Our First Week with Russell!

Well, it has now been a week since I had Russell. Things really couldn't be better.

My labor was short and pretty easy, and my recovery has been much the same. I feel great and we are all doing well. When we were dismissed from the hospital, I was anxious to give my baby girl some loves too, but when we arrived home, she only wanted to see one person, her new brother. 

The hospital had a policy that no one under 14 could visit, so I hadn't seen my daughter for over 2 days. The first thing Kel asked me is if she could hold him. That first time lasted about 30 seconds and then she was done with him. She still wants to hold him lots and she wants to give him hugs and kisses all the time. There have been a few times when she told me to put him down and come be with her, but overall, she is adjusting well.

We have had lots of fun visitors. Russell is quite an attraction.  We've had a few meals brought in by family and sisters in the ward, for which we are all grateful. 

Seeing Matt with Russell just makes me smile. Nothing the same as a dad with his boy. Matt keeps calling him "brother", I have caught myself calling him "little man" and Keldrie has stuck with "Baby Russell". 

As you can tell from the watermark on these pictures, we've had some pictures taken already. These were actually taken at the hospital and are now on their way here! Hooray! 

The thing I was most worried about was breast-feeding. I gave up with Keldrie when she was only 3 days old and I had some days of regret about that. I told myself that this time I would give it at least a few weeks and not let the pain be the reason I give up. After all, I got through childbirth so I should be able to endure that, right? I am very happy to report that we are still at it. It has been hard at times, but we are doing so much better than I could have hoped at this point. Everyone told me that the first two weeks are the hardest, so I've got that light at the end of the tunnel. 

Overall, I'm happy to say that we love him and are happy that he is a part of our family forever. Having him has made me remember and appreciate so much that we are a forever family and that we have the gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives. I am so happy that I have a supportive and appreciative husband who loves me unconditionally. I now have 2 little miracles in my life and I am so grateful for them both. I'd say that I can't wait to get to know Russell better, but I'm quite enjoying him in the infant stage. I don't want him to grow up very fast at all. I want to enjoy and remember every day. 

Meet Russell!

Well, the morning of the nineteenth was unlike any other to date. For one, Matt and I were alone at the house. Keldrie had a sleep over at Grandma Smith's. (Thanks again, Elaine!) Not only that, but we were both waking up at 5. I say both, because Matt gets up at 5 on a regular basis to get studying, scripture reading, and exercising in before heading up to school. I sleep in until Keldrie wakes up and tells me she is "berry hungry". So we woke up and Matt called the hospital to see if there was an open bed. Turns out, lots of women decided to give birth in the last 48 hours or so, and no, there was no bed. 

No bed means no inducing and no inducing means no baby. Oh crap. So yes, we did what anyone would do in our situation: discuss all the gross, nasty, and ridiculous ways to induce labor naturally and then.... went back to sleep.

Upon waking up the second time, we ate breakfast, took showers, and cleaned ourselves up a bit. By this point, we thought we should go get Kel from Elaine. Matt called his mom and at the same time, I called the hospital to see when we might expect a bed to open up, and therefore knew if we would need somewhere for Keldrie to sleep.  As we are pulling out of the neighborhood to go get Keldrie, I am finally answered by the charge nurse that she expects a bed for me in the next 3 hours. Well, we turned around and came home. I figured it would be hard for Keldrie to understand why we picked her up for a few hours only to drop her off again and be on our way. So home we went. We picked up our morning dishes and then found ways to spend our time. Me by browsing away on Pintrest and Matt by doing homework. Well, I started to get hungry for some lunch and it was decided that we should have some grilled cheese. I am just flipping the first sandwich when my phone rings, and of course, they are ready for me. Matt decides I can have the grilled sandwich and he will eat his cold and un-grilled. So really I guess it was just a plain cheese sandwich.

We got to the hospital with our hearts and adrenaline pumping. And then.... we waited to check in for about 20 minutes. Life, right? 

Once we were all checked in, we got to the room, I got changed and they asked me about 50 million questions about all sorts of things. But my nurse was great! She was patient and made me laugh and was just helpful. Then finally came the IV and the Pitocin to start my contractions. My doctor came and broke my water and then we were off. Well sort of. They start the Pit low and so it took about an hour to have the first real contraction. For the first 2 hours or so, I do fine and then the contractions start to get longer and more painful so I asked for the epidural. The anesthesiologist was also pretty great. He talked to me about football and basketball while he put the epidural in to distract me. After about an hour and a half of the epidural, it had only numbed me on my right side. So back came the anesthesiologist and he pulled it out just slightly and then gave me an extra shot of the stuff. After that and some adjusting my weight, the epidural spread to my left side and I was feeling pretty good. 

