And Then There Were Four

I know, it has taken me FOREVER to get this post up. But hey, I'm a little busy around here, okay? Lucy Buxton Waters arrived at 7:47 am on Friday, September 18, 2009. She weighed 6 lbs. 10 oz. and was 20 inches long. A very petite little lady compared to her big brother (Ethan was 7 lbs. 8.8 oz. and 20.5 inches--not so much bigger, but on that scale, it makes a big difference).

It was a pretty wild day. Rick and I arrived at the hospital at 5 am (Grammie and Sir were at our house by 4:30 to wait for Ethan to get up and then to get him to school). Things really went very smoothly. The Spinal, which I was TERRIFIED about, given my bad experience with the epidural when Ethan was born, wasn't TOO terrible. Pretty uncomfortable at moments, but overall much less horrible. And man does it kick in fast. The had me lay down on my side once it was in ("quickly, quickly" they were telling me), and my toes were tingling by the time I was down. The surgery went well with no complications. I felt like this one took longer than it did with Ethan, and I got nauseated and uncomfortable several times, but Russel, my anesthesiologist who hung out up by my head the whole time, took good care of me and got me feeling better. I did ask Rick to stand up a couple of times to see where they were, especially once the baby was out. It just seemed to take FOREVER to sew me up, and all I wanted was to be sitting up (instead of laying down with my head angled to the floor) holding my new little girl!

Lucy was a very sleepy girl at first, so we had a hard time waking her up to eat, and she lost quite a bit of weight in the hospital. That continued after coming home, and she didn't make it back to her birth weight by 2 weeks, so I started pumping milk after her feedings and we would supplement her with a bottle. Since she was so sleepy, this helped her get more milk, since she could get it much quicker and easier from the bottle. This practice paid off and she started to gain weight.

Ethan has been a wonderful big brother so far. The first time he came to the hospital he didn't even really want to look at her too close, but each day his interest grew and then he even wanted to hold her. Since we've been home he's been nothing but sweet to her. He doesn't seem phased by her crying, and often tries to help calm her, saying, "It's alright Lucy, Luce." Such a good big brother!

We're struggling with sleeping, as expected, but are enjoying getting used to being a "Table for Four." :-) Here are some pictures from Lucy's first days.

"Twas the Night Before. . ."

So, here we are, the night before the big day. What started out as a relatively peaceful day of finishing up odds and ends around the house erupted in a flurry of activity when late this afternoon I got a call from the hospital asking if I could possibly be there at 5 a.m. instead of 11 a.m. Apparently some early morning spots opened up and the Dr. (who is on call anyway) wanted to move me up in the day. So, that cut our countdown hours about in half and certainly increased the nerves.

Luckily Grammie and Sir are already here and will be able to come over early tomorrow to be here with Ethan and get him to school before joining us at the hospital. By that time Lucy will be here!!! I don't think reality of that has sunken in for me just yet. I'm trying not to focus on the details of how she's getting here thinking about spinals and surgery is kinda freaking me out these last few days).

Ethan has developed a little cough the last day or two, so we're trying to have a normal bedtime routine here tonight.

Next time I post, we'll be a family of 4!!!!

38 Weeks (5 days to go)!

Power's Out!

Oh no! What to do when a night of thunder, lightning, and heavy rains puts us without power? Well, take a bath by candlelight of course! Follow it up with a video on the portable DVD player. What? The battery isn't charged? Good thing I remembered to get the power cord out of the other car when it went in the shop. Now we can plug in and watch in the car in the garage! (It was a little warm out there for me, so Rick braved it with Ethan.)

37 Weeks (plus a few days)