Reid Meets the Family

Reid got to meet all his brothers and sisters just a few hours after his birth. It was a very excited group of little people that arrived in room 325 that day. All the kids have done really well with Reid. Andrew is always excited for another baby so I was not concerned about him at all. He responded to Reid just the way that I expected him too. Zane kinda shocked me though. He was excited about the baby coming but I didn't fully realize exactly how excited he truly was. He walked into the room and was just about bouncing out of his shoes he was so thrilled that his baby brother was here. And the response hasn't really changed. After two VERY difficult adjustments with the girls I think we have finally hit our stride with Zane. A very blessed change indeed.


Lucy was another major surprise with her reaction. She has been excited but I thought it would wane and so far it hasn't. She is over the moon in love with Reid and talks to me about him all the time. It has been so cute to see her little mother come out. Gwen has responded kinda how I thought. She wants to be on me when I am holding Reid and she wants to pat him and poke him all the time. I think she is just super happy to have my lap back. I know I am!

Our first family photo

Reid Isaiah: A Delivery Story

I am a few days later than I like to be to post this but Reid Isaiah finally decided to make his appearance on Tuesday, March 29th! It was about time too. I was just about ready to croak I was so full of baby. Here's what happened:

I had my 40 week doctor appointment Monday morning. I was tired and chock full of baby. When my OB measured my belly it was measuring at 44 weeks pregnant. I started to get concerned because I thought that was bigger than I had measured with Zane. And he was a very healthy 9 pounds 10 ounces. My OB did all that she could do to encourage labor to start and sent me home with a voluntary induction date of Friday April 1st. I was relieved to have a end date in site and settled in to either wait it out until Friday or have this little man sometime in between.

When I got home I took a nice walk around the neighborhood with the boys and Lucy (Gwen was napping) and started to have some really irregular contractions that continued into the evening. The contractions were a bit uncomfortable but due to their irregularity I knew we were not at official go mode yet. I went to bed around 10 and crossed my fingers that I would wake up at some point in time during the night in labor.


Sure enough at around 1:15 I woke up with some contractions about 4 minutes apart. I laid in bed through a few of them and then when they hadn't let up after about 20 minutes I decided to get up and pace around through my downstairs. As I had hoped for I felt the contractions get stronger and a bit closer together. Right around 2:40 I decided to get Eric up and call my mom for her to come over. Mom got to the house around 3:15 and Eric and I zoomed off to the hospital.


Sitting in the car was not exactly comfortable and it also spaced out my contractions a bit, which concerned me. Although I figured I could always walk a bit at the hospital and get them going stronger again if I needed to. Fortunately the triage people took one look at me and figured I was staying even before they checked me. Once they gave everything a peek they said I was 6cm dilated and 100% effaced. I was staying and we were going to have a baby boy SOON!

Since I have that nasty GBS I elected to have an epidural right away. They got all set up and got the meds going so I was quite comfortable right away. I laid down and took a little rest for about an hour and then played on Facebook. It was fun to tease everyone with information about the delivery. Eric and I were quite amused the entire morning. At about 8:15 the nurse came in to start my second bag of medicine and the doctor broke my water. I got to sit up then and actually try and get my body to cooperate with the whole labor process. Around 9:15 I got really shaky and called for the nurse. The nurse checked me out and called for the doctor and they got the room set up for delivery.


It only took 3 sets of pushes to get Reid out. Which is somewhat of a miracle since he was 10 pounds 4 ounces and 21 inches long. A LARGE baby by just about everyone's standards. Everything went great with the delivery though. The nurses were all shocked at how large he was and how easy the delivery went considering. I was told I could come back and request them anytime. Apparently I am a good patient.

Up Next: Reid Meets the Family

Lucy's First Haircut

Tonight Lucy got her first haircut. And by haircut I mean trim. Because honestly I didn't want to cut her hair at all. It was just so gnarly at the ends that I was ripping tons of hair out when I tried to comb it even when I used de-tangler.

Here is the full extent of her hair. It hasn't been touched since she was a baby. No scissors have touched it. Which is kinda a miracle if I think about it. I mean, this is my whirlwind child.

The beautician only trimmed off the very ends of her hair. So it really doesn't look all that different. It was just what I was hoping for. I still will be able to do stuff with her hair and it looks so much more healthy.

Lucy did great. Although I think she was surprised the buzz clippers were not used. She has seen me do the boys hair too many times. It is the only way to cut hair in her opinion!

Come OUT!

I have decided that this baby never wants to come out. Never, ever, ever. He is large. Which means I am uncomfortable. I don't want to be induced. I don't. I never have had to resort to induction but these babies of mine certainly do not like to make an early appearance. Come out kid! I have blog posts I want to do about you. But I can't! Not until you show up and give me the experience to write about.

Belly Update: 38 Weeks

This week has been a whirlwind for the end of this pregnancy. I had my doctor appointment on Monday. Was told I was 3 cm dilated and 70% effaced. Not too bad. Tuesday I had lots of contractions. LOTS. So I called triage and they said to come in. I kinda thought maybe it wasn't really true labor. I wasn't in that horribly much pain. But I was hoping that this labor might not hit with the intensity of a Mack truck going 50. Apparently I should have waited for the Mack truck because they sent me home. Eric took the picture before we left and since it shows how giant my belly has gotten I figured I might as well post about it. I am crossing my fingers that this little man will make an appearance next week. I will be 39 weeks on Monday and I can only hope that I won't go overdue this time around. I know baby boy is big but I wonder if he is going to beat Zane. I guess I will just have to wait and see!

Zane Looses a Tooth!

Zane has had a wiggly tooth for quite awhile now. He has excitedly watched Andrew lose teeth and then get rewarded by the tooth fairy for this rite of passage. Andrew has also been super excited about Zane with wiggly teeth. I think he was almost as excited for Zane as he is for himself.



This morning we were looking at the wiggly tooth for probably the 300th time and Andrew just reached into Zane's mouth and twisted the tooth right out. I know Andrew was excited. Zane was freaked out and excited all at once. I don't think he liked the the taste of blood in his mouth. He started crying a bit but after he got a drink of water he got really excited.

Zane IMMEDIATELY started hounding Eric to go and get his tooth fairy pillow out of the garage. And Eric went and got it for him. Currently the pillow is prepped and ready for a nighttime visitor and depositor. The tooth fairy will be visiting out house for sure tonight!

My Baby Ragamuffin

It is well known at our house that Eric and I hate co-sleeping with our kiddos. Loathe it, would not even be too strong of a word. The end result is a sleeping kiddo and two awake adults. Not great results if you ask either of us. Last night though Gwen climbed into bed with us and after about three trips back to her own bed Eric let her stay and snuggle in with us for the rest of the night. I haven't fully dissected his reasoning for allowing it to happen. Here is my logic though. My Gwen is only going to be my baby for a few weeks longer. And then she is going to relinquish her position to a baby brother that she has no way of comprehending. As she was snuggled in so nicely at 3:45 this morning I couldn't help but feel slightly nostalgic and sad for her exit as my baby. Gwen has been such a fun baby. So sweet and lovey all the time. So I sucked it up and embraced it. Although I do have to say when she fell asleep I tried to move her back to her own bed only to have her back in mine about 15 minutes later. Oh well. I wasn't sleeping that great anyway.