Suzy Snaps

Well, everything still going well over here   I seem to not have enough time to do ANYTHING but beside that all’s well   I actually cooked tonight!  Got this far w/o having too!    That was nice.. and tonight we just had roast and taters so I could stick it all in a crockpot LOL.

Gave Rohan his first bath tonight.  His cord actually fell off on tuesday but he has really dry skin right now so I held off on the bath until he needed one

Thought these pictures were cute

Waking up before the bath..

sitting in the nice warm water before being washed…

after actually BEING washed and getting his hair cleaned… LOL

Well, we might actually have a chubby baby for once LOL The girls were both still a bit below their birth weight at one week old. He weighed in at 9lbs 9oz today so he’s gained 8 oz! Everything looked great and we are both doing wonderfully

And, two quick pictures of the girls giving him snuggles today

excuse all the sep. posts… I’m hoping to take a pic. for his birth announcement tonight so as I take the pictures they are getting added

A few quick pictures of Rohan and his silly sister (the big one isn’t being cooperative as usual LOL)

I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop Brianna was a pretty easy baby She cried some and hated her carseat but .. she slept thru the night (well 6 hours anyway) starting at 3 months! Lorien was umm… NOT an easy baby.. goodness, she just started sleeping thru the night last month (at 2 years old) and she’s still a demanding kidlet.. she gets into EVERYTHING, pests the tar out of her big sister, and has already broken her leg while acting like a little monkey.

This baby is SO good.. the last 4 nights (he’s 1 week old today) he has went to bed at around 11:00-12:00.. he wakes up either 2 or 3 times to eat but just to get latched on while I’m laying down and then I go to sleep.. and don’t get woke up for another 3 hours! So, I’m up for MAYBE 20 min’s total per night .. this morning he slept until 9 before having a stretch of awake time. During the day he is super good as well, and he doesn’t cry in the carseat. Oh, and nursing is going great.. he’s got a great latch and we are already settled in on that front.  I’m sure some of that has to do w/ the fact that DD#2 has only been weaned for 4 months but still…

As far as postpartum goes, I’m feeling really well for having a 1 wk old and the weight seems to be coming off pretty easily.. I still can’t fit in a single one of my pre-preggo skirts but hey, I’ve lost 25 pounds at one week!

Oh, and I haven’t had to cook yet My mom and other family members have brought food everyday so far.. and my aunt is bringing dinner tonight.

I just can’t believe how well postpartum and newborn stage is going this time around!

Hopefully it stays that way   I guess that even if it doesn’t at least I’m getting rested and healed in the meantime

Last week was busy busy..    Having and getting adjusted to a new baby and Jesse’s (my husband) parents and brothers family came down for a visit.    Really enjoyed getting to see everyone    Jesse’s brother and his wife have an adorable 7 month old

A picture of the grandparents with all of their grandbabies

horsey rides!!

Rohan seems to be an excellent baby   The last 2 nights he has woken up 2 times to eat but falls asleep as soon as he’s done and then sleeps for 3-4 more hours.. I’m actually getting sleep at night with a newborn!      He’s been getting lots of cute clothes as gifts and the closet is starting to look like he’s got something to wear finally   We went to church today and got to show him off which is always alot of fun.

Here he is in his first Sunday’s clothes..   The blanket was handmade by my Grandma , the outfit came from Crystal, and the shoes from my mom.

And with his Grandpa

His first mei tai ride..

And tonight he’s going to sleep in his daddy’s pajamas

.. had to take this picture because the blanket on the changing table is his dad’s old blanket too

We are already just about adjusted to our new little one.. The girls have handled the change extremely well.. really they want to play w/ him but act no diff. than they did before.   So that’s been nice.  We had enough people to bring us food to last this entire week so I don’t have to worry about cooking either.   Thanks so much guys!  Stuff like that really helps

Here are a few more pictures of the last 2 days..

Here he is at about 3-4 min’s old   BRAND new.. ignore the bit of my belly you can see please!

Daddy holding him at a few min’s old

getting checked out at a about an hour old

our new little one!

I thought this one was cute of all of them LOL.. and for the record.. even though it looks like he’s screaming he’s just yawning

thought this one was cute   Jesse was holding him but needed to plug something up so I came in there and found this

So far he’s been an EXCELLENT baby   sleeps for a nice long stretch at a time and is a great little nurser already

And.. here is the birth story   I’ve had several requests and I love to read other people’s.. esp. when I’m pregnant so here it is   Now WARNING.. this is a birth story..  It’s not overly graphic but it is about birth so if that makes you squeamish you might want to skip this LOL

