Day 4

Day 4, our first full day home. We made a special meal for my dad's birthday. Otherwise, it was mostly uneventful other than some night time partying by Aaron as he adjusts to his new surroundings. But we are getting that straightened out.

Day 3 - Going home and night

Aaron was born in the wee hours of the morning on Monday and by Wednesday it was time to head home. We could have left around 9 or 10pm Tuesday night, but that timing wasn't very good to head home. Not with 3 sleeping kids. So we opted for Wednesday morning, which became afternoon by the time all the signatures were obtained (we can see how much later Tuesday would have been). He wasn't in love with his car seat, but quickly calmed once we were moving. His outfit is by the same makers who did Kyle and Emily's 5 years ago. 

Aaron Day 2

A bunch of pictures from Aaron's day 2. The first night wasn't bad. I woke every few hours to feed him. It's a different experience having the baby stay with me in my room than in the nursery / NICU. He was pretty sleepy and did well. Night 2 has a name - "second night" - and was a bit more challenging...

Hearing test - all babies have to take prior to discharge

Night 2.... Second night is quite the phenomenon. Thankfully the hospital had a whole handout for it. Basically baby wakes up to the fact he's no longer in the womb and needs much more calming and soothing than the previous night. So we were up much more, but we had some good cuddle time to sleep.

Night time weigh in - 7lb 14 oz down from 8lb, 9 oz (2 big poop blow outs will do that!)

Kyle in karate

Kyle started karate this month and is having a great time. It coincides with Emily's dance class so it is even better! Today he got his uniform (gi) and belt. The videos show the belt ceremony. 

Aaron meets his big brother and big sister

Aaron got to meet Kyle and Emily Monday after school had let out. Jeff picked them up and brought them to the hospital. You could tell they were a bit nervous and there was a lot for them to absorb as they saw me wearing a funny gown in a hospital, with their new baby brother and various tubes and machines around us.

Emily asked to hold Aaron right away - definitely the nurturer in her. Kyle took one look at him and turned to Jeff and said, "can we go home now?". They stayed a little bit longer and Emily held Aaron. Kyle was still skeptical and was afraid to even touch him.

Jeff then took the kids to pick up dinner for all of us to have back at the hospital since you know how great hospital food is... And when they came back, Kyle warmed up a little bit to Aaron. He touched his skin and declared, "he's as soft as a monkey." High praise from the monkey boy himself! He then said he's almost as cute as a baby monkey. Apparently baby monkeys are as cute as it gets. We asked the kids what they thought of their new brother and Emily said she loves him so much already. Kyle said that he's getting used to him the more he sees him, and the more he sees him, the more he loves him. :-)

Kyle and Emily entering my hospital room.

**Of note as I write this up 2weeks later: Kyle is super nurturing tgo Aaron, volunteering to hold him and helping with bath and many other things. Emily is still super loving and helpful with Aaron. 

Happy birthday baby Aaron!

Today at 2:35am, Aaron Miles was born! He weighed in at 8 pounds, 9 ounces - Kyle and Emily's exact birth weight combined and stretched out at 21 inches long! 

Labor wasn't super long despite going to the hospital on Sunday March 11th around 10am because my water broke. It took me a while to realize that is what had happened and that I wasn't just incontinent. :-) So we took showers, got the kids off to a friend's house and headed to the hospital. I think Jeff was more nervous and rushed than me. He told me what he was most nervous about was me without an epidural!  (I can't blame him!) Things happened fast with Kyle and Emily, hence his rush. And believe me, I wanted an epidural too, but I also wanted my morning shower since it could be another day until I could get one next.

So we headed out, got to the hospital, checked in, confirmed my water had indeed broken, watched some basketball, had lunch (thankfully! I didn't eat breakfast) and started pitocin around 3pm since I wasn't contracting enough (or at all) on my own. Got an epidural sometime that evening around 4cm when contractions really hurt. Hung out, slept and played games for a few more hours. We had a fabulous nurse named Mamet who was the best L&D nurse - she was calm, prepared and informative without being alarming. There were some times with Aaron wasn't responding how he should and there was never any panic by her, always pre-emptive measures to make and keep things on the right path. She even let us sleep. We woke around 2am and it was game time. Dr. Cunningham had been called and was arriving for delivery. Knowing Jeff and myself, 2am isn't exactly our hour - well Jeff is decent at that hour since he often works at that time, but I'm typically looooong asleep. But this 2am was well worth it. 2:35 our baby Aaron entered the world.

