Heading Home

After having him Tuesday night, we were ready to head home on Thursday. We had prepared ourselves that we would be hanging out at the hospital most of the day. The birth certificate lady came back to our room for the third time, because at this point, he was still "baby boy." A decision was finally made on his name and we made it legal...not turning back now. :) In the meantime, we found out that the pediatrician on call had released him and told us we could go whenever we were ready! She said that the third time around she figured we had it under control and he checked out perfectly. We were very excited not to be spending the day counting the hours until we could head home. We started packing everything up and were out of there by about 11:00. The outfit I originally intended for him to wear home was about 3 times his body width.

Sweet boy! It's still weird seeing all this blue.

Mommy and Anderson ready to head home.

Daddy and Anderson are going to have to stick together with this house full of girls.

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Everyone had actually been on the way out to visit at the hospital when we found out we were coming home. We told my mom to bring the girls to the house and Nana met us there also. Can you tell they were so excited to have their brother home?

Getting a good look at brother and showing him the balloons that Nana got!

Two very excited big sisters.

Ready to start our lives as a family of 5 at home!

Nana and her babies.

One proud big sister! I don't think that her smile could get any bigger.

Bamama and her babies.

That night the grandmothers arranged dinner and we had some family come over to visit. Pop had not gotten to meet Anderson yet. 

When Harper was born we had a birthday party for her complete with cupcakes. Of course we had to to do the same for Anderson! Payton actually had her first day of ballet that day, so afterwards, she went to Nana's and decorated cupcakes to bring back home. 

We sang "Happy Birthday" and enjoyed a sweet treat to celebrate our little guy.

That Saturday Paw Paw and Gayle came to town to visit. They brought some delicious roast. We enjoyed spending the day with them and introducing them to Anderson. Although Pawpaw spent a good 8-9 hours at the hospital on Tuesday, he had to get back to Montgomery and wasn't able to meet him.

Words can't describe how thankful we are to have so many people to help us celebrate our little man. 

Hospital Stay

We finally got into a room around 10:00 Tuesday night so we were ready for some rest after a long day. Wednesday morning we were ready to get some snuggles with our little guy and see our big girls!

Thanks to Nana and Bamama for keeping the girls while we were at the hospital! They were at "Camp Grandma" and as you can imagine, they were in heaven!

Baby Brother brought the girls presents! Payton was so thrilled to get a new baby, backpack, crayons, notebook, and book!

She feels like such a big girls with her new backpack!

Harper was more interested in nap time than presents after being off schedule for two days.

Harper finally decided to wake up and find what brother brought her! She got a lambie (from Doc McStuffins), a book, legos, and stickers. 

The $1 sticker pack was of course the winner of it all!

These two girls absolutely adore their brother.

It doesn't get any sweeter!

Anderson Powell Wood

August 13, 2013

7:53 p.m.

7lbs. 5oz. 

20 inches

As mentioned in my previous post, we were scheduled to be induced Tuesday, August 13. Although induction wasn't the picture perfect idea of how things would go, we felt like it was the best decision for us. We were to arrive at the hospital by 7. Yes, we even had the girls in tow. Here is our last picture as a family of four. They were so eager and excited to meet their baby brother!

Upon arriving at the hospital we got checked in. It took them forever to get all of my IV's and blood work, but after 5 tries it was finally done (worst part of labor by the way). They didn't get me started on pitocin until about 8:40 if I remember correctly. That could be completely wrong...not sure. Any way about it, it took a while to get things started. The waiting then began. I had been having some mild contractions for a while. They started me off slow and gradually bumped up the dose. Monday at my appointment I was told I was 2.5-3 cm dilated. When I checked in Tuesday the doctor on call told me I was 2 cm....not what a laboring mama wants to hear. :) The next time he checked me about lunch he said I was about 3 cm. We waited for the anesthesiologist to come and give my epidural so that they could break my water. At this point, I had been having pretty consistent contractions that were building, but nothing that was unbearable. I have to say, this was probably my most painless delivery just since they gave me the epidural so early. I had lots of sweet family and friends to visit with throughout the day. I, of course, was worried sick about the girls who had been so patiently waiting. Everyone kept assuring me that they were fine. Luckily they had a lot of things/people to entertain them. So we just waited and waited.