So, I was just sick and tired of being pregnant LOL.. SO, last night (Nov 19th) at 40wks 5 days I took a dose of castor oil at about 5:30 and then the second dose around 7:30. I’d been having lots of more painful BH (braxton hicks or false labor/practice) contractions over the past 2 days so I was really hoping that would kick it into high gear. After the second dose I went to town while DH watched the girls and shopped for my mom a b-day gift. While there I felt a few contractions that made me really stop and take notice.. They just felt diff. than the previous BH’s. But, they weren’t consistent and they were at least 17-20 min’s apart so I sorta ignored them. I got home about 9:30 and we got the girls to bed and I got on the internet. By 10:30 I was noticing contractions fairly often but they were mild enough to be BH’s.. from 9:30-10:30 I was also spending a lot of time w/ the porcelain throne while the castor oil did it’s job LOL. That actually wasn’t that bad.. And it was sorta nice to know that I wouldn’t have to worry about a difficult bowel movement after labor! Anyway.. At around 10:30 I started timing contractions on the computer and noticed they were about 2 min’s apart and lasted about 30-40 sec’s.. still extremely manageable. So, I went and started a movie Come about 11:30 I had noticed them becoming more and more uncomfortable but they were still feeling like BH’s. So, I quit the movie at around midnight and went back to the computer to update some folks and time more contractions. I was still not seeing ANY bloody show, water breaking etc…. And the contractions were still quite mild so I wasn’t sure if it was the real thing or not yet! At around 12:30 I decided that it was def. The real thing.. The contractions were still 2 min’s apart but lasting longer so I called the midwife to let her know I was in labor. I told her I’d call back when things got more intense.. Just wanted to let her know that I’d probably need her that night. About 20 min’s later I got DH to call and tell her to come ON. LOL.. They picked up VERY quickly past 12:30 and I knew I didn’t have long. It takes her 30 min’s to get here. While we were waiting on her I moved to the toliet to labor since I still had a bit of castor oil in me apparently LOL. While there I noticed blood and several clots.. Sorta freaked me out but not really KWIM? I though.. Hey weird.. But didn’t worry about it. I’m thinking that by the time I got to that point w/ the girls I was already on a hospital bed before so I just didn’t notice. After just a few contractions on the toilet I was getting REALLY pushy.. I just went w/ what my body needed me to do. Was strange because some contractions I would really need to push and the next one I wouldn’t. I was also almost falling asleep in between contractions at this point. They picked up so quickly in intensity that it was a bit overwhelming.. My water broke at around 1:25 or so and it was a light pea green color.. Surprisingly that didn’t worry me either! I had DH call the midwife to let her know though and she said she was about 5-10 min’s away so that was a relief. It cracks me up to remember because at this point DH was standing outside the little potty room and every time I’d have a contraction and push I’d see him staring down there in total fear that a head was about to pop out LOL.. He later said he wanted me to move off the toilet but didn’t want to say anything but mainly he was convinced he was about to catch a baby himself. At that point I didn’t care if the midwife was there or not.. I had DH lay towels down on the floor so if I did deliver before she got there I could scoot of the toilet real quick and have him there.

Anyway, the midwife arrived around 1:35 or so I think.. Set up super quickly and came to take my blood pressure.. Then she noticed I was pushing LOL.. SO they quickly moved me to the bed (I didn’t want to have the baby on the toilet).. DH almost had to carry me because there was no easy moving at that stage. I ended up laying on the bed because it took the least amount of energy from me. She looked real quick and told me that she could see the head.. I never once got a cervical exam to see how dilated I was I had been quite worried that she would find me to only be 6-7 cm’s because I’ve got the pushy reflex early w/ both girls.. Thankfully that wasn’t the case this time around. So, I started pushing probably around 1:45 or so.. Only w/ contractions and no forced pushing.. She supported my perineum which actually kinda hurt but I’m now super thankful for since I didn’t tear. I could tell while I was pushing this kiddo was harder to get out than my girls were.. They were both right at 7lbs 13 oz. W/ 13 inch heads. Pushing those last few min’s was super uncomfortable too.. It hurt between contractions quite badly. Finally I felt the head crown and the midwife had me blow thru that contraction.. With the next one I pushed the head out and was surprised that the rest of the body didn’t “slither” out after it like the girls. I had to wait until the next contraction and push the body out. The midwife immediately laid him on my stomach and I got to admire him while she checked me out. He didn’t cry at all.. Just laid there and looked around She asked me what we had and I realized I hadn’t checked.. Looked and he was def. All boy LOL. She looked at him real quick, proclaimed him nice, healthy and pink and then told me to tell her when I got another contraction. It took about 10 min’s but I finally got one and the placenta came our nice and easily. The cord had already stopped pulsing so she went ahead and cut it after DH let her know he did NOT want to do it LOL She went ahead and checked me out and said there were no tears.. Which really surprised me because I had a 2nd degree tear w/ both of the girls (an epi w/ the first one and tear w/ the second) She started cleaning up the bed.. putting down fresh pads, etc.. got DH to get me a drink and we just admired our new little boy for awhile After that she helped me to the bathroom, got me all set up.. and let me shower while DH held the baby. After I got done w/ a shower (which felt GREAT) she checked the baby out.. She hadn’t did anything w/ him until then.. Just let us admire him He was 22 inches long and 9lbs 1 oz.. Quite a bit bigger than my 19inch 7lbs13oz. Girls. His head AND chest were 14.5 inches which explained why I had to push again to get that chest out.. It was actually a bit bigger than his head.

He’s a contented happy little thing.. Too much soo LOL.. It’s hard to wake him to eat! But, everything went well and we are doing great.. I couldn’t be happier w/ my midwife either She left 2 hours after he arrived and we had fresh sheets on the bed, the mess had been cleaned up, she had got us all ready for bed and we went to sleep

Well start calling folks in the morning but I thought I’d update before I went to sleep

Rohan Michael Eugene McDaniel arrived this morning at 1:55 am after a very quick and intense labor.   He was born at home and is a super calm baby so far   He weighed in at a whoppin’ 22 inches long.. 3 inches longer than the girls and 9lbs 1 oz.

And, here’s a quick unedited picture for you guys until I get more up

Because obviously that was my goal all along… Stay pregnant long enough for them to have to cancel their condo.. YEP.. my plan was successful LOL…  Seriously though.. who woulda thunk it?  I’m shooting for 6 days overdue tomorrow!   I have another midwife appt. in the morning so I guess I will have made it to 3 more weekly appt’s than I ever have before .