Unexpected

I really had no idea how Will and Blake were going to react to having a new baby in the house. Will seemed to be pretty excited and was always talking about how he was going to help hold the baby and feed the baby. I'm not sure Blake really understood what was coming, but she just copied what Will said. I thought she would be pretty apathetic and all but ignore the baby.

So I was a bit surprised when both kids were pretty much obsessed with her. The night that we brought her home, the kids were bouncing off of the walls with excitement. They wanted to see her, hold her, tickle her, you name it. It was hard to get them to go to sleep.

The following day or two were more or less the same. They were so intrigued with her and wanted to be right next to her all of the time, especially Blake. When I put her in the swing, they would literally just sit on the floor and stare at her.

And they were both on super high alert. If Austin made the smallest noise, both kids were up, had a bottle/binky and were trying to force it in her mouth within seconds. Seriously, you could see them shaking from excitement, just waiting until she did something and they could help. It didn't take long for her to try and hide from her siblings.

As more time has passed, the excitement has worn down a little. They still love to help and fight over who gets to sit close to their sister, but they've gotten much better at leaving her alone. It is a lot of fun watching them interact with Austin and seeing how much they love her. If Austin makes a noise, Blake always runs to me to tell me that her baby sister is talking to her. Sometimes they can be a bit obnoxious and try to smother her a little too much, but it's sweet to see how much they care for her already. 

Austin's Birth Story

We arrived at the hospital right before midnight on Monday to be induced. We filled out some paperwork and were taken to our room. It was probably close to 1 am before they finally had us all situated and the pitocin going. I was dilated to about 2 cm at this point.

We got settled in and began the waiting game. I was comfortable and ready to go. The nurse mentioned that the doctor would be in between 6-8 am to break my water. That was a little disappointing, because I remember with Blake they broke it within the first hour or two.

During the night, I started feeling some contractions, though they still weren't super painful. When the pain started getting more uncomfortable, we did some medicine through my IV.

When my doctor came to break my water around 7:30 am, I was only dilated to around 3 cm. My doctor told me if I wanted to get an epidural, that it would be a good time cause the pain was likely to start picking up. So we called the anesthesiologist in. They sat me up in the bed and I was ready. As he was inserting the needle, he kept saying, "Let me know if you have any of these symptoms: ...dizziness, ringing in the ears, etc.". At first, everything was perfect and I kept saying that I was fine. Then suddenly, every single symptom he warned me about happened.  It was one of the most bizarre things I've ever had happen, especially the ringing in my ears. It was like everyone was talking to me, but I could only almost hear them, like background noise. Seriously, it was odd.

After a few minutes of adjusting, they got it figured out and I was good to go.

The next few hours passed by very uneventfully. Lance went home for a bit to check on the kids and get some food, and I pretty much just sat there. I had a book I read from here and there. I watched an episode or two on Netflix. I took a lot of short naps. Anything longer was impossible due to the blood pressure cuff constantly squeezing the guts out of my arm and nurses coming and going.

Throughout the day, I started to feel my epidural wear off my left leg. Around 1 pm (ish), my back was hurting bad enough that I asked to have the anesthesiologist come in and check it. He increased my dose a little bit and adjusted things to try to get that other side numb again.

The pain started getting better and I was relieved that it seemed to be working. But it didn't work for long. Within about an hour, my back was really starting to hurt again. The nurses checked me at this point, and hallelujah, I had progressed to 6 cm. It honestly felt like a miracle, yet still a ways to go. 

The nurse wanted to try moving me onto my side with my leg propped in the air to try to get the baby to move into the right position. I was SO uncomfortable at that point. Lying in that position only increased my back pain, and I asked for the anesthesiologist to come back in again. 

Almost right as he is coming into the room, I start to feel some pressure. Then we have to try to figure out what exactly we want to do. Basically, I was told he could give me another dose like before, or he could redo the entire thing. Because I was feeling some pressure, I told him to just give me a small dose and to see where we were at. If the baby was close, then there was no point in doing the epidural over.

