The Boy

The Boy is here, that's what I've come to call this handsome feller, because when I try to call him by his name, the name Clark usually comes out of my mouth. Probably because he's his older brother's spitting image. When I first saw him the first thing out of my mouth was that he looked just like Clark. I love him to pieces. He is an absolute angel. No worries, his name is not "The Boy", he is our Wells Michael Thomas, and we can't get enough of him.

His birth was easy peasy. I'm almost ready to do it all over again (but not really). He was born on Oct. 21 at 8:26 am. weighing in at 7 lbs. 4 oz. and 20 inches long, by far my biggest baby. It explained why I was so so so miserable.

I started having contractions the night before around 6 or 7, but I didn't think anything of it because I was so used to having irregular contractions that last for a couple hours and go away. By 9 they hadn't gone away so I tried walking around the house to see if I could walk them off. By 10 they were still there and coming every 5-10 minutes, but they weren't painful and weren't really getting worse so Neil headed off to bed. I tried relaxing and walking for another hour with nothing happening so I caved and called my mom. She suggested a warm bath, so I took a nice, warm 40 minute bath....afterwards they still hadn't gone away and felt a bit stronger, but I didn't know. I called my mom back to let her know what was going on and decided to take a shower (just in case it was labor, because I knew I wouldn't get another shower for a long time), and try to sleep for a couple of hours. I finally fell asleep close to 2 and woke up at 3 with the contractions a lot stronger and 2-4 minutes apart. I walked around the house for 30 more minutes before waking Neil up (he was definitely shocked, he didn't think I would go into labor). He jumped in the shower while I got dressed and everything packed up, then at 4 I called my amazing friend to come over and be with the kids (even though she has 4 of her own).

We left at 4:30 and got to the hospital around 5. They hooked me up and did all the fun stuff and informed me that I would be having the baby some time that day, but I was 3rd in line for the OR (2 other women came in about the same time for C-sections). So they gave me and epidural instead of a spinal to help with the pain as the contractions were intensifying. A little while later I was wheeled into the OR and Neil followed a few minutes later. After a few minutes he was here and absolutely perfect.

The tears came and Neil left my side to be with Wells. After a few minutes Neil brought him over to me and I got to hug and kiss on him all I wanted. When they transferred me off the hospital bed, Wells was placed in my arms. I about died! I had never ever been able to hold my baby right after birth, let lone keep them with me when moved to my room. It was pure heaven. The nurses informed us that he was grunting a bit, which was somewhat concerning, so they wanted to keep a close eye on him. After a few hours, and a father's blessing, the grunting finally stopped and he didn't have to be taken to the NICU (HALLELUJAH!).

That face! 

I recovered amazingly well from the C-section, better than even I imagined. I was up and walking without any trouble as soon as I got the okay from the nurses. There has been little to no pain involved. And my energy is back as much as it can be with a newborn. But I have more energy than I ever thought imaginable while I was pregnant, the moment this boy came out I felt a million times better. He was draining every ounce of my energy. 

Ready to go home.

The timing was perfect, my mom flew in the night I was released from the hospital, so she was able to soak up as much baby time as was possible. She was such a HUGE help, from cooking and cleaning, to entertaining the kids, to just letting me be my emotional self. She was amazing. Her stay made me incredibly homesick. Things are different when you have a baby out of state.

All the kids are madly in love with their little brother. Clark is probably having the hardest time adjusting, which is expected....but buddy, the crying has got to stop!

Life it crazy hectic, and I'm always tired. But I wouldn't have it any other way. My home it full of joyous noise (most of the time). and I love all my babies. Life is pretty grand.