Guest Blogger: The Third Time is the Charm

Written by Matt

It started out like the other times, but this one was earlier and colder - WAY colder, the high on the day our last baby was born was negative six. We were the first baby scheduled for the day - this meant that we needed to be at the hospital at 5:00AM - in the morning. Early. Diana came over to watch the kids and take them to daycare - a nice surprise for the kids. We got to the hospital on time - unfortunately with how early, I was unable to keep my tradition of breakfast and just started the day with a small snack at the house. We checked in and a nurse took us to the labor and delivery floor - asking the standard questions (are you ready? how are you feeling? is this your first? do you know what you having?).

Once we got settled, things moved along fairly well. IV in, heart monitors on both, anesthesiologist check in and just waited for the team to take her down. I took this opportunity to grab some breakfast - afterall a tradition is a tradition. I had Burger King croissants.

The only thing left for me to do was put on my scrubs and soak in the final moments of being parents of two. At 6:50, we had a final briefing and at 7:10, they came for her to prep for her spinal. I had to wait until that was in place before I could join her.
(Amanda's insert: the room was fricken cold and I'd learned my lesson on looking around at the equipment and tools that were on the table - all that does is scare the hell out of you. This spinal was probably the easiest of the three as I knew how to do it and the staff was amazing)

The team was in place when I came in the room and after a timeout, Dr. Bury got started. We've had her with each baby so we all knew what to expect and after all the woman has delivered over a 1000 babies. Dr. Bury let me know when things had progressed and when I should peer over the drape to see the baby's arrival. She commented on her full head of hair, and at 7:39, I got to see for myself and I agreed - she had a lot and it was black. In the past, we would have all stayed in the same room - but due to staffing levels at the hospital, baby had to be taken to the NICU for initial care and observation - I went with baby while Amanda finished up. During the initial care, baby was measured and weighed; she came in 21" and 7 pounds, 13 ounces. I also cut the cord, which was squishy. The girl had a set of lungs on her... howled and howled, for sure our loudest baby. Overall, she was healthy, she was a little cold so we she stayed under the heater a little longer, but once she warmed up we went back into the room to see mom. This is when I introduced Ainsley Ruth to Amanda and the nurses and doctors in the room.
(Amanda's insert: it sucked to have them in another room, with the others I could hear them processing, I could hear Matt's updates, and I could hear the baby - this time I didn't get any of that. Dr. Bury did comment that we made the right decision with having a c-section as there was a knot in her cord, which could have caused distress in a natural labor.)

Not long after, we returned to our room. I sent a couple of texts letting family know that mom and baby were doing well and we all took a quick nap. We spent much longer in the room than anticipated and we didn't get over to the nursery until about 11:30. At that point, I went and got Eleanor and Grady. Now, we had been prepping them for "Baby Sister's" arrival. We told them that we were going to the hospital and that doctors were going to help get baby sister out of mom's tummy. The kids didn't quite get understand but they seemed to understand right away when they saw Miss Ainsley for the first time. Eleanor was in awe and wanted to hug her. We had to remind her to be very gentle with Baby Sister. Grady was interested for a few minutes but was more focused on his new surroundings. After hugs and kisses, Grady and Eleanor went back to daycare.

I returned to the hospital after grabbing lunch and rested with Amanda and Ainsley. Diana and Perry came and visited that afternoon and Alaina came when she got off work. At 5, I went and picked up the kids, grabbed supper from McDonald's then went up to the hospital to eat as a family of five for the first time. Again, the kids were interested in their new sister but were getting easily distracted by their new surroundings. Shantelle came to visit that evening as well. The kids and I left Shantelle with Ainsley and Amanda to head home after a long day. I got the kids down and Aunt Alaina came over to watch them until Diana was able to make it in to stay overnight.

After getting back to the hospital, Amanda and I chatted a little bit about the day and how nice it was to finally meet Ainsley and how the kids just knew that we all belonged together. Amanda went to bed around 9am and i stayed up a little watching a movie, thinking we now have a party of five!     


EER holding ARR: Angry
MJR: Yes, Sister's name is Ainsley.
EER: Angry.
MJR: Yes, AINS-ley
EER: Yes, Angry.
MJR: Yes, Ainsley Ruth.
EER: Angry Roof.
MJR takes kids to daycare comes back.
MJR: I told daycare her name otherwise they'd think we gave her a horrid weird name.

A letter to my Last.

To my last child, Ainsley Ruth-

Oh little girl - We are so excited to meet you. I will admit, after almost three years of pregnancy, I'm ready to be done but there's something wonderful about the fact that you are warm and safe (and contained) right now. Your pregnancy has been quieter than your siblings - while they pushed and kicked to make their presence known - you've been this quiet wiggle reminding me of your continued pending arrival - nothing too drastic. As the pregnancy came to a close you settled in with your steady heart rate across my body, it seems that you are not in any hurry to leave.

