The birth story!! (part 2)

I promised everyone part 2 of Taylor's birth story yesterday and that did NOT happen.  Lo siento amigos!  Yesterday was a difficult day for Hayden, and I've been running on very little sleep.  I'm staying up late at night trying to finish my bachelor's degree and the boys haven't been sleeping too well.  So there's my excuse :)

First time holding Taylor.  He screamed for quite a while before he felt safe.

My big boy!  11 days early and he comes in at 19in, 8lb 1 oz.  For comparison, Hayden was 12 days early, 21in, and 8lb 5 oz.   

Anyways, so if you read my last post, you know that on January 31st, Hayden's birthday, we made an unsuccessful run to the hospital.  6 days later we made another trip.  My mother-in-law Bonnie met us at the E.R. (at 2:30am!) and we gave her our car with Hayden happily sitting inside.  my contractions were 4 minutes apart and i wasn't sure how much time I had, so that's why we woke Hayden up and had Bonnie meet us there.  

My Hayden  boy!  Notice his bare feet?!?  So funny.  He's also wearing his FAVORITE shirt that Auntie Lesley gave him for his birthday.  I love this super active boy!

After about an hour in the exam room they decided to admit me (YAY), which meant we would have a baby within the next 12 hours or less.  we had a nice sleep and in the morning I had my epidural (about 6am).  At 8am the doctor came and checked on me.  Dr. Evans got to deliver Hayden and Taylor as well!  It was kind of cool.  So he checked on me and said in a few hours I'd be ready to deliver.  I had to come into the hospital at 5cm dilated and 100% effaced.  All we had to do next was wait.  I was pretty tired and I kept trying to sleep, but my epidural numbed me a little too high.  It made it slightly difficult to breathe and I was afraid if I went to sleep I would stop breathing.  This sounds really bad as I type it!  I knew at the time my epidural felt a little different from when I had Hayden, but I wasn't sure why.  My legs were easier to move and, like I said, it was difficult to breathe.  My blood pressure also dropped dramatically.  The nurse had to give me a few shots of...idk, something, to get it back up to where it should be.  It wasn't a horrible experience.  I was monitored closely and taken care of.  If I were having another baby, I would still choose to get an epidural.  But when you get one, you have to understand the risks.  They are small, but things can happen.  

Paul Holding hours old Taylor Michael.

Fresh after his bath!  We've figured out that after baths, Taylor's hair gets really fluffy and yellow blonde.  I think he looks like a little chick--quack quack!

Ok, so about 2 hours later I could feel that the baby was ready!  You just feel this intense need to push.  Even with the epidural, you can still feel it.  The longer you wait to push, in fact, the more painful it becomes (yes, even with pain meds!).  I told my nurse how I was feeling and she said to let her know when the contractions that made me feel like I needed to push were getting closer together and stronger.  In my head I was like....ummmm...it's time NOW!  She left my room and after only 2 minutes I was seriously like...ummmm...yeah get someone in here...now...  A nurse came in and checked me.  I was SUPER READY!  I was told NOT to push (which is really all you feel like doing) because the Dr. and my original nurse were next door helping another woman.  I could hear her screams from down the hallway.  I jokingly said to myself, bet you wish you had the epidural now, don't ya!  ha ha, I kid.  I only had to wait about 10 minutes before the Dr. and my room were ready for a delivery.  I think I pushed for about 3 minutes and the baby was out!  (after the baby's head was out I had to wait to push again because his cord was wrapped around his neck twice!  I'm glad doctors check for that now).  So, at 10:17am Taylor was born.  

Hayden is sort of into ears right now.  It only makes sense that he had to check and make sure that Taylor  had some!

Aaaaaaaaaand here Hayden's checking to make sure his own ears are still in place ;)

The next 24 hours were filled with visits from Hayden, Grandma Kirby, and Lesley, as well as a Redbox movie, a "Stork Dinner" for Paul and I, and more pain meds, ha ha.  I was super nervous for Hayden's visit.  I made sure that my IV would be removed before he came.  When I visited my mom in the hospital after she had Lesley, I was scared to sit by or even look at her because of the things coming out of her arms!  Hayden came right in though and made himself at home.  He took off his socks and shoes and jumped right onto my bed.  All he wanted to do was hold his baby brother and inspect his little body.  It was pretty sweet!  

Hayden in his jammies!  Taylor and I went to his 2 week appointment that morning so Grandma Kirby came over to watch him.  It was really nice because A) Hayden HATES the dr.'s office.  We're not sure why, but he just hates it, and B) We also had to stop at the hospital for the baby's PKU test.  I doubt Hayden would have enjoyed that one.

Headed to his 2 week check up!  He did so well.  At 3 days he had lost weight (7lb 7 oz) but then he went up to 8 lb 7oz.  He also gained 1.5in and went up to 20.5in.  Oh, and his head?  It's in like the 10th %ile.  Small heads are good!

Did I mention Taylor can roll to his side?  He's been doing it since about 3 days old!  He just rolls over to his side and sleeps like that!  It's amazing.

Wook at the wittle face!  The blanket was made by a few ladies from church that stopped by for a visit.  So nice!

Big brother and little brother!  Hayden is always loving on Taylor.  He gets so excited when I let him hold him in the boppy.  I'm not sure how much Taylor likes it though!

I love this video because it shows how quickly Hayden can turn it on and off.  And I love his little, "okaaay"!

