oh my goodness, i just had a baby {round 2}

{There are pictures at the end of this post if that is all you want, you boring person, you!}

 

Ladies and gents, we have survived the first two weeks of being a four person family.

And I absolutely love it.

While it seems that all has been quiet on our end, I assure you it has not.

There has been lots of warm cuddling, kissing chubby cheeks, feeding, burping, pooping, giggling, smiling, and general happiness floating through our house.

{And to keep things real, yes, there has been some yelling, crying, sleepless nights and snippiness, but that comes with the territory, right?}

Tyrel is on paternity leave from work, so every single day I get to spend time with my best friend/hubster, cuddle with a sweet, sweet newborn, and giggle with an energy-filled toddler.
I am on Cloud 9.

Tate's birth story is seriously uneventful.

But we were SO SO SO glad it was.

{You can read Kemry's here}

Around 37 weeks, we kicked it into high gear trying to get him to come out, just like every mom does.

We tried every natural induction method in the book.

But nooooo baby.

We had been talking with our doctor and decided that we would be okay with an induction at 39 weeks if baby didn't come by then.
Since we were wary of all the kidney/heart problems we might encounter coupled with the fact that I was Group B Strep positive and needed antibiotics when I went into labor, we all decided that a more controlled setting might be better for all of us {but mainly me and my nerves}.

We would only go on with the induction if my body had progressed far enough along to lower the risk of c-section.

At 38 weeks, I wasn't ready {so we couldn't schedule one ahead of time for the next week}.

At 39 weeks, however, I had progressed just far enough that we were good to go.

We went into the hospital at 6:45 am on the 7th.

Just before we left, I kissed Kemry on the forehead and suddenly burst into tears.

She was sleeping so quietly and looked so perfect, and I felt so guilty ending my one-on-one time with her. 

The next time I would see her, it would constantly be two-on-one time.

But I pulled up my big girl panties and got in the car.

They monitored me for an hour and then started the Pitocin at 8:30.

I had heard all of these horror stories about how awful Pit made labor for some women.

Not for me, thankfully.

Around noon, they told me that the doctor wanted to come in soon and break my water.

That was when labor got really painful for me last time, so I asked for my epidural.

This time around, I felt the doctor put the epidural in, and it hurt a little more than I would have liked.

And it only numbed one leg, but it got rid of the contraction pain.

It took 2 doctors to break my water since little boy's head was pressing right up against it.

Unfortunately, there was more blood then they felt comfortable with once it did rupture, so they put me on internal monitors, just to make sure that the placenta didn't tear away from the wall {which is serious business, and thankfully it hadn't}.

The contraction pain slowly came back, this time right smack in between my legs.

I knew I was getting really close to having the baby, and the fact that I could feel ANYTHING in between my legs scared me to death.

But after a little pain, some tears, and lots of pleading, they got the anesthesiologist to come in and give me a booster dose.

That stuff is nectar of the gods.

Seriously.

Around 4:00 I paged the nurse and told her that I felt more than just contraction pressure.

To her surprise, I was at a 10.

She told me to try a practice push but then made me stop about 2 seconds into it because the baby was coming.

  She frantically ran out to find the doctor, worried because he had just been delivering another baby.

They all hurry in {along with a NICU team, just in case}, and tell me to start going at it.

20 minutes of pushing later comes the sweetest little cry!

We were thrilled! 

A baby!

But then we realized that now he was here. 

And we had a few tests to pass to make sure he was okay.

I tuned everyone out and listened for the Apgar score.

A 9!

Thank heavens!

His five minute score was a 10, and the nurse was just so tickled because she had never been able to give a 10 before.

It all happened so fast, and it was all okay!

He was perfectly pink and perfectly perfect.

 

The team started to sing Happy Birthday, and I just erupted in tears.

It was the sweetest, most perfect moment.

{Poor Kemry got robbed of a sweet moment because of a 22 hour labor where I fell asleep in between contractions. They didn't even put her skin to skin with me! Looking back, I am pretty disappointed at the whole process at the hospital with her...but her NICU stay was amazing, so I guess that makes up for it}.

And that was that!

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As for his heart and kidneys, let me sum it up:

-Echocardiogram showed all the heart defects we thought plus a few others, but overall, they were all very small and shouldn't be a problem. He might have to have surgery when he is 60ish to replace a valve?

-Kidney scan looked fine...we are meeting with a doctor tomorrow to make sure he doesn't need surgery to reconnect things to the right places.

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And a few things we have learned about our little Tate over the past two weeks:

 

-He doesn't really cry much. He is a whiner. Just like his dad. When he does cry, it comes out as a loud, girly sounding shriek. We still can't help but laugh every time. And there is no cooing. Just grunting.

-He has huge hands. Ty was exceptionally proud of this, already planning his success as an NBA All-Star. 

-He also loves it when you play with his hair. Also just like his dad.

-Hungry. Hungry. Hungry. He wanted to eat every 30 minutes at the hospital as opposed to the 2-3 hours that is "normal." Thankfully, he has stretched that to every 2 hours now, allowing me to get a GLORIOUS 45 minutes of sleep at night in between feedings...gah...

-Speaking of hungry, he surpassed his birth weight by day 5. They hope for babies to do that around week 2 or 3. He shall be our fatty baby :)

- We think he will keep his dark hair and that his eyes will be brown. Right now they are a very very very dark blue, so dark you can't quite even see much of the blue.

-Like any good boy, he is super gassy and poops constantly. CONSTANTLY.

-Tyrel gets credit for passing on his good looking genes for this one. He hardly looks like me at all.

 -He has stolen his big sister's heart. She loves him to pieces already. She is the first one to get to him when he is upset, reassuring him that "It's okay. Kemry right here. It's okay. Don't cry! It not scary in here!" She also thinks he is "so cute" and "so sweet" and "so tiny." He is the first thing she wants to see in the morning and the last thing she wants to kiss before bed.

And now, what you really wanted, pictures: