The birth story:
On Sunday morning about 2:30am I started having contractions. By 3 they were about 4-5 minutes apart and we decided to call Dave's mom to have her come up from Fredericksburg to stay with Emma while we went to the hospital. By the time she got here the contractions had slowed to 10 minutes and we decided to stay home. We all tried to rest a bit but by 9 they were back and we decided to make our way to the hospital, just in case. After two hours of observation we were sent home since I was not dilated and my contractions were regular in frequency but not intensity.
To make it all more interesting we had planned to have a birthday party at our house for our niece BethAnne on Sunday. Since I was having contractions and we were headed to the hospital we called off the party. I felt terrible... BethAnne's only wish was that Wil not be born on her birthday or the day of her party so she didn't have to share her spotlight. When we found out we were being sent home I decided I'd rather have the party than sit around thinking about the pain. Plus, I had frosted her cake, while having contractions, at 3:30 am!!!
Everyone showed up around noon and by 2:30 I was exhausted after having irregular bouts of contractions throughout the day. I took a Tylenol PM and headed upstairs to take a nap. I got in about an hour before I woke to some pretty darn painful contractions, yet nothing steady enough to warrant another trip to the hospital.
Warning: graphic info to follow...
Around 5:45 I decided to try another nap. I headed upstairs, went to the bathroom and found that I had lost my mucus plug. Excited that things were finally happening, I yelled down to Dave and headed to bed. Not 15 minutes later I felt a pop and a gush. Call the coast guard, my water had broken. It just so happens that a minute before Dave had gone to take Cooper out. I yelled down to Barbara to bring up a towel, really not even sure what to do next. By this time the contractions were through the roof and I knew we needed to go to the hospital, it was go time.
We said goodbye to Emma and Coop and flew out the door. By 6:20 I was admitted to the Labor and Delivery room awaiting a room assignment while the nurse checked me. I was dilated to 4. What seemed like two hours passed before they sent me to the delivery room, all the while I am asking for the epidural and wondering where the heck the doctor was - no doc meant no epidural. Little did I know Dave's blood was boiling over the lack of expediency as I lay there having contractions every 2 minutes. I guess we made our point, the nurse called a second doctor to order the epidural and 20 minutes later I was on my may to la la land complete with IVs and happy meds. When the doctor finally arrived and checked me I was dilated to 6. By about 9 I was fully dilated and ready to push. about 10 contractions later they broke down the bed, I got a little snip snip and out Wil came.
It's amazing to me the differences between this delivery and Emma's. The whole experience, aside form the 16 hours of laboring at home, felt much more calm and relaxed. I like my doctor, but having Dr. Bissel deliver Wil instead of Dr. Ferrier was a Godsend. She was supportive, calm and did what she needed to do to make the delivery as comfortable as she could. Emma's delivery felt stressed. The nurses were flighty and in hindsight the experience was so much more tense.
Little William is perfect. He's a beautiful baby with a striking resemblance to his big sister. I think he has my nose but the jury is still out to see if he's going to look more like me or become yet another spitting image of his daddy.
If you ask me I think they look a lot alike.... Emma on the left, Wil on the right.
William is named after three of his grandfathers. William is Dave's dad's name, Henry is my later grandfather's name on my mom's side and Alan is my dad and brother's middle names.
We came home from the hospital on Tuesday morning just before Emma's lunchtime. At first Emma really didn't know what to make if little Wil. She was quite skeptical and wouldn't come near me. About 10 minutes in and she was sharing her toys with him likely wondering why he couldn't pick them up and play with her. Since our homecoming she has warmed up a lot more but still very curious. She still shares her toys with him and is such a big help, especially when I change his diaper. She gets the diaper and the wipes and throws the soiled ones away when we're done. It's really stinkin' cute.
We are having a little attention situations with Emma, but it's nothing we didn't expect. She wants to be up in your arms or in your lap at all times and really craves mommy and daddy time these days. She's always wanting help, "help please", even when she's perfectly capable of doing it herself, and her second favorite phrase is "up please" which gets a little overwhelming at times.
Wil has reflux just like Emma did and after a quick visit to the doc at three days old he was put on Zantac. He has his good days and his bad, but we're adjusting his medicine in hopes to find a dosage that will agree with him. He spits up all the time and is sooo sensitive to gas. Feeding time takes about an hour with frequent burp stops and sometimes up to two diaper changes. The little guy is already a trickster and likes to poop right after I've changed him.
It's been a while since I gave Emma updates. She's changed so much over the past few months and turning into quite the precarious toddler. She's very talkative, very high energy and loves her daddy almost as much as she loves cookies.
Some of her favorite words are:
Cookie
Buddy = Copper
Wiw = Wil
Buh buss = burp cloth (i.e. blankie)
Puppy = pink puppy she carries around and sleeps with
Bus
Ockpus = Octopus
Whay = Whale
Burp
Dwink = Drink
Mow = More
Squir = Squirrel
Doggy
Mow = Meow
Uhp Pweese = Up Please
Hep Pweese = Help Please
Moo-ie = Movie
Daddy
One of her favorite things to do is to lay on her belly by the couch and point under it saying 'Hep Pweese" to daddy. Dave responds "What is it, is there something under there?" She replies "yes". Dave lies on his belly, looks under the couch and Emma pops up, climbs on his back and grins ear to ear because she's tricked him. Dave and I laugh every time.
Cookies are this girls favorite thing. If you ask her what she wants for dinner she's say "cookies". For breakfast? Cookies. Lunch? Cookies. You'll be rocking her before bed and she'll turn to you and say "cookies".
Here are some pics from our summer moon bounce party (note, I really shouldn't have been in there!):
Well, it's little man's feeding time so I have to run. Love to all.
