10 Days Old

Elliott is a wonderful addition to our family and we are soooo excited to have him here! It's been an exciting and tiring 10 days. i still can't believe we have THREE children. Today was Walter's first day back at work and I really missed having him here! It was wonderful to spend a week as a family together and the boys were soaking up all their "daddy time" during the day :)

So far our adjustment to being a family of five has been fairly smooth. Xavier and Wesley have taken to the change very well. It's a lot for them to handle, so I'm trying to remember that when we do have behavior flareups! Xavier is in love with Elliott. He's already nicknamed him "Elly" and wants to hold him about 50 times a day. These holding sessions only last about 30 seconds though and then he says he's done and tells us "He's a good baby". Wesley is warming up to Elliott and likes to point to him and say his name. He's held him a few times and kisses him a little. I'm trying to give Wes some extra love because I know it's hard for him to see me holding Elliott a lot when I would usually be holding him.

Elliott is doing great. He had a weight check at the doctor today and he is 9lbs 11 1/2 oz. He was 8lbs 10 oz at his appointment last week. The boy likes to eat! He is nursing really well. He eats about every 1 1/2 - 2 hours unless he's sleeping. Walter and I both agree that Elliott is the sleepiest newborn we've had. Some days it feels like he just eats and sleeps and that's it. I don't remember Wes or Xavier sleeping this much, even in the beginning. I love it because it's made for an easier transition home. Elliott is doing a few 3-4 hour stretches of sleep at night which is awesome. He eats and then goes back to sleep. I really couldn't ask for more at this point. I'm actually feeling semi rested under the circumstances :) Right now Elliott sleeps in his infant carseat at night in our room. He wasn't staying asleep very long when he laid flat in the pack n play and loves the coziness of the carseat. Hey, whatever works, right!!!

I'd be lying if I said that Elliott was an easy delivery. He was over 9lbs and I'm not a big person. So, I've had a tougher and slower recovery than I expected as well as some unforeseen issues. Percoset has been my best friend! Today is the first day I was feeling slightly myself again. It's hard to recover when you have other small kids in the house that need to be taken care of. It's not like I can just lay on the couch all day. The new baby demands and the pain medicine caused me to feel totally narcoleptic for a few days. Every time I would start to read something on the computer, on paper, or on my phone I would fall asleep sitting up within seconds. It's been a crazy feeling!!

There's so much more to tell about our first 10 days with Elliott, but everyone is sleeping except me right now. I'm thinking it would be smart of me to go to bed too! At some point I'll try to document his birth story too.

Here's a few pictures though to get a glimpse of our past few days. You will notice a few things in these photos:  our "newborn" is so big he doesn't even look like a newborn! Also, there are many photos of the boys in their pajamas. Cause you know, that's what they like to wear, and dressing my kids while feeding a new baby every hour and a half just isn't gonna happen!

Enjoy!

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Elliott's Birth Story

Retro Dated ****

My due date for Baby #3 was July 3rd. That day came and went (no surprise). Because of my previous c-section with Xavier I had higher risks of uterine rupture if I were to be induced. And my plan was to attempt another VBAC since I was successful in doing that with Wesley. So we waited...and waited. It was the most anxiety filled time of my life as I prayed for labor to begin.

 - On Wed, July 6th I had a non stress test that showed everything was fine.
 - On Mon, July 11th I had another non stress test that showed everything was fine. I also had an ultrasound that showed plenty of fluid pockets still surrounding the baby. My doctor said he would induce me if I wanted. He said because I'd previously had a successful VBAC he was not as worried about doing an induction. I chose to wait because the baby was ok and I was still holding out hope of going into labor on my own.
 - On Thurs, July 14th I had another non stress test that showed everything was fine. I was also dilated almost 5 cm, which is crazy thinking that I really hadn't had any contractions at all yet. At this point I was 11 days overdue. I knew my doctor didn't want me going past 14 days. I agreed that I would be ok with an induction at this point. My doctor was actually out of town that day. The nurse practitioner was going to talk with him and they'd call me the next day. That morning I also went to a chiropractor for acupuncture treatment in hopes of stimulating labor (I don't think it did anything, but I guess I can't say for sure)
- Fri, July 15th I didn't end up hearing from my doctor until after 5pm (long story -- mix up between staff ). He said the hospital was so busy that they were not taking inductions that day. He said to wait to hear from him and that I could probably be induced Saturday or Sunday.

