Baby Austin's First Month

Austin had a great first month!  He made it just in time to celebrate Daddy's birthday, Jordan and Landon's birthday and Mother's day!  My parents were in town for all of this too and helping us with the transition to 3 kiddos.  The boys really enjoyed the time with Grandma and Papa and had all kinds of fun!  Grandma and Nana got to go to the Mother's Day celebration at preschool... here is the video we were sent while waiting to go in for the C-Section.

We were discharged after 2 nights at the hospital, and on our way home, we had perfect timing to stop by and watch the boys play T-ball.  They were so excited that their new brother came to cheer them on!

The day we came home was also Eric's birthday!  We celebrated that night with a nice home cooked meal and an ice cream cake!  The next day was Mother's Day and we celebrated with Grandma and Nana which is rare to have everyone together!!  Then on Tuesday was the boy's birthday party.  We had family over and enjoyed them riding their new bikes and opening some great presents!  Overall the first week was very eventful and Austin did great through all the festivities.

Uncle Adam and Aunt Lynds couldn't wait for the girls to meet Austin.  Emma is wonderful with him and really enjoys holding him and taking care of him.  Nora likes to look at him and "hold" him as well!

Austin's 2 week appointment went very well.  He is growing quickly and gaining weight as expected. He was up over 10 lbs at this appointment, so we didn't have to come back until the 1 month check-up.

Aunt Keri, Uncle Drew, Jack and Karly came to visit at the very end of the first month!  There were some big milestones including his first real smile (the day before he turned one month) along with sleeping a 5 hour stretch and only getting up 1 time during the night!  I really appreciated that, and although we keep going back and forth between being up 1 or 2 times through the second month, he is making progress on sleeping through the night!  Austin enjoyed all the extra cuddles and kisses during the visit!!

Austin had another great appointment for his one month check-up.  Austin weighed in at 10 lbs 3 oz 50% for weight and 25% for height!!  So far he is much bigger than the boys and growing quickly!  We were able to stop by the gym on the way home and meet all of the people who were so encouraging during the pregnancy. 

Welcome Austin Red!!

It has been forever since I did any blog posts, but now that we have a new little one, I wanted a place to share about his arrival and development!

Eric and decided last year to try for one more little bundle and we got pregnant much faster than we thought!  Our planning wasn't great as my due date ended up being May 2, 2015.  Baby boy ended up making his appearance on May 7, 2015 which means all 4 boys have birthdays within 6 days of each other!  That is one crazy week that usually has Mother's Day mixed in too!

Austin is now 7 weeks, but I'd like to back-up and share how he made his grand entrance into this world.

My doctor's agreed to let me try to deliver naturally even though I had a C-section with the boys.  I was hopeful through the entire pregnancy as I felt great and even did Crossfit up until the day before delivery.  I was looking forward to a quicker recovery and experiencing the miracle of a natural birth. Well, God had other plans, and we ended up going in on May 7th for my scheduled C-section.  As a last ditch effort, they had me come in early that morning and broke my water to see if the baby would come naturally.  After 8 hours and not progressing at all, the doctor decided it would be best to have a repeat C-section.

I was quickly wheeled back for the C-section and prepped.  Eric came in fully dressed in scrubs and ready to go.  We didn't find out the gender before, and I was so excited to find out if we were having a little girl or boy.  As they began to deliver the baby, the anesthesiologist put a mirror up so I could see the baby.  At first I was quite shocked, but it was so amazing to see the baby coming out!  First his head popped out and he was screaming already, and he had so much dark hair.  It was a bit shocking at first, but quickly I asked if it was a boy or girl.  Eric made a joke that you can't tell by the hair!  As they got the rest of him out, the doctor quickly pointed out that we had another little boy! They quickly cleaned him up and handed him to Eric.  Instead of rushing him back to the nursery like they did the boys, they pushed him back to our delivery room and Eric got to do some skin to skin with him right away.

Once I was finished with the surgery, they wheeled me right back to the room and I was able to nurse immediately.  It was such an amazing experience to hold and nurse the baby immediately after surgery.   Soon after that, we were able to introduce Austin Red to the boys!  They were so excited to meet him and have a new baby brother.  Both my parents and Eric's parents came in after that, and then Uncle Adam and Aunt Lyndsay got to meet Austin all before he headed back to the nursery!

The hospital stay and recovery was short and easy.  Austin was a great eater and sleeper from the beginning.  Even though the experience wasn't exactly what I was hoping for, it ended up being perfect for us.  We were able to bond so quickly and I couldn't have asked for a better experience.