I was enjoying the benefits of near numbness from the waist down - ahhh!  I was able to relax and even nap for about an hour while Jed watched Jeopardy.

Around 3:45, the nurse came in to re-position my fetal heart rate monitor (which they had to do constantly because the baby was so so SO active!) and said she'd be back around 4:00 to check my cervix.  Right at 4:00, the on call doctor popped in to check on me.  He said he was going to check my cervix and see where I was at to let Dr. H. know.  When he checked me, he asked me to push a few times.  The baby reacted to this and the doctor said the nurses would be in any moment (since they watch the monitors from their station in the hallway).  Sure enough, they came rushing in and were surprised to see the doctor and we were all surprised when he said that I was at 10 cm, the baby was "right there" and was ready to be born!  I couldn't believe it was time already!  He said that he didn't have time to call Dr. H. over from the clinic and that he knew he would make 10 patients wait over there if he did, so he asked if it was okay if he deliver our baby, which was totally fine with us!

They finished getting everything set up and at 4:15 I started pushing.  I'm not exactly sure, but 5, 6 or 7 pushes and 8 minutes later, Wyatt was born at 4:23 PM!  The nurses and Jed were SO encouraging and it all just happened so, so fast.  I kept saying that over and over again, I just couldn't believe he came so quickly!  They put him right on my chest and we got to meet our son!  We enjoyed a few sweet and wonderful moments!

 Jed followed him over to the table as he got cleaned up, weighed and checked out.  He was totally perfect in every way.  He even got a perfect 10 on his second Apgar test and one nurse said it was the first 10 she had ever given!  Coupled with his crazy movements while still in the womb and the fact that he cried and cried and cried even louder for a long time after he was born, the nurses told me I probably would have my hands full with this wild boy!

This might be my favorite picture from the whole day.  Look at those cute feet!

The whole experience after he was born was drastically different than it was with Lainey.  He never left  our room, he was able to nurse within the first hour of his life (and did so like a champ) and traveled with us down to the mother/baby floor after about an hour and a half.  He met his big sis briefly and got his first bath within the first 5 hours of his life - how exciting!

Our hospital stay was great - we had the same nurses both nights and days, which was really nice.  Jed was busy with Lainey during some of the stay, so I got to have lots of one on one time with my new little man.  He is just the sweetest!

Those cheeks!  All of his weight is in his cheeks!

That is the story of Wyatt's birthday!  We are so thankful for our handsome new addition.  We are surely blessed!

Lainey, the big sister

[I will post about Wyatt's birth day and share lots more pictures soon but I wanted to get some thoughts down about and for our sweet Lainey right now while it was fresh in my sleep deprived, mother of a newborn mind...  Warning: this might get sappy.  I blame the hormones.]

Lainey,

YOU are a big sister now!  Without knowing it or understanding it at all, your entire world has just been beautifully rocked.  Your brother was just born a week shy of your 15 month birthday.  My heart was honestly heavy in many ways in the days leading up to November 6th, feeling all kinds of emotions about how our family was about to change.

The day before your brother was born I made sure to fill our day with lots of your favorite things.  We had waffles for breakfast.  We went to Book Babies at the library.  You actually had your "best" story time experience so far.  The class was smaller than normal and you were loving the extra space to roam but you actually sat down in my lap a few different times to watch the teacher.  After that, we met your Dad at the mall for lunch and you took a rock star nap in the afternoon.  I was actually kind of sad you slept so long and so well because I was already starting to mourn the "just you and me" moments we had left.  We had an extra sweet bedtime too with lots of snuggles.  It was a really great day.

We dropped you off the next morning at a friend's house on our way to the hospital and I didn't get to see you for about 12 hours.  That was the longest I think I had ever been away from you!  You were in good hands and had a great time with your best friend all day.  Your brother was born early evening and your dad really, really wanted you to meet him as soon as possible.  You visited us in the hospital that night but you were pushing bedtime and had had a jam packed big day so you weren't super interested in what was going on and you weren't really sure what to think about your mom sitting in a hospital bed.  