Friday night at 10pm I started having contractions. We had just finished watching a movie and were getting ready to go to bed. I went to sleep for a little bit since the contractions were mild. Things picked up throughout the night and by about 5am my contractions were 5 minutes apart lasting over a minute. They were very painful, but not "OMG I'm going to die" kind of pain. I called my doctor and he said to come to the hospital. He made a joke that I guess I decided to do my own induction and force them to take me. YEP!! I called my mom to come over to stay with the boys. While it's not ideal to go into labor at night when you are tired from the day, it was nice to have the boys asleep while I was dealing with contractions. I was also throwing up in between contractions. This made things seem 10x worse. I had not experienced any vomiting with either of my previous labors. I took a shower and we headed for the hospital around 6:15am.

By 7am I was checked in and they said I was 6-7 cm. I declined an epidural at that point. With both previous labors I stalled at 7cm. I really wanted to get past 7cm before getting an epidural, or maybe even try to do a natural birth. The contractions continued, stronger and longer, and I kept throwing up. By 10 am I was pretty tired (having not really slept but 30 minutes that night) and the combination of contractions and vomiting were taking it's toll. I was at 8cm and my water had not broken. After Walter and I discussed it, I decided I wanted the epidural. I knew though, that it would probably lengthen the labor. And I was right.

The epidural was wonderful. It was just enough to take away the pain, but I could still move my legs. The vomiting stopped and I was able to get some sleep off and on. But, as I suspected it would, the epidural made my contractions almost completely flat line. It took another 6 hours and a pitocin drip to get me to dilate the last 2 cm.

At 4pm I was 10cm and they had me "labor down" (which is basically just waiting around doing nothing) to allow the baby to move down. I started pushing at about 5pm. The staff pediatrician was notified to be on standby since Wesley's shoulders had gotten stuck during birth. This baby was still a little high so I wasn't one of those lucky people that only have to push twice with subsequent children. I did ask that the epidural be turned off at this point. That helped me be able to feel the contractions (but still not much pain) to help with pushing. Not surprising, the baby's shoulders got stuck again this time, only worse (lucky me!) The door flew open and more people came in for me and the baby. Walter was asked to move back so a nurse could practically lay on top of my stomach (again, lucky me!) to help push the baby out.

After delivering one shoulder at a time, Elliott Levi was born (13 days past due) on July 16th, 2011 at 5:57pm. He was 9lbs 3oz and 22 1/2 inches long. He didn't cry at first and had a low apgar, which freaked me out, but after giving him a little oxygen under the warmer he perked up and was fine. They never even had to take him out of the room. I was really surprised when Walter told me it was another boy. I had secretly gotten myself thinking it was going to be a girl. But once I looked at Elliott it just seemed right that we had another sweet little boy in our family.

Elliott's birth took a serious toll on my body. I'll stop there with the details for everyone's benefit, but let's just say that getting the epidural was a really good idea in light of Elliott's birth weight and my small frame :) Within an hour I was resting "comfortably", so to speak, and was able to breastfeed him for the first time. He did great right off the bat. Then the nurse came in to give him a bath and I got to finally eat some dinner. Walter and I called our parents to tell them the news, I sent out a text to friends, and we spent a little time staring at our newest little boy.

Despite the anxiety, the waiting, and the complications, I'm thrilled to have had another VBAC. And we were thrilled to have our third little boy.

Elliott Levi, we love you!!!

Visitors and Meals

It's 6:30am, the "older boys" are already up and Walter has them out on a walk. Elliott is snoozin in the bouncy seat so I thought I'd attempt to start posting about out week while I have 2 minutes of quiet.........

I'm not a huge fan of visitors in the hospital. I'm a low key hospital kind of gal. I like to take that time to sleep, eat food that I didn't have to prepare :), enjoy being with Walter and the baby, and work on getting nursing established. We had just the right amount a visitors this go around.

