Reid's Arrival

This week began normally enough.  The nursery was ready (even though it's still technically Emmett's room)...

Emmett was practicing with his stethoscope, just in case I had to have a home birth...

And since Phil had that Monday off, I got to spend the day with my friend Michelle eating lunch out, getting a pedicure, and doing a little shopping.  I was feeling somewhat presentable before I left, so I had Phil take a picture of what I looked like at 40 weeks pregnant with my last baby (tear!)...

I got home that afternoon around 4:00 and started feeling contractions around 5:00.  I started timing them around 7:00 and at 10:45 I texted my friend Rocky to come down and stay with the boys.  Phil and I thought for sure this was it!  So we loaded up in the truck and went up to the hospital... only to find out that I was not dilated at all!  We couldn't believe it!  My contractions were painful and pretty regular for about three hours.  I thought for sure I was in labor!  We were disappointed, but went home around 12:30 A.M. to try to get some sleep.  The nurse had given me a little something to help me sleep that night and I did get a few winks in, although I woke up periodically still feeling contractions.

That next morning (Tuesday - my due date) Phil went in to work and I was still feeling a few contractions, although not as many as the night before.  I was pretty tired, but I decided to vacuum the house and stay active to encourage labor to happen if it was close.  As I got close to finishing the vacuuming, there were a few times that I had to stop and grab onto something because the contractions hurt so bad!  I had been timing them since 8:30 A.M. and they were about 7-10 minutes apart and much more painful than the night before.  So around 11:00 A.M. I texted Phil and asked him if he could come home to help with the boys so I could sit down.  By 12:30 I felt like this really might be it this time, so I texted Rocky again and Phil and I headed up to the hospital... again.  And once again... not even dilated and sent home!!  At this point I was in a lot of pain and very frustrated with my body, so I kind of freaked out crying on the way home.  I figured once we got home I would just rest up until the morning and then maybe see about getting induced or something.  Well, by the time 5:30 rolled around I was just totally dying with the contractions and had Phil call my midwife to see what we could do, since I knew there was no way I would be able to sleep that night with the pain.  She said for me to come up to the hospital so that she could check me herself (the last two times a nurse and a resident checked me).  So we called my friend Lana this time to stay with the boys, and off we went.  I was SURE that I would just be coming home again, but when my midwife checked me I was already dilated 7 cm!  We were all totally shocked!  No wonder those stupid contractions hurt so bad!  They were way worse than anything I felt with Emmett or Jackson (since I got an epidural at 3 cm with both of them).  Anyway, needless to say, they put me in a room and within two hours I had my epidural in (oh, such glorious relief!), and within another 3 hours Reid was born!  I had to push for almost an hour, but things went really smoothly.  He made his appearance at 12:40 A.M. on February 23.  It was such a wonderful experience!!  Here are some hospital pictures...

Just a few seconds old!!

Getting cleaned up on the warmer...

Reid Phillip was 8 pounds, 0.4 ounces and 18-1/2 inches long... our biggest baby!  Here he is getting a bath....

He is just absolutely perfect!  We are all so in love with him!

Phil went home the next afternoon and picked up the boys to come visit.  They both have colds, so we didn't want them to get too close to Reid, but we couldn't keep them away!  Emmett was the most excited!  He kept pointing and yelling and was so smiley!!

This is the closest thing we got to a family picture... I was in the middle of nursing, and we didn't want the boys too close!

This is my midwife, Rebecca.  She delivered Emmett, too.  She's retiring in a few days after 30 years or so and going to Africa to do some work with Doctors Without Borders.  I was so lucky to be able to squeeze in my delivery before she retired!  I think she only had 2 or 3 other babies left to deliver after me.

The night before we left the hospital we got about 4 inches of snow.  And we came home to a sweet sign made by my friend, Kylie.  

Since coming home we've just been doing a lot of snuggling (with all three boys) and sleeping whenever we can!  So far, Reid is much easier than either of the other boys were (knock on wood!).  Emmett was up all night and screaming his first night home, so I was prepared for that, but Reid seems very content.  He is definitely up all night, but he just hangs out and looks around.  He's a breastfeeding champ, too.  We are all just totally in love with him!! 

 

I'll take and post some other pictures soon... just wanted to get these first ones on here!  Thanks for all of the prayers and love!

