I think the storm ran out of rain, the clouds are movin'. I know you're happy, cause I can see it- so tell the voice inside your head to believe it. I talked to God about you, he said he sent you an angel and look at all he gave you... You asked for one and you got two. You know I never left you, cause every road that leads to heaven is right inside you.- Only One; Kanye West

Welcome to the world Weston Henry! 

The original plan was for Weston to be delivered on January 29th... A nice scheduled repeat c-section. The little mister had other plans... 

On the 25th I started having some signs that labor was approaching. My dad and step mom were in St. Martin and hoping to be back for the delivery- but I texted my dad and gave him a heads up that I didn't think he was going to wait for the 29th... I was right. 

The night of the 25th I was having some frequent painful contractions. When I went to bed, I told Jas that I had timed them about 6-8 minutes apart... Bless his heart, he got the house tidied up and good to go 'just in case'. I took an Ambien thinking I wanted just one good nights sleep before this new baby came... At 1am I woke up to a very painful contraction and got up to pee- on the walk to the bathroom another contraction came. Well this is a change, I said to myself... and then another one came, and another... I got back in bed and started timing them- 2-4 minutes. Holy hell- I'm in labor! 

Jas spruced up our bedroom- which we are sharing with the baby for the next 6 months... 

Everything was all set for me to deliver and come home to a nice, clean house! Thanks Jas! 

I called my sister to come over and watch E- oh, I also neglected to mention there were blizzard like conditions going on at this point- because why would I go into to labor on a dry day? I mean, I have to keep it interesting... obvi. So, my sister comes over lickity split (or as much as possible in 4 inches of snow on unplowed roads) and we head to the hospital.

This entire pregnancy I had been planning on a TOLAC (Trial Of Labor After Cesarean), but I talked myself out of it in the final 24 hours leading up to delivery. I knew that this baby would be bigger than Evie, and I was really nervous that I would get all the way to the pushing stage and end up having to have a c-section anyway... so I talked myself out of it. Call me a weiner, I don't really care. I'm actually quite happy with my decision, and my recovery has been a breeze. 

Weston made his appearance into the world on January 26th at 4:24am- a bouncing baby boy! 8 lbs, 20 inches long. And just completely precious. The little dude was a fantastic nurser from the get go, and we haven't had any issues at all (woohoo!). He had 5 poops in the first 24 hours (?!?!?!) and hasn't quit since. Clearly, he got that from his father. His eating is going so well in fact, when we went to his one week pediatrician appointment, they were hoping he would be back to his birth weight (babies lose weight after birth), and he had actually exceeded his birth weight- and was up to 8lb 7oz! The doctor was quite pleased and kept saying "He looks perfect. Really. Everything is great." Love that. 

Several people have asked about the name. Well, contrary to popular belief, we didn't know for sure what we were going to name him. Just a week before I delivered Jason and I were narrowing down the list. We narrowed it down to a top 5. We knew we had to see him first, so after he was delivered we took some time looking him over after we got out of the OR. After some time with our new little guy we knew that only one name would do- Weston Henry. Where did the name come from, you may ask? Well, honestly, I have no idea where I heard Weston, but I heard it somewhere in the last 9 months and added it to the list. And Henry, was my mother's father's first name. My Poppy. He was a wonderful man, also gone before his time. I know Mom would be so touched that we chose that as our child's middle name.

Some people have started to ask us about nicknames... I think with time nicknames will come out... but I can say we don't really love "Wes"... but we do like "West". I have found myself calling him "Westie boy" every now and then, but I suspect that will be short lived. We also call him "Mr. Squishy" but I don't think he'd appreciate that too much as a teenager... 

After my first c-section, I got out of bed about 7 hours after surgery... This time, it was about 9 hours. It hurt like hell that first time getting up, but I swear, if you ever have a c-section listen to my advice- GET UP! Get moving! Once I started getting up, I didn't quit and I really felt fabulous by the time I was discharged on the 28th. I begged them to let me go home a day early- i felt good, I had stopped taking all narcotics and only Ibuprofen, and I just wanted to get the hell out of there. Not that there is anything wrong with hospitals (ha!), but caring for a newborn has it's own element of sleep deprivation associated with it- having people coming in your room constantly for vital signs, meal delivery, medication administration, etc. adds a whole new element of fun. 

Side note: the before and after on this pic is crazy... On the left, about 40 hours before I delivered. On the right, 30 hours after delivery. I seriously had beluga whale status. It feels weird to not be carrying around all that weight anymore. Delivery was instant relief. 

Miss Evie came to see us twice in the hospital. Once the day after W was born. And then on discharge day so we could all go home together as a family of 4. Awww.

Discharged!

People keep asking how Evie is doing with the new baby- and truthfully, she really couldn't care less. She is in her standard toddler age of wanting what she wants, when she wants it- and fussing when she doesn't get it... and she was that way before Weston even arrived. She points to him a lot and says "Bayy-bee" and "bruh-bruh"... She gives him kisses (more often than me!), and does "nice touches" on his back. She likes to point out body parts, and frequently pushes on his nose and says "no-h". It's sweet. Hope she continues to like him.

Since I'm not supposed to lift anything more than 10lbs til Monday (2 weeks from surgery), I have needed some help with Evie. Jas is back to work- OMG... I don't think I ever updated y'all on his new job! He got a professor position at Capital University! Definitely a step up from the other gig, and 10,000 giant leaps beyond the gig prior to that. It's awesome actually... but he didn't get any sort of paternity leave this go around. Thankfully, I have amazing friends and family who have come to my aid. 

MK and Lauren came over and organized my pantry... Most amazing gift ever!! You should see what this pantry looked like before they worked their magic. It was terrible. Seriously. 

Next week however, will be the beginning of me alone with 2 under 2. Eeek! I'm trying to savor my last moments with help- being alone with the two of them will certainly up the ante. 

Mentally, I'm in a much better place than I was when I delivered Evie. The stress of gestational hypertension, a failed induction, an unexpected c-section, a critically small baby, a week long NICU stay the first time around really messed with my psyche. This time, things are really going along swimmingly and I feel great. When people ask how I'm feeling, I say 'complete.' My heart is full. I love my little family. Even in light of recent events (read: my mom's passing), I'm in a good place. 

I will say, having a boy is already quite different than a girl. Diaper changes have been a whole new world for us. In the first few days at home we had to give Weston multiple outfit changes due to improper penis placement... Yeah, you read that right. Apparently when we were diapering him, we weren't insuring that we pointed the penis down- thus we ended up with urine seeping out of the top, sides and back (how the hell did he get pee on his back, really?!) of his clothes. Ridiculous. Miraculously, we have managed to escape unscathed at this point. Not sure how, we're really quite incompetent...

Stay tuned for more updates to come... although, finding the time to update this blog seems to be ever slipping away- but I will continue to make an effort! 

Until next time...