More on Bryce

Here is one of the first pics of Grayson meeting his brother. He kept pointing at him and saying baby. So cute! :)

Bryce was so awake right after I fed him that we couldn't resist taking a few pics. In the middle of his photo session he flashed his VERY FIRST SMILE! Yes, I realize that he was probably just peeing but I am so happy that we were able to capture this special moment on camera. :)

First the smirk...

Then a full on smile!

Here we are waiting to go home...

Brothers

Bryce William has arrived!

So our newest addition decided to come earlier than expected... still overdue but earlier than we were guessing. My due date was officially Wednesday the 24th. I went to a doctor appt that day and the doctor agreed that most likely we would see each other on the 1st of April because I hadn't started dilating yet. With that in mind, I didn't think anything of the braxton hicks contractions on Thursday night. They lasted for well over six hours but weren't painful and I was able to sleep through them. After school on Friday was a normal day of running errands and trying to get last minute things done before Bryce's arrival (cleaning car, putting in the baby seat, etc). After dinner I gave Gray a bath and cleaned the bathroom at the same time. I noticed that I was getting some good contractions from all the scrubbing, but thought they would go away like the night before.
A few hours later they were coming a little stronger and closer together so I started timing them. Turns out they were 5-6 minutes apart! Interesting. Still, nothing to be alarmed about. It wasn't until 1:30 in the morning that I woke up Eric because I was having to breathe through the contractions now. We called the hospital and asked them what we should do. They told us to come in within the next hour unless we could get them to slow down. I decided to take a shower to relax and see if I could slow things down. Nope. But I did get to have nice clean hair! :) Haha. As I started to get ready Eric was running around like a crazy man packing bags, cleaning, and getting everything nailed down for us to be away for a few days.

After Eric was able to shoo me into the car we drove down to Tacoma to drop off Grayson at my parents house. Here is the last pic of us as a family of 3.
Then we were off to the hospital. I was put on a monitor to check on the timing of contractions. Turns out they were coming every 5 minutes (which was surprising because they had slowed down a bit when I was laying in bed to 7-8 minutes apart). Then they checked me and it turns out I was dilated to a 3! I was shocked!! Couldn't believe that I really WAS in labor. In any case, with me entering into active labor they decided to do the c-section right away. At this point it was 5 am. By the time they assembled their team, prepped me, and started, Bryce was born at 6:16 am.

So that is the story of Bryce's arrival. As you can see above Bryce was a hefty 9 lb 4 oz. More that I was expecting! :) Oh - and he was 21.5 inches long.

Pre-Baby Crazies

So it has been quite a while since I last posted. The little man is actually due tomorrow and Eric and I are almost ready. There is no way that nesting lasts this long so I don't know why I have been driving Eric crazy with to-do lists but he has been willingly putting up with it. Gotta love him. The last few things on my list include cleaning the rest of the bathrooms, organizing our desk, packing a bag for the hispital and putting the car seat in the car. (Yes, I realize that being due in 1 day I probably should have done the last 2 a bit sooner... but we are not expecting him to be on-time.)

Our expectations for how things are going to go - C-section at St. Jo's in Tacoma at 10 am on April 1st. If I go into labor before I am 8 days overdue then we are heading up to Seattle. Like I said though, Eric and I are betting that I won't go into labor before then. We would be very surprised... but very happy.

Other than the obvious scurrying around and getting last minute things before the baby arrives both Eric and Gray are fighting nasty colds right now. (This is yet another reason we are hoping that the baby takes his time in arriving.) It would be great if they are both able to kick the cough and runny noses by next week. Oh - and also hoping that I don't catch it - but I normally don't get sick.

Well, I should probably get back to my classes now. Students and staff are all watching me like a ticking time bomb at this point. Analyzing my every move and thinging that I had the baby if I am not 5 minutes early for a meeting. It is definitely exciting working up to the last minute and I am enjoying it ... oddly enough. :) Keeps my mind busy.