Hospital check in belly shot - baby sitting much lower here without the water intact

Just born

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This delivery was so different than the twin's delivery. So much calmer and less chaos in the room since he wasn't preterm and wasn't a multiple birth. I got to hold him right after he arrived - all warm, wet and slimy and even more real than when he was moving around in my belly.  Jeff got to cut the umbilical cord. And the relief on my body was instant. He was sitting on something inside me that wasn't so comfortable for some time so it was amazing how quickly the relief came. He has all 10 toes and 10 fingers and a perfect little face and is still a boy (as seen in the 18 week ultrasound). He was a little bruised, like Emily was when she was born due to a quick arrival. I think they call it a precipitous delivery (though from googling it, it was not scary or emergent as it's described - well at least it wasn't to my knowledge thankfully!) - he basically just delivered fast. He cried a little when he came out and as I held him he was suctioned some more to let out a better, less gurgled cry.

We are all overjoyed to welcome him to our family! We love you Aaron!

Kyle and Emily's baby day fun

The day we went in to have the baby, we had plans with some friends to come over to our house for dinner. I had set my alarm for 9am Sunday morning to get up and ready dinner - crockpot tacos - since we had the time change that night. Anyhow when we finally realized my water had broken, we called our friends to let them know we'd have to do dinner another night. They came right over and picked up Kyle and Emily for a great time while we were having the baby. Kyle and Emily didn't even bat an eye. We gave kisses and were off without any fuss from them at all. They went swimming; ate pasta, mussels and creme brulee; had a fun slumber party on a school night; and ran together in a pack to school on Monday. They are still talking about what a wonderful time they had. 

It's time!!

It's been 9 months and our new baby is about to arrive!! I woke up this morning to my water having broken. Except I didn't realize it. I thought I was just a bit (a lot) incontinent... multiple times in 5 minutes until I realized what it could really be!! The baby is coming!!

So after a shower and getting Kyle and Emily's care covered, we headed out. I think Jeff was way more nervous than me. He admitted that he was more afraid of me without an epidural than anything, hence his BIG rush. Thankfully I wasn't really contracting, but just had broken water. 

My large baby belly with my babies (taken about a week prior). 

They already love their baby brother to be.

Waiting in triage on the monitors. A good heartbeat for baby and not much in the way of contractions. 

Meet our newest family member

No name yet but today was the day. Yes, the day we added a minivan to our family. The kids love the space and DVD player. And we like the space. 

Getting close

It's almost time for Kyle and Emily's baby brother to make his debut....

Making "am-mens"

Kyle made his first punt today - he didn't really know it, but it was great. He truly is Jeff's son! When the kids misbehave we have instituted 3 steps for them to fix it:

(1) Say sorry

(2) Change the behavior

(3) Make amends

Today Emily said something to Kyle that was not nice so I walked her through the steps. 

She first apologized to Kyle and then recognized the bad behavior and said she wouldn't say that again. Steps 1 and 2 done. 

Me: Emily, what is step 3? 

Emily: I forgot. 

Me: Emily, you need to make amends with Kyle. How about you give him a nice hug? 

Emily: Ok

Kyle, interrupting, totally straight-faced and serious: Or Mommy, you mean she should make "a-womens". 

Me (trying not to burst out laughing): Kyle, how did you know that? 

Kyle: I just knew it in my head. 

I wouldn't contain myself and had to tell Jeff right away. He was very proud of the pun, even if Kyle had no idea just how funny it was. 

Beach day

It was in the 80s today and just beautiful out so we headed to Coronado for a wonderful beach day (so did the rest of San Diego). We had a blast playing catch, building a sand castle for fairies, mermaids and princesses, and running in and out of the waves. Well the kids did most of that - not much running for me since I'm more beached whale at this point. And no trip to Coronado beach would be complete without some ice cream.