The first days

It's so hard to believe that tomorrow William will be one week old. Last Thursday night we were preparing to go to the hospital for our induction. It has definitely been a busy week, full of changes, recovering and settling in.

William has been the sweetest baby. He really hasn't made much of a peep. He's very cuddly and as long as he's swaddled and warm, he is so content. He didn't love his sponge bath and doesn't love having his diapers changed, he will cry just while we're changing him and then as soon as his clothes are back on, he's happy and content. It's amazing how your heart does just expand to make room for a new baby. We already are so in love with him.

Henry is doing well. He had a hard weekend being away from Patrick and I. Sunday night when we got home was pretty tough. He was really over-tired and was pretty obstinate and defiant. He's really getting back to being himself as the days have passed and he has settled back into his routine. He absolutely loves William and is constantly kissing him. He doesn't want him to be in his moses basket or bassinet and always asks for him to come out if he's lying in one of those places. Last night we played with both boys on the floor. William lay on a blanket and Henry drove his tractors all around him. He really is fascinated when William's eyes are open, when he moves, or when he makes the slightest peep. He'll even say, "it's ok William" if William cries getting his diaper changed. It's so sweet to watch him love someone.

Patrick has been so wonderful. He's been doing everything and not complaining at all. I can't imagine what I'd do without him. Having the c-section has definitely made things tough this time around. The recovery has been so much different and isn't what I was expecting. It's really hard for me not being able to do what I feel like I can do or should be doing. And it's hard letting others do for me. Henry has been upset with me, too, which is so sad. I'm not the mommy that he's used to right now and it's really hard on him. That's been the hardest thing for me. I'm looking forward to feeling better so that I can be the mommy that he needs.

Welcome William!

We are so thrilled that William Edwin has arrived! (Thank you Sara for updating about his arrival last Friday.)

Here's some labor details...we went into the hospital at 8 am for a scheduled induction. I was feeling nervous and jittery, but really excited to know that we would be having our baby that day. They wanted to move things along quickly for me, so by 8:30 my pitocin was started and we were all checked in and ready to go. My doctor came in a little after 9:00 am and the plan was that she would break my water and really get things moving along. When she examined me in preparation for that, she looked at the nurse and I could tell something was awry. She told me that she wasn't feeling the bag of waters or head of the baby, so the nurse went to get the ultrasound machine. As soon as she put it on my belly and his little picture popped up on the screen, she again looked at the nurse (the same look) and then looked at me and said, "your baby is transverse", meaning he was lying side-to-side. His little head was on the left side of my belly with his back stretched out and legs across to the right side. I was still all smiles thinking, ok, he'll just turn. She went on to say that it was dangerous to leave him that way because if things did progress on their own and my water were to break on its own, he could be in danger and that they would need to get him out asap. I still naively thought (or maybe hoped) we could get him out naturally.

She explained that I would have to have a c-section and that he would be born by 10:00 am. I was shocked and scared all at once and burst into tears. Patrick was a pillar of strength and did his best to comfort me as he got his scrubs on for the surgery. I walked back to the OR which felt very "Grey's Anatomy" to me. I got a spinal block and the doctors started surgery asap. The only problem I had was that my spinal hadn't totally taken effect when they started and I was feeling some incisional pain. Because of that I was given more meds which didn't put me totally under, but I was pretty out of it. The c-section started around 9:45 according to Patrick and William was born at 9:53 am. Things definitely did move fast. I sadly cannot remember the moment of his birth or when Patrick says they showed him to me. That's the saddest thing of it all for me. However, the blessing is that he is here and that he is healthy.

We are truly blessed. Henry came to meet him on Friday afternoon and showered him with kisses. He couldn't believe that his brother had finally come "out". It's wonderful to have two precious little boys. I couldn't feel more fortunate.

Meet William

(This is Sara, Christina's sister-in-law writing.)

William Edwin Vance was born at 9:53 a.m. this morning, weighing in at 7 lbs. 9 oz. and measuring 18 inches long! After a scheduled induction, Christina ended up having an emergency c-section due to the fact that the baby was transverse (laying side-to-side). I will let her fill you in on all the details when she gets home, but for now, here are a few pics of our new adorable nephew! Henry was thrilled to meet his little brother and kept showering him with kisses and exclaiming "out!," as in the baby's out!

Congrats to Christina and Patrick and big brother Henry!!

Can You Guess?

So I thought that since we already know our baby's birthday, it might be kind of fun to guess other things....like the baby's weight. I found pictures of me at 40 weeks when I was pregnant with Henry (excuse the outfit, for some reason I thought I had to keep wearing the same black spandex for all of my pregnant pictures throughout my pregnancy with him!), and then we took some pictures today. I'm 39 weeks 4 days, but it's my last day of this pregnancy. (I can't believe that I'm not going to be pregnant by the end of the day tomorrow...it's just so weird how things that you wait for and wish for for so long do end up coming and then it always feels like it's snuck up on you.)

Based on these pictures, how big do you think the baby will be?? Closest guess wins a prize. Ok, maybe not a prize, but I'll recognize your good guess on my blog! (ha ha) FYI, Henry was born 3 days after that picture was taken and weighed 6 lbs 13 oz.

What do you think??

