A realization and an introduction.

Wow, I clicked on our blog this morning and realized that my last post was on August 18th!  What?!  I had no idea it had been that long.  We've had a lot going on lately, but my great apologies for ignoring y'all!  This post may be disorganized and simply a collection of random updates, but that is only appropriate as my brain is mostly disorganized and random these days!

Where we left off......Olivia's first day of school.
-She has still been loving it!  Napping seems to be her biggest struggle right now, as I had predicted, but she has had some days of sleeping an hour while there!  Some days she doesn't really sleep at all, but I still consider this a work in progress.  My hope is she gets to where she naps for an hour and a half each time.  That still isn't as long as she naps at home, but I would consider that a nice compromise. 
-She grins from ear to ear each time we tell her she has school the next day and is eager to get into the building each morning.  She was tear-free for drop-offs until this past week (when her life was forever changed with becoming a big sister!).  Hopefully her mommy-leaving-anxiety is brief because I hate leaving a screaming child behind.

Now that update is complete, we can move on to the big change in our life! 

Introducing.......Carter Louis.
born at 12:25pm on August 29th, 2011
weighing 9 pounds 7 ounces
measuring 20.75 inches long.

He is the perfect addition to our family!  He has a sweet disposition thus far and pretty much just sleeps and eats, which is much appreciated as we go through this adjustment stage with big sister. 

The details.....
Baby Boy continued to measure large and the doctor's were very concerned with a repeat shoulder dystocia like Olivia had.  Her delivery was very difficult and we were lucky that she had no lasting injuries from the shoulder dystocia (basically her shoulders were so wide that their was great risk in having to break her collarbone to get her through my pelvis).  With Baby Boy's large measurements, the doctors recommended a c-section to eliminate all risks of injury to baby.  The list of possible injuries included broken collarbone, broken arm, nerve damage, and permanent loss of movement in one arm (or death if they couldn't get him out).  Olivia was able to be pushed out by the nurses climbing on top of my belly, but we consider ourselves very lucky in her scenario.  Still, despite all of that information, we were not sold on this option (we had been contemplating it since my very first doctor appointment when I was 6 weeks pregnant), but knew we needed to do what was safest for our son.  We had an ultrasound when I was 37 weeks and the weight estimate-which can be up to a pound off in either direction at that stage in pregnancy- gave us an estimate of 9 lb 15 oz!   Andy and I were in shock.  If he was already that big, or even a pound bigger, then what was he going to be by the time I went into labor?! 

Through much discussion, tears, and prayer we decided that a c-section was the safest.  I could have told y'all about it, but we really didn't tell anyone besides immediate family and I'm not sure why.  It wasn't an issue of being embarrassed, but in some silly way I did feel like I was taking the easy way out.  I didn't want to risk harming our baby or myself, but I also didn't want to do this surgery unnecessarily.  It was such a far cry from our desires of a natural birth and Bradley training that we did with Olivia.  However, we scheduled it for the start of my 39th week and decided to not look back.  So, even though his delivery was a surprise to our friends, my family had the date marked on the calendar for weeks and my parents were already here prepared to take over Olivia duties. 

We were able to drop Olivia off at school that morning and then head to hospital because my surgery wasn't scheduled until noon.  I was nervous, excited, scared, uncertain, and a little overwhelmed all at the same time.  I have never had major surgery so that concerned me, but I also knew that it would be overshadowed by the birth of our son and the adjustment for Olivia having to share our attention.  The prep work took all morning, but I was only in the operating room for about an hour. 

Carter Louis was born, I heard his cry, and was able to see him as they worked on him on a nearby table.  I didn't get to touch him or put him to my chest immediately like I wanted to, but I had to give up that vision when I said yes to the c-section.  I laid on the table with the arms tied down and tried to soak in as much of his first moment's as I could.  It was different than what I had experienced the first time around, but the love and complete amazement of creating a human life was no different.  Nothing can change that. 

Andy was able to go over and touch him and watch as they checked him out.  He then carried him over to me so I could kiss him and then they were gone.  Headed to the nursery with Carter while the doctor finished my stitches and they sent me to recovery for an hour.  By the time I got to hold him he was about an hour and half old and was very hungry!  The nursery actually called up to recovery and asked when I could be released because they had a very hungry baby on their hands! ha.  Much to my sadness, I guess he cried most all of that time while we were separated. However, he doesn't seem damaged from it and we are bonded at the heart and sould just like I am with Olivia. 

getting to hold my baby for the first time

big sister love

Interstingly enough he weighed on hundreth of an ounce less than Olivia (9.76 v.s. 9.77) and was one inch shorter (20.75 v.s. 21.75).  He is also smaller than her in general.  His shoulders and chest measured 14.5 inches where she measured 16.5 inches.  That being said, perhaps I could have delivered him vaginally because the shoulder size was really the concern (although most people thinks its only about weight...it really isn't), but it wasn't worth the risk. He has smaller features than Olivia and seems small to us!  We had to pull out newborn clothing for him these first few weeks!  I hadn't even put any out because I had assumed that I would give birth to a linebacker ;)

His name was contemplated on for months and months and we did decide a few weeks before his birth that he would be called Carter.  However, we pretended to not have made a choice because it was just easier that way ;)   There is no major significance to his first name besides both Andy and I liking it!  His middle name of Louis is in honor of my Grandpa Jordan (Louis Lynn Jordan). 

We are adjusting to becoming a family of four.  The biggest challenge has been with Olivia.  It has nothing to do with jealousy over Carter, in fact she adores him.  It is all related around mommy not being able to provide all of her care for her like I typically do.  She has had some serious (and I mean SERIOUS) tantrums and break-downs over me not being able to pick her up and  hold her like I normally do.  It is amazing how much lifting is involved with a 2 year old!  We didn't think about the fact that I can't lift anything over 10 lbs for several weeks and did not prepare her for that.  So, needless to say, that adjustment has been tough but we are on the upswing and hope the worst is behind us.

I will post lots more pictures and details sometime soon.  For now, just know that we are happy and healthy and that I am probably napping rather than blogging ;)

these two are going to keep me very busy the next few years ;)