I kept trying to nap, but between all the stuff going on, I didn't. Around 8:15 I asked to be checked again. I had been checked about an hour before and was a 6, but I was feeling pressure. The nurse came in and yep, I was a full 10 and ready to go. They called the doctor and brought in all the medical equipment and after only about 4 pushes, which took about 5 minutes, out came Russell! He is beautiful. So small and perfect. He weighed 6 pounds even and was only 18 inches long. 

My mom was there almost all afternoon and my dad and little sister came to visit once they knew he was born. Now Russell is being given his first real bath in the nursery and Matt is sleeping on the couch in my room. He planned on going to his parent's house, but that was when we were starting at 6 am instead of 12 pm. I'm waiting for the feeling in my legs to return so I can have my epidural taken out and all that good stuff. 

I only have these two pictures so far, but hey, I'm updating the blog only 4 hours after giving birth, so it will have to do for a few days!

I really just wanted to write it all down while it is fresh in my mind! It's amazing what you forget in only a few days. 

We love him so much already. Matt just can't stop smiling. He is so happy to be a daddy for the second time. Oh, and he does not follow after his sister when it comes to crying. His little cry is soft and sweet and just right for him. 

Welcome to the world, Russell! 

Last post before the baby?

Well, I'm scheduled to be induced in 5 days, so this may or may not be the last time I post before I head off to the hospital on Thursday morning. 

Of course, the last few days have positively dragged by. I am trying to stay busy by shopping, cruising the Internet and cleaning my house, but since I get tired so quickly, there is only so much shopping and cleaning I can do in one day and the Internet does get boring after a few hours. 

We are all ready for Russell to make his long awaited appearance. I have finished his nursery and am now ready to show you what I have done to the former storage/study room upstairs.

His new bed! I am still so in love with this bedding. I second and third guessed myself when I found it, but now I am so happy with the purchase. 

The changing table is well stocked and ready for him to do his worst, to the diapers that is.  I didn't get around to ordering some newborn size diapers, you know, the ones with the belly button cut-out,  until a few days ago, but I checked Amazon today and it looks like they should be here Monday or Tuesday. So even if I manage to go into labor today, they would most likely be here before I got home from the hospital. 

Lots of storage space! 

His closet is organized according to size and his blankets are just waiting to snuggle him. 

His new dresser is already stuffed full of onsies, hats, socks, pajamas and all sorts of cute clothes. 

His car seat is ready for the cold January weather. My mother in law, Elaine, bought this cover months ago and I was happy to see that it fit the car seat. Inside is one of those full body snow suit/coat things for babies. (Does anyone know what those are called?) His first trip outside for the two minute drive from the hospital to home should be a warm one. I am delivering at Ogden Regional and it is literally 2 minutes from my house if you hit the lights right. 

This glider is in for some long nights and so is this momma. We are both ready though. I got this as a gift from Elaine when I had Keldrie and it was such a life saver. I bought all of the new furniture in the same color so it would match. 

Last but actually first, meet Lenny the Lamb. When I was about 3 months pregnant I bought Lenny for the baby. It was my first baby purchase. Back then, we didn't know if we were getting a boy or a girl and so I bought this neutral gender lamb. He is from Scentsy and I bought Keldrie Penny the Pig for Easter last year. They are such soft and cuddly little animals, but best of all, there is a zipper in the back that you can put a scent pouch into and then they have a comforting smell and a soft feel. I only opened Lenny's pouch a few days ago and it has made the nursery smell so nice. Keldrie fell in love with him too and had Penny and Lenny rocking in the glider together and holding hands a few days ago. I hope her and Russell are as close and quick friends. 

I have had one exciting thing happen as I've been counting down these last few days. Meet my new toaster!

A few months ago, I got signed up for this consumer survey website. Every few days, they send you a survey about what stores you shopped at the last few days. What sort of items did you buy, how much did you spend, did you shop anywhere buy not make a purchase, do you plan on making such and such purchase soon? Things like that. After you fill out the survey, it gives you a specific number of "points" that you can then place toward about 8 or 9 different prizes. Each point is one entry into the drawing for the prize. So you pick how many and what prizes you want entered for and then you just wait for the next survey. Well, a few weeks ago, right after Christmas, I got an email saying I had won one of the prizes. Now the only other thing I have ever won in my life is a poster from the Jr. High school book fair in the 7th grade. Pretty sure the only reason I won is because I spent about $40 there and you got on entry for each dollar you spent. I was super excited!  Some of the prizes are not very specific because they have to keep secret what companies are issuing the prizes so they get honest answers. The prize I had entered simply said "Must-have Kitchen counter top appliances". Upon winning, I was allowed to select what appliance I wanted out of about 5 different ones. The others I already had or didn't see a use for (like the coffee maker) and so I picked this. Calling it a toaster is a bit of an understatement. It can toast bread, bagel, or croissant and at the same time, heat up some pre-cooked bacon or sausage and poach an egg. It can also cook hard boiled eggs, but we haven't used that function yet. 

