1 week: PLUS Reid's 3rd birthday!

Okay... major photo overload this week! But with a new baby and Reid's birthday, I couldn't help it. 

 Our big boy turned 3 this week! He is so much fun. He constantly keeps us all laughing, and he loves to "have conversations" with us about everything, especially tractors. We love him so much. 

 So... here's photos of Miles's birth. I will post some of the ones that our friend Cassie took at another time. This is of Reid when we went to see the midwife on Monday morning at 10.

 Then we went home, and I started labor! This is me trying to take a nap while having contractions, and not succeeding.

 Laboring at the birth center. It felt so much better to walk around during contractions.

 And leaning on Andy helped too.

 10cm! Into the tub.

 And he's here!!! This was a special moment staring at each other.

And our sweet little family of 5. 

 <3

 My oldest and my youngest.

 Sweet baby. After everyone left, Andy, I, and Miles had a lovely, quiet evening.

 We got some really yummy Italian food ordered and settled in for a really rough first night of sleep. Miles finally calmed down at about 2am, and gave us a little better sleep.

 But he was happy in the morning!

 Andy did most of the diaper changes at the birth center.

Getting ready to head home! He weighed 8lbs 14.5oz before we left.

Leaving the birth center.

On our way. He cried for a minute or two, then fell fast asleep.

 

Our kids were watching out the window when we drove in. They were so excited to see their baby brother again!

 Snuggling baby brother.

 They both love holding him!

 Sweet little guy! He loves his hands and arms up by his face.

 And he makes the funniest faces sometimes.

 All snuggled up for bed. He's a decent sleeper and sometimes gives me 3 hour stretches of sleep.

 Brothers!

 She's such a good helper. She insists on getting a clean diaper out every time after we change him, so we're ready for the next time.

My little froggy.

Taking care of our babies together.

 

They both nurse their babies when I do sometimes.

 3 days out! My belly is slowly going down. I've got about a 7 finger diastasis right now though, which will definitely take some time and work to heal.

 So in love.

 This guy... he is a gem. And a wonderful daddy.

 Snuggles. This is how we sleep at night, it's the best.

 <3

Miles and I took a lot of down time this week and rested in bed. It was seriously the best.

 Cutie pie!

He pooped a ton the first day or two, and my milk came in on Wednesday, so the meconium was gone by about Thursday. On to cloth diapers!

 He's also about grown out of newborn size clothes. Hahaha The midwives came to our house on Thursday morning, and Miles weighed 8lbs 15oz, so he was back on the upswing.

 He seriously has the cutest little dimples. I love them!

 All wrapped up. He just snuggles right in and goes to sleep.

:) 

 Big boy!!

The Halls came up on Saturday! Quin was a great baby holder.

Snuggling with Aunt Cindy.

 

Reid helped Grandpa grill some hot dogs.

This is how we've been napping recently. :) It works pretty well! Everyone has pitched in with taking Ruby to and from school so I can stay home and rest. And also cooking, cleaning, taking care of the other kids, etc.

 We did a little family birthday party for Reid on Saturday! Well, there were about 25 people there. Hahaha So not little. He LOVED his tractor cake.

 Thank the Lord for nice weather so we could go outside!

 The birthday boy

 Top view of his cake. It was delicious, and pretty cute.

Gift time! 

 Ruby loved Reid's new tool kit.

 Grandpa ate the leftover cake crumbs. :)

He is the cutest thing.

  

 Sunday morning the kids did church for us.

And they enlisted Grandpa to help with the music. It was pretty cute.

Mom and Cindy took the kids on a walk to the park!

 Sisters with the littlest baby.

 Sooooo sweet. She really loves him.

 And so do I. :)

 Andy and Dad fixed the dryer vent, the sink drain, and cleaned up the back yard.

Reid's birthday morning! He is obsessed with his new tractors. Oh, and the baby too.

 <3

 He kept Miles entertained with his new crane truck. It was so sweet. I'm so glad he's so good with the baby!

We got him this Richard Scarry Cars and Trucks book. Both big kids love it so much!!

 

We headed out for the first time to go to the doctor for Reid's 3 year checkup.

 He's super healthy! And in the 72nd percentile for weight (33.5 pounds) and the 81st percentile for height (almost 39"). Big boy!

 We stopped to watch some tractors in the parking lot. He was so happy.

 We ate leftover cake after dinner to celebrate.

 We got him a View Master. :)

 Enjoying some outside time.

And all snuggled in for bed with our one-week-old.

The last few days before Miles arrived

Here are some photos of our week as we *patiently* waited for the baby to arrive. :)

 My big belly with my two big kids! None of my clothes fit well anymore, but Andy's sweatshirt was perfect.

 She made a sweet sign for the baby. She is writing and reading so well!!

 At Costco he said, "Mom, that's the stick hole where the stick goes."

 We tried inducing labor by massaging some pressure points on my feet on Friday night... nothing.

Snuggling with my belly.

And then we hiked up thousands of stairs on Saturday... still nothing. But it was gorgeous!! And then we were all waddling around the house the next day with sore calves.

 

At the top of the stairs was gorgeous Washington Park.

And here's me and my 40+ week belly.

 I love these guys!!

My boys

 

I'd been nesting for weeks...

 Lounging around eating some chicken.

 Sunday morning snuggles.

 The kids were snotty, so we stayed home and mom did Sunday School with them.

 Then we watched Toy Story 2.

 I can't believe how fast she has picked up reading. She's doing level 2 books now, and doing really well with them! She doesn't get frustrated when she doesn't know a word, she just asks for help and we help her sound it out.

 More snuggles with my belly. 