Your siblings are so ready to meet you, especially your sister. It warms my heart when she comes to sit by me and puts her hand on my stomach and talks to "Sister" - she is so curious about you arrival. Her interest peaks Grady's who has laid his head on my stomach just to be close to you. They've created a place for you, just because you belong to us. I'm sure they will be a whirlwind of activity and who knows how you will get along or blend together but be aware of your sister's strong spirit - it will take her far and I hope she can teach you to have a zest for life. Your brother has always been a gentle soul - he may dote on you, as he does with E - it won't surprise me at all. The two of them will be a beautiful balance as you learn to navigate this world.

Your father - oh he is excited to see you- he talks to you now but he mostly ponders about you. He is convinced that you will be another red head with green eyes. I'm thinking you will be our brown eyed blonde - but soon we will know. You are so lucky to have him as a father - yes, he will care for you and protect you and be your sage wisdom and help with your math homework but he is a wonderful girldad. You can credit your sister for breaking him in/down. He will fix your pony tails and troubles as best as possible.

Now me, Oh, I'll confess, I'm scared to death even though I'm excited. I want to try to be the mother that you and your siblings deserve. I don't know how I will do it, but I will try. I'm pretty sure after you arrive, I'm not going to be able to sleep through the night for five years - so be patient with me, I'm tired. The toughest job I've ever taken on is to be you and your siblings' mother. I have some failures under my belt but they've been fairly forgiving of my attempts. We are all in this together and I know there are days when I'll be crazy or you'll make me crazy or someone will be crying - but you and your siblings are my proudest moment and my greatest accomplishments and I'm so excited to see the people that you will become and the people that you are.

Some wishes for you from me for your journey: May you find yourself and in that happiness, may you travel the world, may you find a love that honors who you are, may you be kind, may you appreciate things in life, may you acknowledge your roots and your heritage, may you be loyal, and may you truly know how much your father and I love you -

Mom

The last pregnancy

Valentine's, Prepping, Final Four

The cold continues....
we are still trying to deal with it and we've had some Valentine's Day fun to distract us. Last year, Grandpa Perry helped Eleanor make her Valentine's Day box, so we kept the tradition - Grandma Di helped Grady while Grandpa Perry helped Eleanor. There was a lot of critique on the artistic items and quality of adhesive - I don't remember my parents being so critical when I was that age...hmmmmm.....

They had a blast on Valentine's Day handing out their Valentine's and then when they got home, going through their boxes.

We've also had some sick days between the kids - nothing serious, just enough to keep them out of daycare and forced Grady to stay home from the Sports show, which Matt and E went to. I had to laugh when they came home and saw all the things that they did that were kid-centric.


We've also had a big development - we took E's toddler rail off her bed because she's just crawling over it, anyway. So far so good - she seems pretty happy to just crawl in and out, so does Grady. Grady's words are starting to come along - he's got Lola's name down as well as "tickle-tickle," which is pretty dang cute for him to say.

We took some time this weekend to celebrate the four of us. It's hard to believe that that idea is coming to an end. I know the kids don't understand what it will mean to add one more. We took them to Skyzone - two fold - to burn off some winter weather AS well as we probably won't be able to get out and about for a couple weeks. The amazing thing too was on Sunday, I rocked both Grady to bed before his nap and laid down with E- the queen of the non-nap, for her to lay down.

We got her nursery done too this week... just in the nick of time. This poor child - everything is last minute and barely by.

 It's amazing to think that all of the sudden things will just change... we will go from four to final.

MJR: Mom is going to the doctor tomorrow and the doctor is going to help get Baby Sister out.

EER: You see Nurse Natalie?

ALR: Nurse Natalie will be busy with Doctor Anderson but yes, Mom will see other nurses.

EER: Get Baby Sister out.

MJR: Yes, do you want to meet her tomorrow?

EER: Yes, Baby Sister wants to see me.

Cabin fever, baking, playing, bowling

It's been cold. Fricken cold. So cold that school in town has been cancelled because it's too cold to go out. Ugh. It seems that this cold snap is just starting.

Here's the thing about the cold snap that gets me... it's not that it's just cold and it's hard going outside, it's that we aren't going outside... PERIOD. These kids have been cooped up inside and we all have cabin fever.. and then let's top off the fact that I'm way uber pregnant and I think we are all driving each other crazy.

Here's a rundown of things that we are doing to attempt to keep us sane:

Baking -
someone loves to help make things.

Playing -
this phenomenon has been really interesting to watch roll out lately. E and G have
been playing together. And quietly enough that Matt and I can talk while they play. AND they play for like 10 minute stretches. It usually ends up with E either using a block to bop G on the head or G knocking her tower down or taking her food that she was cooking in her kitchen or her biting him, BUT hey... it is what it is and we'll take what we can get. I did look at Matt and went, seriously, they are finally starting to play together, we are going to upset the applecart in like two weeks??

Talking to Baby Sister
we are starting to plant the solid seed that Mom is round for a reason. E is taking hold of it but G doesn't seem to care, which isn't a surprise - it may be a bit over him. Afterall for that age, seeing is believing.

Bowling
Mom's work had the brilliant idea to have family bowling. It was a bit above the kids but it was good to get out of the house and have an activity to participate in. They didn't seem to care if their ball made it down the aisle or what pins they hit but they liked the fries from the restaurant and grabbing their ball to push it down.