So for the last few mornings, we have made these egg, cheese and ham sandwiches for breakfast. Man they are tasty! And they are bigger and cost less than an egg McMuffin. We are looking forward to trying out quite a few different varieties. 

Well, I hope everyone has a good weekend! I am just hoping it goes fast! :) 

Pictures from the Baby Shower

Here are the pictures from my baby shower that I was too tired to upload yesterday. As you can see, there were a lot of blue bags! 

Keldrie was happy to be there, especially when the waitress brought our breadsticks. 

She also was happy with her big sister duties of helping mommy open the presents.

Here is my diaper bag! I love it so much! I've already started to get it all stocked up. 

Thanks, Becky, for taking these pictures for me while I opened my presents! 

This last picture wasn't at the shower, but this is a 2 and 3/4 year old Keldrie with her 5 month old cousin, Hudson. We haven't measured them, but I'm pretty sure that his head is at least as big as Keldrie's. Of course, his head is covered in red fuzz that I can't leave alone. He is such a cutie-pie! 

The start of 2012

We are just waiting for Baby Boy Smith to make his appearance. It has been a long 9 months and I am happy that it is almost over with and we will get to hold him soon. 

On this last Friday, a couple of friends, Sara Jennings and Sara Krause, threw me a small little baby shower at Olive Garden. I have a few pictures from it, but since they are on my camera still, you will just have to wait to see them. Or maybe I can just put pictures of Russell wearing all the things he got instead. My big sister, Nicole, and her husband and baby boy (Cameron and Hudson) are in town so Nicole and Hudson got to come too. It was so fun and I am glad that I have so many friends and family to support me and my little family. Plus, the food was amazing. I don't know if I have ever NOT had leftovers from Olive Garden before, but Russell dropped sometime last week, leaving me with lots more room to breath and to stuff my face, apparently. Which I did very well. 

After the shower, I had to run to get to my now weekly doctor visit on time.  My doctor "weighed" him using the ultra-sound and said he was about 6 pounds 1 ounce. And the extra good news is that his head doesn't look terribly big. Then she checked to see if I was dilating and that is where the really good news is: I have already begun to dilate. Sure, I'm only a 1+ and still have 9 more centimeters to go, but with Keldrie I wasn't a 1+ until I had been on the Pitocin for a half hour, oh and was 7 days over due. My doctor also has a policy that says if you are dilated before your 39 weeks, you can be induced at 39 weeks. So we got to schedule an induction date and that date is January 19th! Not only is that a week ahead of my due date, it is also my mom's birthday. She is extremely excited! 

Well, I haven't had much energy for picture taking lately, but we've also finished Russell's nursery. His furniture is built, he crib is waiting and his drawers are starting to fill up. I hooked up the monitor to make sure it works and now everyday Keldrie wants to play with it. Maybe for her birthday she can get a set of actual walkie-talkies. That would be much more fun than the one way monitor, plus, she would probably leave the monitor alone. She also keeps getting in his room and turning his swing on. She is still excited to be a big sister, but I think she can also feel some changed coming on that have made her a bit touchy and cranky. Especially since my sister is in town with her baby and Grandma Keller has not been solely devoted to her. She does love Hudson though and wants to help him and do things with him, but she just doesn't understand why Hudson can't do all the stuff she can. I wanted to have my baby while Nicole was in town so she could be here, but she is going home Wednesday, so we are running out of time. I guess I will just have to be patient and wait for him a bit longer. 

I finally took my Christmas stuff down yesterday. I knew if I didn't get to it before the baby comes, it just won't happen until around Easter. But I boxed it all away and now all that needs done is for Matt to carry it down to the basement for me. Matt has been more than helpful these last few weeks. While he was on break from school, he made sure to help me with the housework every day and helped me tackle all those big cleaning projects that only need done once every few months, like dusting the floorboards and vacuuming under the furniture. 

That's our January thus far! I am thinking the second half is going to be quite exciting, but until then, I will just have to be content.