My blood pressure dropped a few times and there were some dips in the baby's heart rate so they would have to slow down the pitocin. It wasn't anything terribly scary like when I had Payton, but it did slow things down a little. If I remember correctly I was checked again twice that afternoon, last at around 5:00 and was still 4cm. At this point I was so frustrated. I really wasn't in pain at all, I was just ready to get it over with. My main concern continued to be how the girls were holding up and knowing that time was ticking as far as their patience could withstand. I was really second guessing being induced at this point and worried he wasn't ready. I prayed for patience and peace and got myself under control. :)

I didn't mention that I had the sweetest nurses. Unfortunately I labored the entire way through my first nurses shift, so I had to switch at 6:00. Vicki, Jeremy, and Beth took the girls to McDonald's for dinner and play time so I was relieved knowing they were fine for a while. Around 6:45 I told my nurse that I was worried my epidural was wearing off because I was all of a sudden feeling my contractions. It wasn't unbearable, but I was feeling the contractions where I wasn't before. She told me it was probably just the initial dose had worn off and reassured me that it was still intact. After feeling contractions and pressure, they finally got the dr. in there to check me about 7:20. He told us that I was completely dilated! Praise the LORD!!! They called and got the girls back to the hospital to make sure they were there in time. I waited patiently for everyone to get set up and in no time, baby boy made his entrance and was born at 7:53. 

Daddy getting ready to cut the cord.

Sweet baby boy! He had the sweetest cry that I will never forget!

One happy mama!

Right after he was born the nurse was a little concerned with his breathing but his oxygen was 100% and his lungs sounded clear. She guessed it was just because he came so quickly. Thankfully everything has been good since!

Proud mommy and daddy!

Dr. Litsey delivered him and Payton. There was also a doctoral student who assisted.

Finally holding my baby boy after a very long day!

My fabulous nurse who was there during the delivery.

Everyone was so ready to meet our little guy! It was a long 13 hour wait for many of them!

I was so ready to see my sweet girls! From what I hear they were precious angels all day and I was ready to get some hugs and kisses from them.

Proud big sisters were so ready to get their hands on him and give kisses.

When Harper walked walked in the room she immediately pointed at him saying, "Baby Bruder!!! I want to hold you!" Melts this mama's heart!

Our new family of 5!!!

The entourage flooded the room ready to meet him shortly after the girls had their chance.

Great Bamama was determined to be there when her great grandson was born, even if that meant sitting in a waiting room for 13 hours. 

Sweet boy actually wasn't named until about an hour before we left the hospital, so at this point we were still referring to him as "baby brother." As you can tell, he is one blessed little guy to have so many people anxiously awaiting his arrival! We are so thankful for a healthy baby and smooth (though not so fast) delivery!

Tomorrow is the big day!

If all goes as planned, we will officially become a family of 5 tomorrow!!! It hasn't really sunk in yet and I'm not sure when it will. We are scheduled to be induced at   7 AM. Although being induced isn't necessarily my choice of how things would pan out, I can feel my maternity leave ticking away as we speak. I was 1 cm at my 35-37 week checks. Finally at 38 weeks I was 2cm and today (at 39 weeks) I was 2.5-3cm. Hopefully since he has continued to progress and I have had inconsistent contractions for some time now it won't make for too hard of a day. 

Sweet baby brother still doesn't have a name. Jonathan thinks I have it all planned in my head, but I really don't! Hopefully when we see him something will fit perfectly. The girls are super excited, especially Payton since she seems to get it all a little more. She has been asking me for weeks when baby brother was going to come out of my belly, so when I told her today that we will get to meet him tomorrow she was elated. I have no doubt that both of those sweet girls will make the best big sisters ever! Hopefully this time tomorrow night we will be holding our new bundle of joy! 

Let the countdown begin!

We're now officially less than a month away from the arrival of baby boy! I've been working like crazy this past week to wash clothes, clean the house, and organize everything. Thanks to a sweet friend and sister in law, he actually has some clothes to wear. I even got all of the baby toys washed and assembled. We are ready! He still doesn't have a name and his poor room is pretty bare. If anyone feels the desire to come decorate, please come see us!

The uncertainty of my due date is driving me crazy. Basically, I could be anywhere from 36 to 39 weeks at this point. Officially I'm 36. At 35.5 weeks I was almost 1 cm, 50% effaced, and he's definitely head down. He's a wild man doing jumping jacks and I've had some mild contractions, but obviously nothing too exciting. We've been staying super busy around here trying to squeeze in as much fun, play dates, trip to Callaway, etc as possible before those activities get a tad more difficult in a few weeks. Payton is having a hard time understanding that we don't know exactly when baby brother will be born. I just tell her we are waiting on God to surprise us! All in all, baby brother is welcome anytime (as long as he's fully developed)! We can't wait to become a family of 5!