Gma Debbie and Gpa Larry

Uncle Brett

Great Gma Gloria and Great Gpa Al

Gma Tina and Gpa "Shampoo"

My good friend Christine

Right before we left the hospital we had a visit from my sweet nurse practitioner (I forgot to get a picture). She was at the hospital having her own 16 week ultrasound. She is pregnant with twins and they were going to find out the sex. So, we actually got to be the first people to know what she's having (2 boys!!) outside of her family. How funny is that. She showed us her ultrasound pics and got to finally find out what gender our little one was as well! Boys Boys everywhere!!

This weekend my grandma will be meeting Elliott and we are hopeful that Walter's dad will get to come in town in the fall to meet his newest grandson!

We have been so blessed this week to receive dinners from family, friends, and neighbors (and more coming next week!) It has been WONDERFUL because by the end of the day I have no energy left to think about cooking something. Plus we've gotten to try new things and maybe add to our recipe collection (which is slim!)

Alrighty, time is up because E just loaded his diaper. More pics later this weekend!

Good Intentions

So much going on this week. So little time to blog. I had the best of intentions to get all my pics downloaded tonight and put up a new post about Elliott's first few days at home.

But I'm falling asleep (literally - major head bob just a few seconds ago) at my computer. So I guess I'll try again tomorrow!

Quick update -- Elliott's as cute as can be and the boys are taking to him pretty well. Mommy and Daddy are tired....very tired....but very blessed.

More soon......I promise! Good Night!

Elliott Levi

Thirteen days late, but totally worth the wait!

Elliott Levi joined our family at 5:57pm yesterday, July 16th. He weighed in at 9 lbs 3 oz and 22 1/2 inches long. He's a BIG baby! (X had him beat at 9lbs 6 oz though!) It just kinda feels like de-ja-vu every time I have a baby because all my boys look the same at birth!

So, THREE BOYS. (I might need a padded room to survive this!) We are really excited to have Elliott here and he's doing great so far.

I went into labor Friday night around 10pm and Elliott was born just a quick 19 hours later. Yes, I say quick seeing that Wesley's labor was 46 hours. This felt like lightening speed to us!

Xavier and Wesley came to meet Elliott this morning. They wore their big brother shirts and looked adorable! Xavier is in LOVE!!!! He wanted to hold him, kiss him, and kept asking when he was coming to our house. Wes, on the other hand, gave Elliott the total cold shoulder. He would barely acknowledge that Elliott was in the room. Wesley was more interested in pushing the stroller around the room and standing on the window sill It was so funny. He even told Walter "NO" when Walter asked Wes to give Elliott a kiss. Looks like we're gonna have some work to do!

We tried to get a family photo but it didn't go so well. It is so strange to look at this and think that all these kids are ours!

Thanks to everyone for all the emails and messages leading up to Elliott's birth. Sorry I didn't return many of them. I just became overwhelmed with the waiting process.

It's been nice to have some down time and a little relaxation here in the hospital. That will all change when I get back home :)

(I have pictures of the grandparents meeting their newest grandson, but blogger is now locking up as I try to upload more pics. I will have to try that again later. )

Wordless Wednesday - Handyman

41 Weeks

Well, I'm not exactly thrilled to be making this post. I'd rather have one titled "Introducing....." but clearly I'm not in charge here :)

Baby #3 is 41 Weeks today. This picture is from yesterday though since I went to that baby shower.

Funny story about the baby shower. When I realized at the last minute that I would be able to attend (since the baby hadn't come) I found myself with NOTHING to wear to it. Seriously, I have almost no clothes left that fit and certainly nothing appropriate for a baby shower. So Friday night I had to go out and buy something. Thankfully I found this dress at Kohls on clearance for $10 and I had a 15% off coupon too. So for $9.18 I was able to make myself look at least half way presentable. It's not actually a maternity dress, I just kinda (ok, a lot) stretched it. So, I'm hoping I can still wear it after the baby and it will look a little better when the fabric can lay naturally.

