Sweet Boy

A few pictures over the past few days of our sweet baby boy.

Snuggling with Nana-sweet lil dreams

Our favorite hat!!!

After having our pictures taken with Santa- "Oy vey, get me outta here!!!"

Getting some Daddy loves

Their favorite thing to do:) I love my guys!

World's Best Big Sister

Bella has done an amazing job with the new addition of a baby brother and is an awesome big sister!!! She loves to help out and LOOOOOVES to give Hunter kisses.

My two favorite little people

She has a chocolate milk goatee and he has a milk 'stashe

Kisses

Trying to get Hunter to hold her hand

Sister smooooch

LOVE this pic-he loves to just watch her

First thing in the morning-gotta give the baby some lovings

Helping Papa decorate his Christmas tree

She was very particular about where the ornaments went:)

such a big helper-she had a BLAST!!!

Helping Papa put presents under the tree:) I think I know who is gonna be Papa's Lil Elf this year to hand out presents!

Proud of herself for being a big helper:)

Pic Comparisons

Hunter-1 day old

Same face in utero at 28wks

Santa Baby

Compared with Bella

Hunter compared with Bella (below)

Introducing Mr. Man

Mama updating with Hunter's birth story and pictures!!! I'll post pics first so if you don't want t read the gory details you can just enjoy Mr. Man in all his beauty:)

Hunter Thomas May arrived on Friday, December 12th @ 8:57pm weighing 7lbs 6oz and 19inches long.

Sweet pea right after he was born-came out beautiful!!! (ok HANDSOME)

Definitely doesn't have his sister's pencil legs-YAAAY!!!! They do look EXACTLY alike as newborns-I'll post comparisons later

Mama in all her puffy post-op glory with the cheesy princess (yes thats a fake smile not an irritated face LOL)

OMG Bella fell INSTANTLY in love when Nana and Daddy took her to pick up Hunter in the nursery with a HUGE smile on her face and said, "OOOHHH my baby!!"

She loves to just watch him and love on him

Definitely still got some work to do with her re: how to be gentle with the baby

Proudest Daddy in the world!!!

Meeting Papa (great grpa) who is absolutely head over heels in love with his "Pal"

There were 5 babies on the floor and Hunter was the ONLY boy so he got the nickname "Mr. Man" and the nurses all joked he had his own harem at birth. We put on his Christmas hat (thanks Aunt Rachel) so he could feel special and not be stuck in the boring ol hospital cap

Bella and Daddy sharing breakfast

Just chilling!!!!

BIRTH STORY

Friday I joked all day that the full moon was gonna finally make it happen and that 12/12 would be such an easy DOB to remember-I was hopeful but figured we'd just go in on Wednesday as scheduled. My contractions were definitely more intense on Friday morning and had finally became timeable but only 8-10 minutes apart. They got alot more painful and closer together throughout the day. After Bella got home from school, it was very painful and they were coming about every 5 minutes. I wanted to give it time because they had been that close before only to tamper away. Ben got Bella fed and bathed and finally convinced me to call the OB when he could hear me in pain all the way on the other side of the house. They were coming about every 3-4 minutes at that point and I wasn't able to hold much of a conversation so the OB told me to go to the hospital. My mom came over to stay with Bella. I made Ben go thru the McD's drive-thru so he could have something to eat. I ate 3 fries and wanted to barf.

We got to the hospital around 7pm. I was only 1cm but the contractions were now coming every 2-3 minutes and much more painful. The OB was gonna come in soon so they could decide whether to just do the CSection that night or wait it out til Wednesday so they weren't giving me anything for the pain (I wasn't too thrilled about that one LOL). After about 30 minutes (guessing here because I was in crazy pain), the contractions started coming right on top of one another to the point it felt like there was no break in between them. Next thing I knew the nurse was running out to the hallway screaming "O2 mask NOW!!!" and they were put me on oxygen. I was just screaming in pain so I couldn't really register what was happening or what they were saying but within a couple of minutes they had me up on my knees and elbows and they were telling people to page the OB "STAT". Apparently Hunter was in extreme distress and was laying on his cord. His heartrate had gone from 150 to 90 and was falling. They were able to get it to stabilize once I was on all fours and said, "We are going NOW! We HAVE to get this baby out STAT!!!"

They wheeled me to the OR on all fours-at that point I was in so much pain and just wanted Hunter to be ok that I really didn't care what I looked like or who saw me in that crazy position. They were able to let me lay on my side in the OR and we were able to keep Hunter stable while the anesthesiologist got the spinal block going (SOOOO much better than the epidural I had with Bella). Dr. Smith got there first and we waited about 3 minutes until Dr. Ford arrived and they started immediately. The spinal only went up so far on my chest so when they started having to push Hunter down it was really painful and they gave me some extra drugs-I was still able to tell what was going on and got to hear Hunter's awesome screams when he came out.

He was in pretty bad distress towards the end because he did swallow meconium and actually came out pooping LOL But his Apgars were perfect and so was he:) He looks almost exactly like his sister when she was born.

ok Mr. Man says its time to eat before Mama hits the sack so I'll finish the post-birth story later. He is so perfect and soooooo laid back!!!

Heeeee's Heerrrreeee!!!!!

Substitute blogger here as Danielle is in the hospital still and I am spending sometime at home with Bella. Hunter Thomas May was born at 8:57 PM on Friday night, so as Danielle said, yes his birthday will be easy to remember (12/12/08). He weighed in at 7lbs. and 6oz. and was 19 inches long so already trying to out do sis. Well thanks for all the prayers and support from everybody, next post will be Danielle again.

Ben (Daddy²)

Eviction Notice-SERVED

Hey sweet boy! Time to pack up the camping gear and come on out to play-can't you hear your big sister running around acting silly? You can come out and stretch all you want and watch her dance around you and sing you sweet songs. Its gotta be getting cramped in there. I know being the youngest you are gonna feel like you have to one up your sister-well guess what??? You've done it bud!! You have officially stayed in the womb 2 days longer than Bella Bean:) WOOOOO You can hold it over her head if ya want-2 days is enough to earn that privilege! Do it on your own terms, don't wait til Wednesday when the docs yank ya out whether ya want to come or not. There is even a full moon tonight-suppose to be the fullest of the entire year! You could use it as your big spotlight for your grand appearance!!! And "12/12/08" is a super easy date to remember as a DOB-everyone would remember to celebrate:) Thank you for being a good boy and baking this long-Mama is SOOOO proud of you! Now I'm gonna be a finicky mama and tell you ENOUGH-you can come out now:) I love you so much stinker and can't wait to hold you and kiss you and just look at you.

XOXO
Mama

12/12/08

Soooo will Hunter's DOB be 12/12/2008???? I had a really rough evening with timeable contractions-PAINFUL contractions. I was able to sleep a bit thru the night but had really bad heartburn that kept waking me up. I woke up feeling pretty bad so I let Ben have a turn taking Bella to school this morning cuz I knew there was no way I could sit in the car to drive, even if its only 10 minutes to her school.

I'm not losing as much of my mucus plug-guess the huge chunks throughout the week got most of it out. My cervix is VERRRRY high, can't tell if its dilated because its up so high now=GOOD sign!! I'm having lots of really painful, stabbing, pressure in my pelvic area. Anytime I stand up I have to literally hold my belly up because he is so low and its just too painful to walk. Its to the point where I really can't do much of anything without pain other than lay in bed and I've had about enough of that!!! I'm trying not to get excited or look too much into anything and just stay focused on the 17th:)