I told the nurse I was feeling a lot of pressure and that I thought she should check me. "I can't believe it. I just can't believe this. This baby is ready!" She was so surprised that within about 10 minutes I had progressed from a 6 to a 10. It was time to go.

They called the doctor, who was luckily just in the parking lot not very far away. But it still felt like forever until he arrived. It was hard not to start pushing right away, and it was uncomfortable waiting. But within a few minutes, he was there and we started pushing. After only a few sets of contractions, Austin Rose was born and 3:15 pm. The doctor and nurses thought it was the coolest thing because she was born at 10/20/2015 at 15:15.

Lance cut the cord then put her up on my chest. I held her for a few moments before they took her to be weighed and cleaned up a bit. 

She weighed 7 lbs 6 oz and was 20.5 inches long.

We stayed in that room for a about an hour before we moved to the recovery room. Lance made a ton of phone calls while I just relaxed and enjoyed our new little girl. Because we had just increased the dose on my epidural minutes before we delivered, my legs were completely numb. I couldn't even wiggle my toes at that point. I also attempted breastfeeding, and it went surprisingly well. 

While they were transferring us to our recovery room, they took Austin to give her and bath and get her completely cleaned. She had to reach a certain temperature before they would give her a bath, so it took some time before they returned her to us. 

Lance's parents arrived a few minutes before they brought her back. They enjoyed some time with her, then my mom showed up with Will and Blake. They were both very excited to see the new baby and couldn't wait to hold her. 

The first night went fairly well. I originally sent her to the nursery, but told them to bring her back for me to feed her. Once they brought her back the first time, I just decided to keep her there the rest of the night. She was up a couple of times, and I was able to feed her and get right back to sleep. I was completely exhausted and would practically fall asleep while she was eating, but we made it through the night and I actually felt decently rested by morning. 

Wednesday was mostly just hanging out in our room waiting to see when they would let us go. We knew we would have to stay until at least 4 pm since they wont discharge you before 24 hours. And Davis Hospital provides a nicer dinner for you and your spouse that we saved for Wednesday night, so we were hoping we would be able to leave after that. I wouldn't have minded spending another night in the hospital and leaving in the morning, but financially it didn't make sense. 

There were a lot of different people coming in and out all day Wednesday. People from the hospital, talking about bills and insurance. Nurses constantly checking on me. Nurses constantly checking on Austin. My doctor came to examine me and talk about post-baby stuff. Our pediatrician came to do an exam on Austin. A couple of friends stopped by to visit. It really just seemed like people were constantly coming in and out. Something urgent came up at work and Lance had to run in for an hour or so. When he got back, the three of us finally had a moment of peace and quiet and we all spent part of the afternoon napping. 

We had some visitors that evening, then began the process of being discharged. Austin's blood sugar had been low most of the day but we finally got in back in proper levels. She did not pass her hearing test, so we will have to go back in a week to get re-tested. They said often there is still a lot of build up in the ears so they can't get a proper reading. I'm not too worried about it though.

Around 8 pm Wednesday night, we were given the ok to leave. We packed up our new amazing bundle and headed home. The kids were bouncing off the wall excited to see their new sister again. 

We are thrilled that Austin is finally home with us and we have really enjoyed the time she has spent with us. 

Introducing...

Austin Rose Hinton

Born: October 20, 2015 at 3:15pm
Weight: 7 lbs 6 oz

Height: 20.5 inches long

We are so excited that Austin is finally here. She has already brought great changes and such a sweet spirit into our home. We are very blessed.

Birth story coming soon.

Final Hours

It's ten o'clock Monday night. In a little over an hour, we will head to the hospital to be induced. My mom came yesterday to help out with the kids. Sometime tomorrow, we will have a baby.