Today we took the boys swimming (hello beached whale!), we ALL took a nap, and went for snocones this evening. We took X's friend from across the street with us for snocones and X was soooo excited about that! The lady at the snocone hut told me her doctor said to eat White Castle when you are overdue and she had her baby just hours later. Well, I'm just that desperate that I actually went to White Castle for a few cheeseburgers after the boys were in bed. Walter laughed at me and said it was ridiculous. Oh well, what can it hurt?

I have to say that as the hours and days tick by my anxiety level is soaring. I'm starting to really worry about what it will mean if I don't go into labor on my own. Because of previous issues I have more associated risks with medical interventions and I still have a lot of emotional issues 3 1/2 years later with how X's birth played out. I just don't want to go down that road again and would like to avoid as much intervention as possible. I watched "The Business of Being Born" (a birthing documentary about midwifery vs the hospital system) last night. While it's very good, it was probably not my best choice of things to watch at this exact point in time because it just stirred more controversy in my head. I have been praying every night to come to some sense of peace about all this, but as of right now my anxiety is winning. I have nothing on the calendar so I'm literally just pacing and waiting like a ticking time bomb. And as well intentioned as people may be, the continuous calls, texts, emails, and facebook messages of "had that baby yet?" are about to send me over the edge.

I have a doctor's appointment in the morning. They will put me on the fetal monitor again as well as scan me to check the amniotic fluid levels. I have lots of questions about where we go from here. Also, I think my dr is going to be out of town for 2 days later this week. Great :)  I'm still feeling the baby move quite a bit so that is good and last night I slept better than I have in several nights.

So, if you're the praying type, please toss up a prayer request to the big guy asking for contractions and to help keep my anxiety in check. Thanks!!!

A Week of Waiting

Um, yeah, still no baby yet.

So, what do you do when  you are just waiting around for a baby to be born??? I hadn't made many plans for this past week, ya know, because I thought maybe I'd be in the hospital. But apparently not. So here's a few ways to occupy all that free time.....

*Relax naked in the baby's bouncy seat with your sippy cup.

*Run around wild and crazy in your little pool while mama sits in a lawn chair resting her very pregnant self. We did this more than once!

*Go to Costco and score yourself a sweet little table and chair set at an even sweeter clearance price!

*Watch mommy give daddy the evil eye as she turns down the air conditioner that daddy tried to bump up a few degrees when she wasn't looking. Seriously, what was he thinking messing with a pregnant lady's AC in July ??? {THIS ONE IS BETTER OFF WITHOUT AN ACCOMPANYING PICTURE}

*Go to a baby shower for someone else. My very good friend Sara is due with her 1st baby at the end of July and although I wish I wasn't still pregnant, I'm glad I got to make it to her shower today. I forgot my camera though :(

Here's hoping that this coming week I actually have some baby pictures to share!!!

4th of July Parade

Since we have no baby yet, this morning we went to a 4th of July parade nearby. We were worried about the rain, but it ended just as the parade was getting ready to start. Unfortunately the rain left behind humidity that turned my hair into a frizz ball, but that's a minor detail :) Gma Tina and Shampoo joined us and we met up with some other friends as well.

The boys enjoyed the parade very much. The firetrucks and free candy were probably the highlights. Wes determined that he likes tootsie rolls and Xavier became very fond of smarties. I let them indulge for the hour we were there but we didn't take any candy home. The boys got whistles at the parade as well. X has been blowing his ALL DAY. That thing may end up "lost" once he goes to bed!

Today my grandma, who passed away in January, would have been 94 years old. It was the first 4th of July we didn't sing Happy Birthday. I was wondering if we'd have this baby today to have a new person with a 4th of July birthday, but I guess that wasn't meant to be.

Happy 4th!

40 Weeks = Due Date = No Baby Yet

Holy tight shirt! Get this baby out of me!!!!

That's right, another due date has come and gone for me (unless I have the baby in the next 3 hours -- not likely!). This will be my 3rd "late" baby in a row.Seeing as both the boys were born at exactly 41 weeks I wasn't really expecting for this baby to come early (although it would have been nice!)

I can't imagine it's very comfy in there for him/her anymore. I can barely breathe because I'm soooo out of room. My entire stomach moves with pretty much any movement the baby makes at this point.

Baby, please come out soon!!!! Mama can't take much more of this. And we are so anxious to meet you :)