On 1/20/14 I started having my usual contractions around 1:30pm they were about 7 min apart (nothing out of the ordinary for him). They continued through out the rest of afternoon and evening dropping down to 6 min apart. There is a famous restaurant here in ATL that is known for their Eggplant Parmesean dish for sending ladies into labor. Since we had been sitting at 3cm dilated and 60% effaced for a week I decided we should give this dish a try. Thanks to Papa and Mimi for helping me get all these ingredients and making this 2hr meal! I had actually joked while making the dinner how upset I was going to be if I ended going into labor before it was done because I could already feel the contractions in my back and knew they were getting stronger but this has happened before so it could have easily stalled out again. Dinner was complete around 7:30pm and tasted delicious!
Around 9:15pm I told Clayton I was heading to bed and either the contractions would die down or I'm sure they'd wake me up. Surely enough at 11:30pm I woke up with contractions that were pretty painful. I called the on call nurse and she said drink some water and call back in 30min. I gave Clayton the heads up after about 20min and told him I was pretty certain it was time and we would be heading to the hospital. I also started texting our family to give them the heads up. Once I called the nurse back she said it was definitely labor and come on in. Grandma headed over to stay with Haley and Noah while the rest of our family joined us at the hospital. Of course when I asked Clayton if he was ready to leave the house yet his response was "almost I have just a few more bills to pay." Really?? Take your time, no rush or anything...ha!
We have the absolute BEST support team! Remember this was at 1am :-)
Sheryl, Manace, Jimmy, Mimi and Papa all camped out at the hospital with us ALL night!! Mom even brought a pot of coffee and a snack bag...ha! She's a pro after 10 Grandkids! We arrived at the hospital at 12:30am. At 1:18am the nurse confirmed I was 4-5cm and 70% effaced. At 2:30 I met the on call dr who confirmed my progress. Contractions were still strong and painful but I didn't want to get any meds yet for fear it would stall or slow down the labor. At 7:30am my Dr. confirmed I was now a big 5cm. I finally decided it was time to get the epidural and maybe get a little rest before the big event :-D The nurse had to closely monitor my low blood pressure and continued to give me meds to try to keep it in the 80s/50s. At 8am they broke my water and by 10am I was 7cm and then a FAST 15 min later at 10:15am I was already 9cm. At 10:59am Brody was born! It was the most calming and relaxing delivery! Huge change from Noah's crazy delivery. At one point Clayton even asked the midwife where is everyone else? It was just us, the midwife and the one nurse we had had since 7am. She was the best!!
Haley made this sign at school and all of her classmates and teachers signed it!! Sooo sweet!!
We are loving life with these 3 kiddos!!! Haley and Noah were so excited to wake up Tuesday morning to find out we were at the hospital and Brody was going to arrive that day. After school Mimi brought them to the hospital to meet Brody for the first time!! BIGGEST THANK YOU to Mimi for staying at our house and playing "Mimi Mommy" for two nights and taking care of the kids for us while we were in the hospital. We never worried once about them as we knew Mimi would take the best of care of them as well as keep them in line ;-) Thank you to Papa too for coming over every morning and getting Haley on the bus so Noah could continue sleeping at the house. Every time I think about this past week I just can't thank God enough for the wonderful, amazing family he has blessed us with. There's no way we could have made it through the past week (including the wknd before delivery) with out all of our families and the tight coordination it took to manage all of it. God is so good!!
It even snowed in ATL on Brody's b day! Coldest winter we've had in 40 yrs and snow! What a day!!
Brody has had many visitors already and has been shown so much love by his family!
Thank you Papa for bringing our favorite...Dunkin Donuts coffee and bagels each morning! What a great way to start off our days! Brody is already getting to have breakfast with Papa :-)
Sweet sweet Boy 3> 3> 3> love this boy sooooo much!!!
48hrs after birth and we are on our way home!!
What a way to come home!! I'm telling you guys we have the absolute BEST family and friends! They had the entire house decorated, dinner cooking in the crock pot, more dinner ready in the fridge, desserts and everyone has been brining us meals and desserts like crazy! It's like a 5 star hotel ;-) We can't thank you guys enough for all the love and support!!!! Nothing like our family!
Brody had his first pediatrician appt the day after we left the hospital.
Weight was 6.10.5 lbs and his jaundice was 15.3.
Brody did end up having to be on lamps (jet pack as we call it ;-)) after his numbers rose from 15 to 20 the following day. When we took him back the 3rd day his Belli ribbon results dropped to 16 from 20!!!!! Dr recommends keeping him on lamps until the next day at 8am to drive the numbers all the way down and then see Dr tomorrow at 11am to make sure didn't go back up. We are already having too much fun with this little guy!!! Thank you so much Mimi and Grandpa for taking Haley and Noah for us for the night again so we could just focus on Brody and get some rest.
So far it's been going good as a family of 5!! We did have one moment where all 3 kids were crying at the same time (all for different reasons) which was no fun and a true slap in the face of our new reality. Thankfully it was short lived and Haley and Noah know that we can only have one baby in the house at a time and that's Brody ;-)
We just can't say THANK YOU enough to all of our family and friends!!! You guys are the best ever!!
