Loving Life: It's a...

BOY!! April 2nd, little Charlie was born at 8:08 am. He was 8.2 lbs and 21 inches long and very healthy and super cute :) He is now two months old (and a few days), but things have been crazy so I haven't had time to post anything. But I'll try to sum it up pretty quick!

The birth story:

We were scheduled to have a c-section on April 2nd at 9:00 am, but everyone (friends, family...strangers lol) were like "there's no way you'll make it to your scheduled day!" Which we didn't think so either! However once Easter weekend was here I didn't want any surprises. As ready as I was, I just wanted to make sure everything was taken care of: Alice, the laundry, packed bags, a clean house, etc. So Monday, 4/1, we got everything done and got Alice over to my parents house around dinner time. As I left their house to drive home (which is about a 1 minute drive) I just couldn't hold in the tears. I was thinking that the next time I would see Alice we would have another baby. I was happy, anxious, and nervous about the delivery. But when I got home Clayton was off work and he calmed me down and we went and got a late dinner since I couldn't eat after midnight.

Once we got back from dinner I went ahead and took a shower and got ready and laid my clothes out for the morning since we had to leave at 5:45 am. We packed the car and by the time we got in bed it was midnight. I figured I wouldn't get much sleep because I hadn't slept well for months and also just the excitement.

So at 1:15 I woke up with contractions and cramping, which I had had for weeks, but I had only been woken up once before from the contractions. Anyway, I just laid there and tried to go back to sleep. I guess I dozed off for about 15 minutes when I woke back up with more contractions. So I got up and walked around some and they were pretty painful. I finally woke Clayton up at 2:15 and told him I thought these might be the real deal. So at about 3:00 am we headed to the hospital. We figured they wouldn't turn us away if they weren't real contractions :) Once we got in our room (that was already set up for us) they monitored the contractions and they were the real thing! So maybe Charlie's going to be like his daddy and be a little bit early to things to make sure he's not late ;)

Even though our doctor who was doing our c-section was on call, he decided to still do it at 9:00 am. That was kind of a bummer because we were ready to meet the little one, plus I was in some pain. Nothing awful, but too much to stay there for 6 hours like that. Luckily my awesome nurse gave me some meds to ease the pain and knock me out. So I was able to sleep for about 3 hours. Then at 7:00 am she came in to tell us that Dr. Bradley had decided to go ahead and do the c-section at 8:00 instead of 9:00. So we called our parents real quick so they could hurry to the hospital (which wasn't the first time we'd called them, but the last they'd heard at like 4:00 or so was that we were still having it at 9:00). Both of our parents got there around 7:30 and then they took us back to the OR at 7:45.

We were super nervous because we had a terrible experience with Alice, who was also born via c-section. But our doctor, nurses, and anesthesiologist were awesome and talked us through everything and we had a great experience this time. Also all of the nurses and both doctors were making bets on what we were having. Most guessed girl, except a couple of nurses and Dr. Bradley. At that point I would have been surprised either way. As I've said before, I felt like we were having a boy up until the last month or so. I started thinking that it could be another girl. Either way I didn't care. I know it sounds cliché, but I just wanted a healthy baby.

Once everything was prepped, the doctor started right at 8:00 am, my husband was called in and at 8:08 he said "Here's your baby!" and all I cared about at that point was hearing that little cry. And all of the nurses were looking to see what the baby was and started screaming just as Dr. Bradley said "It's a _____!" So with all of the cheers and excitement I didn't hear what we had! So I had to ask my husband and through tears (sobs haha) he said "a boy!!!" Which then I immediately started crying like a baby ;) Again, we both just wanted a healthy baby, but my husband was super excited to have a boy! They brought him around so we could see him and take a picture and then they went to clean him up and check him. Then he was back over with us for a little bit while they got me taken care of and by 8:40 we were heading back to recovery! It was so fast but I was so happy to be able to be awake for it all and not feel any pain, so I was just taking everything in.

Once we were wheeled back to our room for recovery, our family was in there waiting on us, so they all came over to see the baby and Clayton picked Alice up and said "tell everyone that this is your baby...brother, Charlie!" and they all got so excited. Especially my grandmother because we named Charlie after my late grandfather so she immediately started crying. She later told me she saw the pink and blue hat and thought it was a girl so when we said Charlie, she lost it! She is so happy to have another Charles in her life (her dad, husband, and brother were all named Charles, and they've all passed away within the last ten years).

So since this is so delayed I'll try to catch up on his stats! He's now 13 lbs (70th %) and 23 1/4 inches (60th %). He's a big boy :) Hes really strong. At his one month check-up his doctor said, "He's holding his head up like a three month old!" Haha :) He's already in size 2 diapers and wearing 3 month clothes! This is very different for us because Alice was so little. She would've still be in size 1s and newborn clothes! But Charlie is a healthy boy! The doctor did say he had a little flat spot on his head and would check it again at 4 months to make sure he wouldn't need a helmet. So we've been doing "tummy time" like crazy and putting him in the Bumbo a lot! So fingers crossed it'll correct itself!

I'll end with some pics (in order from one month to two months). I will try to stay more up to date from now on!