Jackson Love

Get ready for lots of gushing love... my hormones are making me feel the need to gush about my oldest son for a minute.  Jackson has really been so wonderful lately.  He is such a good helper to me and he's just been saying and doing the sweetest things.  Now, don't get me wrong - he's not perfect and we definitely still have trying moments, but he just amazes me with how caring, sweet, and loving he is.  I know he's going to be such a huge help when the baby comes.  He loves to help me with anything and is really good at following directions and figuring out what I need him to do or get.  He constantly says "I love you."  The other night we were in the car after eating dinner out and he sighed and said, "I love you guys."  He loves to give hugs and kisses ("Mommy, I need kiss and hug!") and often wants to "snuggy on the couch" with us.  He has started telling me, "Mommy - you look very pretty!" (which is really nice right now when I feel so gross!) and loves to give compliments.  I got a new rug a few weeks back and he kept saying, "Mommy, this rug is aMAzing!"  And when Phil was putting up crown molding in our bedroom he kept telling Phil, "Wow!  Daddy, this looks very nice!  Thanks for helping me build the wall!"  That's another thing - he is very vocal with his thank-yous.  We hear, "Thank you for helping me!" all the time.  He's been playing with Emmett a little better lately, although we're still having to work hard on sharing and being kind to Emmett.  I think he's slowly starting see what a fun friend Emmett can be, instead of just a nuisance all the time.  J's favorite things lately are reading, building puzzles, riding his bike, kicking the soccer ball, playing "He Shoots... He Scores" (basketball) with Dad, roughhousing with Dad, snuggy-ing on the couch, playing with his train tracks, cutting paper with scissors, watching "Go, Diego, Go!" (a new favorite) and "Thomas and Friends," helping Mommy bake, and singing.  Here he is performing a few of his favorites... "You Are My Sunshine" (with a lot of help from me), the song from Barney (I don't know what it's called... "I Love You, You Love Me?"), and the only part of the theme song from Diego that he really knows - "Go, Diego, Go!"


Untitled from Heather G on Vimeo.


Untitled from Heather G on Vimeo.

And we can't forget Emmett!  Here he is showing off the words he knows.  I know it's not many, but it's a start!  I'm not nearly as worried about his speech as I was with Jackson's, now that I know that he'll eventually get there.


Untitled from Heather G on Vimeo.

Oh, how I loooooove my boys!!  We are just so excited to have a third one.... we can't wait to meet him!!  Almost every night when Phil comes home and we sit around and all play together we comment on how blessed we are and how much fun it will be with another one.  Let's go, baby - we're ready for you!!

It's Back!

Winter, that is.  We woke up to this yesterday morning and it's still here!

Yes, it's very pretty, but I'm ready for spring after the "warm" weather we've had lately! Now we're having a week of 30 degree temps and rain/snow.  Yuck!

Emmett has been really into wearing hats lately.  Of course, not the hats I want him to wear, but things like Phil's baseball caps, a play construction hat, and a plastic container.  

He cracks us up!  :)

Indoor Activities

It's 4 A.M. right now and I can't sleep!  I was a little worried about the baby last night because I hadn't felt him move a lot yesterday, so now I'm drinking some water and hoping to feel him jump around in there.  And I figured that I would make good use of this time by doing a blog post.  :)

Does anyone else feel like time is just flying by?  I cannot believe it is the middle of February already.  Where did December and January go?  I feel like December didn't even happen this year.  Or January, either, for that matter!  I'm secretly a little glad, though, because I'm ready for the baby to be born and for spring/summer to be here.  We've had a little taste of spring lately (yesterday the high was 60!) and it has made me crave warmer weather.  Unfortunately, we're supposed to get hit with a massive cold front this week and maybe even some snow.  Yuck!

Mixed in with the spring-like days we've also had a bunch of really chilly days, so we've still be inside a lot.  I've tried to do a few "art" projects with the boys, but soon found out that their enjoyment of the project lasts about 10 minutes... and then they're done.  Like with these cotton ball snowmen I had them make... I thought they would love dipping the cotton in the glue and putting it on the paper, but they really had nothing for it after a few minutes.  And E hated the glue and cotton sticking to his fingers!

So we're sticking now to really easy things like window decals.  They've loved these Valentine decals, although the cupids have been now been dismembered and half of the hearts are on the nearby chalkboard.

The boys have really been into puzzles lately.  Jackson can put a bunch of his puzzles together on his own now, which is so nice!  And Emmett loves to sit next to Jackson and put non-matching pieces together by brute force.  Whatever keeps him happy!

Emmett also loves helping me unload the dishwasher.  The other day he unloaded all of the silverware by himself!  Of course, the drawer looked like this when he was done, but still!  What a good little helper.

This is the type of indoor activity the boys are really into... jumping on the bed and being thrown onto the bed by Daddy.  Phil and I just got a new king bed yesterday.  Our old queen was on the floor for a day or two after Phil took the bed frame apart and the boys thought that was the greatest thing.  They LOVE to be thrown like this onto the couch or the bed.  It makes me nervous, though! (Please excuse the bare spot on the wall where we didn't paint behind the headboard!)