So, to sum things up, I:

• have a 2 year old
• have a newborn
• have survived almost 3 weeks of having the above 2 things
• am off of pain meds
• am incredibly grateful for the family that I have...including a husband that will wake up with the baby at night when my body just won't let me do it one more time!

Hayden turns 2!

So January 31st, 2013, turned out to be quite the eventful day.  After making a trip to the hospital and returning at 4:30am (read about that post here), we got 2 hours of sleep.  Hayden was up and ready to start his birthday!  Paul made french toast (Hayden's favorite breakfast) and that seemed to help wake us up.  

Later that night we had a little party for Hayden.  Grandma Kirby, and Auntie Lesley came.  Great Grandma Sutton dropped by for a few minutes to give Hayden his gift, but left to take care of Great Grandpa Sutton.  Hayden wore his Happy Birthday shirt for the occasion.   It was actually a hand-me-down from Ammon's 2nd Birthday.  Mandy gave it to me a long time ago and I've held onto it for years just waiting for the day that Hayden could wear it.  (Mandy if you want it for Maddox's 2nd birthday, let me know.)     

See his cute shirt?

First we unwrapped presents.  Grandma Sutton got Hayden some clothes and some $$ to put into his savings account--which is always welcome!  

Like  his chocolate "Zorro" mustache?!?  Someone had a lick of chocolate frosting!

Hayden got some trucks, cars and a red flannel shirt from Auntie Lesley.  He LOVES that shirt--I think he wore it for 3 days straight after he got it!  

This is THE shirt!  This picture was taken February 7th, the day after we had Taylor.  And yes...Hayden insisted on taking his shoes off at the hospital.  Silly boy!

From Grandma Kirby he received a bunch of shirts and jeans (which he really needed), a book and dvd about farm animals, and a bubble gun.  We can't wait for summer to come so that he can have a bubble war outside with daddy!  

Hayden reading his book.

My family got Hayden a Radio Flyer car and ramp.  He loves the car but isn't quite interested in the ramp yet.  We're working on it!  

This picture was taken about a month ago.  It was he first time Hayden got brave enough to sit on and ride his Radio Flyer!

Aaaaand, from mom and dad Hayden got a box full of musical instruments to play with!  (We also bought him a big dinosaur floor puzzle that came in a cute little suitcase, but he found it the day before his birthday and started playing with it!  I just let him have it.)

Maracas, egg shakers, train whistle, drum, triangle, and xylophone   You can tell I'm 37 weeks pregnant here.  These pictures of me were the last taken before having Taylor!  

After presents, we ate cake.  Of course.  Hayden was so timid in approaching his cake!  It was the funniest thing.  He didn't dare pick it up and take a bite.  

I figured out that he wasn't eating it because he didn't want to get his hands dirty.  Can you believe that?!?  Ha ha, so I cut the kid's cake into bite-sized pieces and he dove right in.  He's such a funny boy!

January 31st will forever live in infamy! (Or, Taylor's birth story part 1)

(The next few posts are a little late--having two babies now has been more time consuming than I thought.  And just writing that seems like...DUH ALLIE!  Of course raising two little ones takes up your time!  Yeah, it really does.)

Anyways....

I had been preparing for Hayden's birthday since November.  I wanted to get him the perfect present.  Knowing that his brother would be born close to his birthday, I needed something for him that he could do on his own and would keep his attention for more than 30 seconds.  Don't think I'm crazy, but I decided on getting Hayden his own set of musical instruments.  I picked up a drum, egg shakers, maracas, an xylophone,  and a triangle (all for around $2 each!) at Michael's.  I picked up a Sterilite plastic container from the dollar store to hold his new toys and called it good.  Hayden LOVED the present and instruments really aren't that loud.  He can even play with them while the baby is sleeping and it doesn't disturb him!

We were all ready for Hayden's little family party to happen when I went into labor.  Or what I thought was labor.  Or better yet, what SHOULD have been labor.  I'll explain.  I started getting painful, regular contractions on Jan 30th.  I timed them for about 2 hours before I was sure I needed to run to the hospital.  Contractions were 5-6 minutes apart.  Lesley and Lindsay raced over to the house to stay with Hayden and Paul and I headed out.  We had a 15 minute drive to the hospital and, upon arriving, were taken to an exam room.  All the nurses were excited because, now that it was after midnight, it was Hayden's birthday.  If baby was born in the next 24 hours, the boys would have the same birthday!  

Madison Memorial Hospital

After 4 hours and multiple calls to the Doctor  that night, we were sent home.  I was frustrated and kind of shocked.  My contractions were showing to be as painful as possible, as well as regular, on the NST screen (you know that uncomfortable machine they hook you up to...?).  Dr. Allred decided to have me go home and rest to see if contractions would stop.  Apparently the baby's head wasn't fully engaged, and with me being 37 weeks, he wanted to delay labor if possible.

Gee thanks.

My nurse was so nice and apologetic.  She was sure that, if I wasn't back to the hospital in the morning, I would have the baby within a week (AWESOME foreshadowing!).  

So we rolled into the driveway at 4:30am tired as...well....we were tired.  And hungry.  Paul had worked a full day and was exhausted   Poor guy!  We went to bed and I tried to get sleep.  The contractions finally relaxed enough for me to get 2 hours of sleep.  

And then I woke up to a BIG 2 year old who had 10 hours of sleep and had no idea what we had just been through.  Here we go......I thought.  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HAYDEN!

Hayden eating morning snack.  Not sure why he's not wearing a shirt...