I am sorry that it has taken so long to update the blog! I have been sleep walking for the past 2 weeks and I am pretty sure I am going to fill this blog post with misspellings and grammatical errors. Additionally, I am having a lot of random formatting issues. Hopefully you can look past it as it is being written by a sleep-deprived mother of two.
I was about 36 weeks when my doctor said I was measuring ahead(meaning my belly size suggested I was further along) and I was already 1 1/2 centimeters dilated. This was not the first time I was "measuring ahead" and the doctor wanted to be sure the baby was head down because she thought he might come sooner than later. The same week, we had an ultrasound to be sure and of course, the little stinker was breech. The next week I had a follow up appointment and he had not moved yet but I was 3 centimeters and contracting. So my doctor scheduled a C-Section for that for that Friday, May 13 as she was concerned that I might go into labor and end up having an emergency C-section. She also said she could schedule an ECV, a procedure to try to turn the baby. She said it usually works about 50%
of the time and it is somewhat painful for the mother. Daniel and I gave it a lot of thought and decided to try it because we were hoping to avoid the surgery if possible.
We arrived Friday morning early for the ECV. They gave me an epidural (which I really liked in comparison to my epidural-less labor with Sienna) and pushed and smushed my belly to get the baby to turn around. After a few minutes, he was partially turned and the doctors stopped the pressure on my stomach. I not sure why - to give me, the baby, or their hands a break but regardless - the baby flipped back to his original position. At this point, my doctors said that if he didn't want to turn, it usually meant there was a reason. So they began to prep me for the surgery.
The surgery was so fast! I couldn't believe it. We thought they were still getting things ready and I heard one of the doctors say "there is his bottom and shoulders...!" and then we heard him cry. They moved him over to the area where they weighed him and I looked across theroom. I asked if he was healthy and the doctor said yes. My next question was "Is he big? He looks big!?" Well, he might not be the biggest baby ever, but he was definitely big for me. Sheesh. He arrived weighing in at a whopping 8 lb 12 oz. In comparison to my lil Sienna who weighed 6 lb 4 oz, almost a 9 lb baby was a surprise. My doctor said that his size could be why he wasn't able to turn around and I am glad it worked out the way it did :) Here he is...
First picture with Mom & Dad
Proud Grandma (Pop Pop was at home on Sienna duty)
Sienna meets her brother
This pic is blurry but I love it because she voluntarily gave him a kiss.
Daddy doing one of many diaper changes in the hospital.
Daniel had run out for lunch and a few of my girlfriends were visiting. All of a sudden, John Henry did a big diaper and I hadn't had practice changing a baby boy's diaper yet. Fortunately all three of my friends had boys so they spring to action. I was a little concerned that it seemed that it took all three of them to change his diaper but I have since changed about 700 and I realized that I am able to do it by myself.
We are settling in well. Sienna is seriously the best big sister in the world. She is so patient and whenever he cries, she runs over and puts a blanket on him, pats his head or holds his hand. She likes to make sure she kisses him every day. John Henry is pretty easy going but he wants to eat ALL of the time. I guess that makes sense since he is practically the size of a toddler. I was reminded that John Henry arrived 10 years to the day that we graduated at Virginia Tech. A lot has happened since then! We are excited to be a family of four now and we are grateful for two beautiful, healthy kids :)