The next day when you returned, you really owned your new role as "Best Big Sis."  I wish I would have counted how many times we heard you say "bay" (baby) as you pointed at your new brother.  We got you a big sister present to open in the hospital and the first think you did was share it with Wyatt.  Precious.  You spent a few hours with us over the course of two visits during the day and your attitude towards your brother only got sweeter.

Our first night at home and our first full day together as a family of 4 could not have gone any better.  You love to point out his toes and his nose.  You love to pet his head.  You love to share your toys with him and you've already learned to place them near his hands (rather than his face :).  You love to throw away his diapers and bring him his pacifier.  And at the same time, you are still as busy and independent as ever.  Even more so maybe than you were before he came.

I'm not naive.  I know we have a lot of challenges and sibling type struggles that will come our way but I so badly wish I could just bottle up the pure sweetness and joy of the past few hours and days with you being a new big sister.  I can tell you are really going to love your little brother.

I'm really thankful that God has given us you and now Wyatt and that the two of you get to grow up together.  We are so, so, so blessed.

Love, 
Mom

He's HERE!

We are SO thrilled and excited to introduce...

Wyatt William Johnson

Born Tuesday, November 6th, 2012 at 4:23 PM weighing 9 lbs 1 oz and measuring 20.5 inches long!

We are praising God for a beautiful, healthy baby boy.  More to come...

Dressing up!

Tis the season... for dressing up!  I am not really the biggest fan of Halloween... I love fall, but not so much Halloween, I just think it's kind of silly.  I do however, have a husband and now a daughter who enjoy dressing up and all of the silly-ness that it involves.  Also, Jed's work has a trick or treating event for the office kids which is a pretty big to-do!

I found this costume at a thrift sale for a QUARTER a long, long time ago.  I actually never looked at it very close and I always thought it was a bunny costume.  Turns out, it's a kitty cat.  Meh, doesn't really matter either way.  Kids are cute in full body costumes no matter what.  Want proof?

Tough to get her to focus ... there was so much going on in the office!  So many kids!  So many costumes!  So much candy!

She's way too fast for the camera!

"Oooooh... what do we have here?"

A comparison to our little leopard last year at Jed's office Halloween and our kitty cat this year!  Kind of ironic that she's been dressed as a feline for 2 years in a row and we are definitely more of a dog family but she's oh so cute no matter what.

(almost) wordless Wednesday

Just a sweet little gal playing in the leaves... I can't get enough of these shots.  There's just something about the fall!

This is about as good as it gets for belly pictures this time around.  Sorry, little man but I doubt you're going to care too much anyway...  37 weeks...!  Full term!

Anytime buddy, anytime... 

14 months and other randoms...

It's been awhile since I blogged ... please forgive me but things have been a bit crazy around here and they are about to get even crazier (and sweeter too) I'm sure...!

Lainey turned 14 months old the other day, which in it of itself isn't super exciting but the 12th still comes and goes and I get to reflect on what she's learning and how she's changing from month to month.  She is certainly keeping me on my toes!  She's still loving things like dogs (her real dog, stuffed animals, dogs in books, dogs outside, etc.), her milk cup, her Daddy, bath time and more.  She's also acquired a new word... the word "no!"  This makes things oh so very interesting.  The girl knows what she wants and what she doesn't want.  For example, up until last week Lainey enjoyed a half sandwich... ham, turkey or peanut butter... every once in awhile for lunch or dinner.  All of the sudden, she'd no longer touch them, like she was scared of bread or something.  It was so odd.  The last few days, we've discovered she's gotten really good with eating utensils so today at lunch I made her a peanut butter sandwich, cut it up into little pieces and gave her a fork.  She went to town!  I have a feeling this isn't the last preference we'll discover and over come during the toddler years!

Some other random 14 month old happenings...

 She also loves to eat snacks right out of the box.  She looked so adorable and so guilty eating these animal crackers, I couldn't help but snap a few pics.  (That and her Auntie Em had been hounding me for some new Lainey pics :)

Another little fall excursion...

My view these days of my 2 kids

 I'm love, love, LOVING her curls in the back of her cute little head.