Let me repeat. Tomorrow, we will have a baby.

It is still a bit surreal to me. But it is happening...soon. And I am definitely ready. I said I was doing alright last week and that I was being patient, but that patience quickly ran away and my crazy started to show up a little bit.

But I survived the week and now it's time to get this baby out. I'm not really nervous for labor, just ready for it to happen. I'm sure it'll be a long night and hopefully I'll be able to catch a few hours of rest.

Pictures coming soon!

Pregnancy Update

October is here and it will soon be time for us to meet our little girl. As of today, I am 38 weeks along. I'm made the decision to be induced at 39 weeks, which means that I will be holding this baby in a week or less. One more week! 

36 Weeks Baby #3

Lance and I are very anxious for her to come out. He's looking forward to a few days off work, and I'm looking forward to not being pregnant anymore. I'm honestly not sure if it has really sunk in that we will have a newborn within the next week. 

The last month of pregnancy is always difficult. The waiting game gets tiring and you are constantly hoping for a miracle that your baby might come early without any issues. But of course, things never seem to go as you want. So the waiting continues. I tell myself that she probably wont come until the induction date, but there is that small part that I'm trying to bury deep that is hoping she comes a few days earlier. The weekend would be much more convenient in so many ways and would be a big blessing.  

Usually at this point in my pregnancy, I am basically crazy. I am obsessed with doing anything and everything to get that baby out. I feel like I am doing much better this time around. I am still very anxious, but I'm trying to fill my days with activities to keep me busy, and I'm not thinking about it nearly as much. I'm made a small list of things I want to have done before she comes, and I'm working on checking those items off. 

Surprisingly, I've been sleeping really well, which is a miracle in and of itself. Usually I'd be up going to the bathroom 4-8 times a night, plus just general restlessness. But lately I've been getting decent sleep. It's definitely something I'm going to take advantage of this final week and really enjoy sleeping without constant interruptions. 

38 Weeks Baby #3

The kids seem to understand a little bit what is coming, but I'm not exactly sure how they will react. Will is very excited for his little sister. Blake....not so much. When I ask her if she wants her baby sister to come out, she says, "No, she's not big enough yet." And when I ask her if she loves her, she says, "No, I love grandma". So it will be really interesting to see how Blake does.  

It's the final countdown! Perhaps my next blog post will be announcing the arrival of our little one. How exciting!

Tiny Shots

Will has finally hit the age where he can start playing sports. While most don't start for another year or so, I was able to find a league for him to play soccer. It started a couple of weeks ago and he has loved every minute.

The coach does a little 30 minute practice, then they have a 30 minute game. During practice, they stretch, dribble the ball, practice shooting, etc. The kids are a bit wild, but they have fun.

The game, of course, if a pile of kids chasing after the ball. Well, except the kids that are too busy doing cartwheels, chasing butterflies, or just laying in the grass. The kids crowd around the ball, kicking and pushing, and all out pandemonium. Then one kid tends to break free with the ball and takes off down the field. And continues down the field...and onto the other field...and past everything until the coaches can get them stopped and redirected back to their game. It can be pretty funny. You think the kid is going straight for the goal, and they dribble right past it and keep going. 

During Will's very first game, they had him start with the ball and kick off. Immediately he dribbled down the field and scored a goal. He did this again a few minutes later. It really seemed like it understood what to do. Then following game, he would roll around in the grass every time the ball got a little far away from him. Or yesterday, he was too busy picking grass and throwing it at people to care about what was going on. Yeah, my kid is "that kid". 

But he is also the kid who decides this is tackle football instead of soccer. He runs with his arms out, pushing whoever gets in his way. One time, he flat out leveled a kid who was about to score. I heard someone jokingly say "give him a red card". So I guess he is also "that kid" too. But he is having fun and learning little by little.

His coach does great with the kids and we have had a lot of fun watching. 

 Is this not the cutest little soccer player you have ever seen?