Thanks, Nana and Grampy :)

Can you tell Anya is happy that Seth got a Vermont Teddy Bear in the mail from Nana and Grampy? Now her bear has a friend. :) Tonight we read them stories before bed.

Go Patriots!

Seth's first bath

Anya and I gave Seth his first bath today. She was such a nice helper. He didn't seem to really mind it. :)

Pumpkin carving 2012

Last night we carved pumpkins. It was the first time that Anya actually helped out with carving. Last year she only helped with cleaning out the pumpkins. This year she drew the face and cut it with my help (and the little kit saw that isn't as scary as a knife)



Anya's pumpkin..

Dwight's pumpkin..

My pumpkin (Anya requested Minnie)

Dwight did 2 extra's too!

Things are going well here. The first two nights home with Seth were a bit difficult in the night hours. He was adjusting to the formula which meant he was up a lot. Last night things went great and he woke every 3 hours which meant we each only woke up once with him for feedings. He went down to sleep right after. Now a huge 'Knock on wood' that this continues. He is amazing during the day too... eating and sleeping... not really even crying.  He has given me some sleep smiles which just melt my heart. I love him to pieces already and can't believe how quickly you can go from loving one child to loving 2 just as much.

Anya asks to hold her brother multiple times a day.  We went on a walk as a family today and she said "come look!!!" to neighbors.. she wanted to show him off. 

I brought her to Target this morning by myself.  I wanted to pick up some more bottles and formula and I figured some 1 on 1 time with her would be nice.  Well, I get her in the car and she said, "Where is Seth?!  I want him to come!"... and in the store she asked me if she could buy him a toy.  Instead, we bought her a big sister gift.  She picked out the game, "Hungry Hungry Hippos".  :)

Home from the hospital

Yesterday we headed home from the hospital. We couldn't wait to get home :)

Isn't the blanket my mom made Seth just gorgeous!!?

We got home about an hour or two before Anya was brought home by my parents. We can't thank them enough for watching her for the past few days. It was nice to not worry about her. She had so much fun. It's great to have us all home now as a family of 4. She loves her brother so far. She wants to be the one to hold him all the time :) So far we let her be our little helper and she seems to love this.

Slideshow of Seth's first moments

Seth's birth story

On the 19th of October, the day before my due date I was feeling contractions but nothing consistant.  We had an ultrasound that day to check the size of the baby.  Since Anya was 6 lbs 14 oz and took close to 4 hours to push out I was a bit worried that he would be a lot bigger.  They gave me an estimate of 9 lbs 10 oz for him!  This worried me but my doctor assured me they are off by a lb in many cases and her guess was that he was in the 8 lb range. 

I continued to have contractions all weekend and my parents ended up watching Anya just in case things started progressing.  On Saturday, which was my due date, it seemed that the contractions had stopped all together and I was feeling a bit frustrated and discouraged.  Dwight and I ended up taking a couple walks and going to the movies that night.

Sunday, October 21st I woke up feeling some back pain which eventually spread around the front.  I started timing the contractions at 10am.  They were coming randomly but anywhere from 8 to 12 minutes apart in the beginning.  I timed them pretty much all day while Dwight watched football.  After seven hours I called my doctor who just happened to be on call that day.  She said that I could head in any time to be checked and she would be at the hospital around 6pm. 

We showed up around 6:30pm on Sunday, October 21st.  The doctor checked me and I was 3 cm dialated.  My blood pressure was high (which had only happened in the last week) so they decided to keep me and give me sleeping meds to get some rest.  They said if things weren't progressing by 6am they would start to help me progress with pitocin.  We were admitted and sent to our room which was amazing.  It is huge, has a big flat screen tv, dvd player, microwave, jacuzzi tub, pull out couch, and refridge!  We laughed and said wow it's like a hotel here. 

We went through all the medical history, etc. with the nurse.  She left and returned to keep checking on us.  No sleeping meds had been given yet (thank goodness).  At 9pm I got up to pee and came back.  As I sat down in bed I felt a big kick feeling which really HURT like hell.  I made a face to Dwight to show him my pain and said, WHAT WAS THAT?!  That is when I felt a gush.  The nurse came in and checked and told me that my water had broken.  I was so happy that I hadn't started the sleeping meds yet.  Things kicked right into gear naturally and I was in PAIN.  I can't even explain how intense my contractions were.  Dwight quickly called my sister since she was going to be there for the birth and we had told her to come in the morning.  She started to get her things and head out the door.  The doctor gave me the option of starting pain meds through IV or starting fluids to get right to the epidural.  I told her I wanted the epidural.  They wanted me to get a half bag of fluids in before they called the anesthesiologist.  This meant I had to endure those horrible contractions for about an hour on my own.  I was gripping the bed rail, squeezing Dwights hand, trying to focus on one thing, and looking up at Dwight saying I can't F'ing believe this (haha).  I was so scared things were progressing too fast and I would miss the epidural window.  I knew he would be a 2-3 lbs bigger than Anya was and I was scared to push a baby out that size out with no meds.

Finally the fluids were in and I was 4-5cm at the time the anesthesiologist arrived at 10pm.  She gave me the epidural while I endured a couple contractions.  It was difficult to relax while I was in pain.  Finally, it was in and I did feel so much better.  There was an area on my left side that I could still feel pain in but it eventually settled.  My sister showed up around 11pm and we sat and chatted which was very nice.  Thank God for epidurals!! 