Mr.Independent

Henry is turning into such a little talker, and with all of his talking he is becoming very independent. Today we were at the children's museum and he wanted to go up a climbing wall (a very small one) to come down a slide. I usually stand really close and without even thinking about it put my hand on his back or somewhere to support him. Today he started to go up and turned to me and said, "bye bye, I do it self." I started to laugh and almost started to cry all at the same time. He's really growing up. When he did get to the top by himself, he was so proud, so I made a big deal about how he did it all by himself and he just beamed. I just wondered when he learned to do so much by himself??

It's amazing to me that my "baby" will soon be the big brother. I know he will seem so big once we've held our new baby. I feel really emotional about how fast time has gone with Henry and just that he's grown up so much. I am also so amazed by him and all that he's learned and is doing now. He's loves to count and can count to ten, if something has more things than ten he will get to ten and then start at 8 again. So he's gets to ten and then goes 8, 9, 10, 8, 9, 10, etc, until he's done counting. He also knows his colors and loves to name colors everywhere for everything. His favorite is green...I think it's a tractor thing. He's also started talking so much and is using lots of expressions. He'll say, "watch this (insert name)", and "Look, see that", just so much talking about everything. Every day I'm amazed by what he knows and does.

39 Weeks

We're inching closer to baby's D-Day. I had an appointment this morning and am still sitting comfortably at a 1. After talking things through with my doctor, it looks like we'll be going in Thursday night at midnight to be induced and will have our baby sometime on Friday, October 19. It's very crazy to me to know the date and make plans for it. I am getting so excited to meet this little one and also getting really nervous to go through the labor/delivery part of it again. Please pray for us that things will go well...and expect to hear some good news on Friday!

I forgot to mention

Good point Holly about the sneaking in veggies and never actually expecting your children to eat them whole. I forgot to mention that Jessica said she always still serves up veggies on the side for her children so that hopefully they will eat them, but she feels like even if they don't she knows that they're getting the nutrition they need from the meal. I think the goal is to keep serving them though and then eventually they will choose to eat them on their own.

Deceptively Delicious

I just watched our DVR'd Oprah from yesterday when her guest was Jessica Seinfeld. I'm so excited about it. She purees all sorts of different veggies and puts them into everyday/kid friendly meals and DESSERTS! One example is her macaroni and cheese....she blends in either butternut squash puree or cauliflower puree and voila the veggies are hidden in there and her kids automatically get the veggies they need but may not otherwise eat. I was just stressing out the other day about Henry not eating enough veggies, so this is really the right time for me to hear this message. She even has a recipe for brownies (that Oprah swore were delish) with carrot and spinach purees in them!! I guess she purees one night each week and then stores the bags of pureed veggies in her fridge to use in her meals throughout the week. I'm thinking I will buy her cookbook, Deceptively Delicious, to give it a try. Oh, the big hitch that I am forgetting to mention is that these veggies are hidden, hence they swear that you can't even taste them in there. So some cauliflower doesn't ruin macaroni and spinach doesn't ruin the brownies. They say it just enhances them....ok she even has a recipe for putting beets in a chocolate cake that looks so yummy.

Here's a link to some of her recipes from Oprah's website:
http://www2.oprah.com/foodhome/food/jseinfeld/recipes/jseinfeld_recipes_main.jhtml?promocode=HP23

Just some pictures

Just wanted to share a few of my favorite pics from the last month...

(I love this one because of the expression on Henry's face...he is sooo excited to be up in the tractor!)

One!

I went to my 37-week appointment today and I'm so excited to report that I'm dilated! To a one! I'm excited because I never dilated to anything when I was pregnant with Henry until the day he was born and only after some pitocin-an induction medicine. So, I'm excited because it's progress. Also, the baby's head is down and I even had a contraction while I was at my appointment. My doctor had to tell me though...I really couldn't feel it, she said it wasn't really doing anything but she could just feel my stomach tighten up. I've felt those recently, but always just thought it was the baby bunching up. So it could definitely still be 3 (or more) weeks away, but at least it's progress. I will keep you posted!

Henry's First Day

Well, Henry loved school! It was definitely harder on me than it was on him...I was getting teary before I left the building after dropping him off and once I got into my car I really started crying. His teachers said that he did great and didn't cry once. I went grocery shopping, did some laundry and baked some banana bread. I felt like I had to be really busy and productive to pass the time. It definitely was hard dropping off my baby and leaving him in such a grown-up setting. At the grocery store I felt so lonely without him, especially everytime I would see another mom and her baby.

When I went to pick him up he was sitting so nicely at a table with his little bag in front of him just waiting for me to come in. He was so content and I could tell right away that he was happy and full of energy. It wasn't the sad, teary-eyed boy that I had pictured all morning in my mind that I would come back to. Also there was a fire-drill yesterday and all the way home he talked about the "noise" from the "drill". I asked him if he was scared or brave and he said he was scared (so sad), but that Miss. Julie (one of his teachers) held his hand. I think he will actually be disappointed next time when there's not a fire-drill. Whenever we talk to him about school, he talks about the "noise".

Thanks to everyone for your well wishes and prayers. I'm thrilled about this program. I think it's going to be great for him. He all of a sudden does seem like such a big boy though to be going to school.