 Andy had been nesting too. Haha. He borrowed Tony's pressure washer and cleaned up the back patio and yard toys. Reid had way too much fun with it too.

I'm going to start blogging on Mondays I think, since Miles was born on a Monday. Some funny things about my births... I went into labor at 11:00 for all of them, just PM for my older two and AM for the baby.

They were born at 12:36, 11:38, and 3:34. I must like the even 30's. ;)

It's a boy!! Miles Rhys's birth story

I really thought our littlest one would be born in April, and before our due date since Reid was born at 39+4. However, he had different plans!

My parents had arrived on April 25th, and I was due on the 27th. My due date came and went, and all of us were getting anxious. We tried all kinds of things, from massaging pressure points on my ankles, to eating spicy food (Andy and I had some excellent wings from PokPok), to climbing millions of stairs from Burnside up to Washington Park. That just gave us all sore calves for days and we were all waddling around the house. I had lost pieces of mucus plug several times as well.

Monday morning, May 1st, I had an appointment at Andaluz at 10am. The night before, I had been kind of crampy, and I thought I would go into labor that night, but nothing. But at 8am-ish, I had a contraction that was a little bit painful. And then proceeded to have a few more random contractions before my appointment. I was wondering then if things were starting to get going.

My mom and Reid came with me to the appointment. Megan (my amazing midwife) asked if I wanted her to check me and maybe strip my membranes, and I said definitely yes! I was so ready to have this baby. When she checked me, she said I was super soft and 3cm, but she was able to stretch me out to 5cm! Then she stripped my membranes in there and said that hopefully things would kick into gear. 

So we left the birth center and I drove home. I had a few little contractions on the way home, and when I pulled in our driveway at 11, I had a good contraction, and that’s when things got started.

We ate lunch shortly after that (beef stew), and contractions were pretty strong, and probably 7-10 minutes apart. After lunch I tried laying down to nap for a little while. Contractions spaced out to 10-11 minutes apart while I was laying down, but they were really strong when they came. I would relax during them and imagine waves coming into a cave and then going out as the contraction died down. I read about that in Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth, and that helped so much to visualize!

I gave up on napping, and when I got up, contractions jumped to 2-3 minutes apart! I called Megan and we decided we’d better come in. Andy got all of the last minute stuff together, loaded the car, and we headed out. Patty came as we headed out the door to be with the kids. Also, my dad had gone to get Ruby from preschool, and they pulled in right before we left. She came over to the car to give me a kiss and was so excited.

Driving to the birth center was not too bad. Contractions were not great, but otherwise there was very little traffic at 2pm. Thank goodness! When we got there, we went into the birthing room and got settled. I had texted Cassie (our photographer) and told her it was going quick, so she headed on up. Our moms decided to come in with the kids already, and I’m glad they did!

We got to the birth center at about 2:10 I think and headed to our birth room, which was the same room I had my appointment in a few hours earlier. The tub was all set up and everything was ready. Brooke, an assistant, came in and asked us a few questions. I was breathing through my contractions at that point. It felt much better to walk around during them, as opposed to the last two times when I liked sitting or leaning forward better. During a few of them, I leaned on Andy and swayed, and that was really nice. They were getting pretty intense, but I had nice breaks in between still.

Megan came in and decided to check me at that point, and there was no cervix left, I was already at 10cm! She could feel the water bag bulging too, which was why there was so much pressure. We decided it was definitely too late for the antibiotics for the GBS at that point, so I got into the tub. The water felt so nice. The contractions were very strong and I was feeling crampy in between some of them, which I knew meant I was close to pushing. But this time in between contractions I could talk, laugh, chat, etc. The kids came in, and Ruby had lots of questions, which I loved answering. Also Cassie arrived, which I was so glad for!

I finally had a contraction that felt a little pushy at probably 3:10. Only Brooke was there, and my mom kept saying, “She’s getting to pushing. The baby will come out fast!” And she was right. The kids came back in from playing with Patty, and Megan and Kathy (the other assistant) came in.

I started pushing a little bit during the contractions, which felt nice. They were really strong and I said “ouch” a few times during them. Otherwise, I was pretty quiet. I decided to go to the other side of the birth tub, which felt better because there was more back support. I gave a push, and my water broke. Then I felt inside and the baby’s head was about a finger length in still. After another push, it was half a finger length. Then with the next push the baby was crowning. I slowly pushed out the head and Megan checked for a cord around the neck (there was none). Then I kept pushing and the little body slithered out. Andy and I caught him together and pulled him up to my chest. He cried right away. Ruby came over and we showed her the baby, and she said, “It’s a boy!” It was such a beautiful moment. He was born at 3:34pm.

The midwives were watching for bleeding because I had a little hemmhoraging the last two times, so we got out of the birth tub pretty quickly. On the bed I pushed out the placenta and all was well. Andy announced his name to everyone, Miles Rhys. He didn’t latch on right away when I first tried, but once he did, he hasn’t stopped! I didn’t even tear at all when they checked me, just a tiny little scratch.

He weighed 9 pounds, 9.5 ounces and was 20 1/2 inches long. We are in love with our sweet boy. Everyone else went home and Andy and I got a lovely Italian dinner ordered at the birth center (pizza and carbonara), with tiramisu for dessert. The postpartum midwife checked on us a few times during the night. Miles did not want to sleep and cried a lot until about 2am. And then he finally settled down and we all got some rest. After a delicious pancake, egg, and sausage breakfast, and a hot shower, the midwives checked us both out and we were home by about noon the next day.

We are all so in love with our baby boy. He is very sweet, although his cry is loud. Thankfully he doesn't cry all that much. He loves to look at lights, and really loves being held and snuggled.