Around 1am I was feeling that pain on the left side again so the nurse decided to check me.  She said, well you are completely dialated.  I couldn't believe it.  I couldn't believe I went into labor on my own and didn't need any pitocin the whole time.  I was hardly feeling pressure yet.  She told me I could wait and let him move down on his own so I decided to wait a while.  At 1:45am I decided to start trying pushing.  This time it was completely different.  The lights were dimmed, he was moving with each push and I wasn't in pain although I could feel each contraction.  By 2:17 am he was out and the only pain was when he was crowning and coming out at the end.  When he crowned I squeezed Dwights hand very hard.  He had been holding my leg the whole time and my sister was also able to watch as Seth came into the world.The NICU was in the room because he had some meconium when my water broke.  He didn't have any complications from this and was weighed in at 8 lbs 12 oz and a long 22 1/2 inches long.  The pushing part of my delivery was great.  It happened so much quicker and calmer than last time. 

Now, this is where the scary part begins.  Just as with Anya, my placenta wouldn't come out of my uterus.  The doctor would get a piece but not the whole thing.  It was basically breaking apart in her hand because it was stuck into the lining.  She asked me if I would mind going to the operating room to use the ultrasound machine and have more light.  I thought this was a great idea because I didn't want anything to be left in there.  They wheeled me to the OR and moved me onto an operating table.  Things got really scary here.  She couldn't get all of the placenta out and another doctor took over.  I eventually started feeling pain and the anesthesiologist came in to give me more pain meds.  They started giving me a D & C to get everything out.  I started to feel sick and the doctor told me later that I was saying I was dizzy.  She began to be worried about my blood loss and that is about the point where I can remember.  I was in and out of consciousness most likely due to the drugs they were giving me and also the blood loss.  My blood pressure dipped down to scary numbers such as 60/40.  They decided I needed to get a blood transfusion and started that.  There is a big gap of time I was out and I don't remember.  I do remember feeling nauseous and hearing bits and pieces of what the doctors were doing.  After the D & C I was still getting blood transfused and my blood pressure was low so they wheeled me to the ICU.  I remember being pushed down the halls with the team of doctors around me but I was out of it.  I remember feeling really scared at this point.  Once there I was in and out of consciousness and remember telling them I felt sick and I threw up.  They hooked me up to monitors and I finally started to wake up fully.  I asked the nurse what exactly had happened and they explained the whole situation.  The whole time I was gone Dwight and my sister, Jill were up with the baby and worried sick about me.  At 5am they allowed them to come down and see me.  I was a bit out of it but I let them know I was okay.  At 7:30am that morning I asked to see Seth since I had only held him for about 30 seconds before being whisked off to the OR early morning.  They brought him down and I was able to hold him for about 2 hours in the ICU.  I ended up staying in the ICU until about 1pm.  I was SO happy when they wheeled me back to my baby and Dwight.

My recovery so far has been wonderful considering what happened.  The doctors have told us a million times that we can't have any more children because of the risks. No more kids was our plan anyways, but it makes it much more definate.  I am up walking around and feeling great, especially today.  Every nurse that comes in can't believe how well I am doing after reading my chart.  I don't think they see this happen often.  We head home tomorrow.  Seth has been doing great the whole time and we are so in love with him.  I can't stop staring at him and of course I am taking a million photos.  I am so happy that the birth experience is over with and he is in our arms.  Now the real fun begins.  Our family of 4 is complete and it feels better than anything else in the world.

Seth is born!

Seth is finally here!

Seth David was born on 10/22/12 at 2:17 am.  He is 8 lbs 12 oz and 22 1/2 inches long!!

It was quite an exciting entrance into the world which had a lot of scary moments.  I will write up a birth story very soon.  He is ADORABLE... and we are all in love with him.
I have a million pictures to share eventually too thanks to my sister..

Another weekend come and gone...

This weekend we stopped at a farmstand right up the road and they had a small petting zoo, face painting, a bounce house, and someone twisting balloon animals.

This weekend I also hit week 39 of this pregnancy. It has been such a long 9 months.. we are ready for you baby.. I think he is quite comfy in there. I have an appointment this week as well as an ultrasound at the end of the week to check on his size.  

I am not looking forward to delivery but I can't wait to meet our son. This pregnancy has been SO much harder than my first pregnancy. I have been counting down the weeks for a long time. Now that the time has come I am anxious and looking forward to having him in our arms and out of my belly.



This morning Anya had a pizza party with her buddies..

Halloween Playdate

Anya is so excited to be a purple dragon this year for Halloween. Today we had our friends over for a costume playdate. :) We have been having these every year since the kids were only 5 months old!

Pumpkin Festival

We had a great family day yesterday with just the 3 of us.. 4 including Seth in my belly :) I am down to only 2 weeks until the due date. It could be any day now but I have a feeling he is pretty content in there for a bit longer.

We headed to the farm for a pumpkin festival. I love pumpkins and the farm had a great wagon ride to the field for picking. I think this was the first time Anya actually picked her pumpkin right off the vine.

We ended the day with going to dinner.  Anya is at a nice age to take out now and had us laughing at the table.  Soon it will get more difficult with a baby around so we figured a family dinner out would be a fun time. 




Anya was looking at a bug here...


I love her smirk here. She was so excited to go on the pony ride.

Preschool Open House

On Tuesday night Dwight and I went to Anya's open house at preschool. It was great to see her artwork, photos of the class, and have Anya show us around.


Her apple painting is the top one..

She also showed us an apple tree she made..

Here is her portrait..

Under the portrait facts was her photo..

Here is her cubby..

It was fun to see her school and what she has been up to!

Happy 1st Birthday, Abby!!!

Abby turns 1 year old today!! We celebrated her birthday over the weekend. Everyone had a great time! Happy Birthday to my gorgeous sweetie pie of a niece!!

Abby got a swingset from her grandparents and Anya loved playing on it...