We went to Book Babies again today and played in the play area for awhile afterward.  This girl really has no fear and took off for the empty reading room after awhile and found the fancy library lady's chair.

Daddy had Lainey giggling pretty hard tonight.  Apparently, the word "Bam!" is hilarious.

In his proven fashion, little mister doesn't let us forget his presence too often.  After a really, really busy weekend a week and a half ago. I went to bed Sunday night extremely uncomfortable but figured I was just exhausted from the busy-ness. Long story short, I was just shy of 35 weeks and I woke up in the middle of the night with lots of contractions, called the Dr, went to the hospital at 4 am (huge thank you to Kelli Rolfes for coming over in the middle of the night and taking such great care of Lainey [and Simon]), contracted for about 6 hours, was given a shot to calm the contractions and never progressed past 2-3 cm dilated, got sent home, contractions came back, went back to the hospital and got sent home again.  At that point, I think my body was so exhausted from only sleeping for 2 hours that it just gave up and decided not to have a baby.  Which I was very thankful for for several reasons -- the baby may have needed some help since he would have been so early, I was not really ready around the house, the Dr on call that day was not one of my favorites, etc.  I've been having contractions the past 2 weeks but nothing near as consistent or strong as that day.  So we're just waiting, as patiently as possible for the real thing!

The one positive thing about that whole experience was getting another glimpse of our boy in another ultrasound and even seeing him in 3D!  Apparently, I am very good at growing very large babies and according to the ultrasound tech, he is measuring 2 weeks ahead and was estimated that day at already being 6 lb 12 oz.  Holy.  Moly.

Another reason I haven't taken pictures or blogged in the past few weeks is that I got hit with the flu a few days after that whole early labor fiasco.  Yeah.  Awesome.  I have never felt so sick in my entire life.  Thankfully, the worst of it passed quickly and I only felt moderately icky for a few days after.  Also, my extra great husband was able to take a day and a half off of work because I was completely unable to function.  Due to my severe headache and fever, I not only had a follow up visit to the OB after everything from Monday on Wednesday, but Thursday went back to the doctor since the flu can be extra hard on very pregnant women and they wanted to make sure the babe was doing okay.  Phew.

Needless to say, my goal this week has been to not rack up any more medical bills and so far, I've been successful.

October days are passing quickly and I guess little man could really come any time, and as uncomfortable as I am and as physically ready as I am for him to arrive, I am also trying to cherish and soak up my last few days with my big girl and enjoy my family of 3.  I know life will never quite be the same once he arrives, which we're REALLY looking forward to but also I know realistically, it will be quite the transition for us all.  So very thankful for God blessing our family in so many ways, especially  with health and LIFE!

Numbers...

Lots of random numbers and countdowns floating around in my head these days...

• 5 ... number of toppings on the Papa John's pizza we enjoyed for my birthday dinner!  It could not have tasted more delicious!
• 34 ... number of weeks baby boy #2 has been cooking in my belly which means...
• 6 ... (approximate) number of weeks until our family is a FAMILY OF 4!  Definitely getting ready.  I'm so thankful but I have a lot of the typical sleepless nights and swollen legs and feet.  Ready to snuggle our boy (and my organs are ready to not get bumped and kicked all day and night long).
• 28 ... the age I am as of today!  I honestly forget how old I am most days and sometimes I still think I'm 24 but, sure enough, I was born in 1984 and it is 2012, which means today I am 28!
• 30 ... number of miles from our house to Center Grove Orchard in Cambridge!  Jed took today off of work for my birthday so we could have a whole family day and take Lainey to the apple orchard!  It was such a perfect fall day.  I think she'll like it even more next year but we had a really fun time together.  The highlight was definitely the corn pool!  We of course had to take advantage and take some pictures...

Before we left, Lainey wasn't sure all of the excitement that lay ahead could trump her teething pain...Poor thing!  Unrelated note, look at our beautiful tree in our front yard - love the leaves changing color.  Not so much when they actually fall... 

I love these two...

Had to make another stop in the corn pool before we left...

So blessed and thankful that I got to celebrate my birthday with my two loves!  It was a fabulous day!  Excited to see what year 28 brings!