Fall Weekend

I had one whole weekend with my family and it was fabulous.

On Saturday morning, we went to Uncle Bob's Pumpkin Patch in Newnan.  It was OK, but $18 per adult and when compared to "Denver Downs" ($12) that we attended a few weeks ago with our friends, The Thompsons, it was a little puny.

The hay ride was nice, and we got to feed some horses and see a bunch of corn stalks.

They had a small petting zoo area, and the kids loved this part!

Anyway, the kids had a good time, and we got to hang with Erin, Taylor and Jack.  I don't know when Jack turned into a TODDLER, but babyjack is G.O.N.E.

After Uncle Bob's, we went to Mikey's fav lunch spot, Grazing Here, and had a burger and some sweeties.  Good stuff!

That evening, everyone in the fan took shifts so we all got a nap.

Sunday we relaxed, rearranged furniture in our living room (one of my favorite pastimes) and enjoyed each other.  I love my family.  :)

Finn is 5 months old!

My brand new little baby boy is 5 months old already.  Insanity.

He is the sweetest, most content little guy ever.  Of course he has his moments, but he really is such a good baby with a great temperament.

At 5 months, Finn is:
- 15 pounds, 13 ounces (37%)
- 27.25 inches (94%)
- 43 cm (66%)
- Size 6-9 months clothes
- Size 2 diapers
- Sleeps from about 9:30pm - 7:30am
- GETS UP ON HIS HANDS AND KNEES AND ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- Loves his activity center and jumper that we hang in the door frame
- Laughs at Marlee constantly (she gets nose to nose with him and talks to him and he loves it)
- Sleeps on his back half the time and tummy the other half
- Hasn't had rice cereal yet, but will probably try some in the next couple of weeks

He is such a sweetheart and I love him so so much.

Labor talk

So, I said I was going to blog this conversation...it's a funny memory for me so I don't want to forget.  As I was going into labor (but still in denial) I started texting Kim for her vast knowledge on...well...EVERYTHING.

Me:  What's the "rule of thumb" on how far apart contractions should be before you call the doc?

Kim:  Lol are yours getting closer?  I called at 8-10 and she said call again if they got closer or more intense.  So around 5 I called and they said to come in.

Me:  I had 5 in a row (pretty intense) that were all 6 mins apart...but then they stopped for 20 mins.  Now I've had a couple more.  Who knows...I'm waiting to have some consistency before I call.

Kim:  Well mine became inconsistent on the way to the hospital but once I got there are they checked me I was dilated enough to stay.  Any other signs?

Me:  Just cramps and contractions.  Now it's been 15 mins with nothing again.  Ugh, I just hate now knowing.

Kim:  Where's Mikey?  I say if you have another round of close contractions, call and they'll probably ask you to come in.

Me:  Ok, good idea.  I am at my parents house right now and Mikey just went home to shower and then he is coming over here.  We were planning to grill out tonight...not sure that's gonna happen now. :)

Kim:  Shower yet?  :)

Me:  No...I was thinking about it...and shaving my legs.  ha

Kim:  I say eat something before you go.  Especially after what Claire said.

Me:  Agreed!

Kim:  Eat, shower, and try to relax.  How bad are the cramps? Like a normal cramp x 10?

Me:  Hmmm, yeah, atleast x10.  I have to stop doing anything else and just focus on breathing for the 10-15 seconds, then the pain fades away.

Kim:  How long are your contractions lasting?  10-15 sec?

Me:  The bad part lasts about 10-15 seconds and the whole thing is over after about 30-45 seconds

Kim:  Hmm...ok if they all last 30+ and get closer to 5-7 mins then I'd say it's serious.  Even if they become inconsistent like disappearing for 10-20 mins at a time I say to be safe call and go in.  Especially if they want you hooked up to an IV.  You could go really fast and if you're already at 4cm it's not out of the question that you could get to 10 in a couple of hours or less.  Also to help move him down, when you're contracting try to sit kind of Indian style and rock side to side and back and forth.

Me:  Ok, I just called the office and they are paging the on-call doc.  He should call me back soon.  Just had 3 in a row that were 4 mins apart.  I'm afraid to get in the shower now.  Haha.  I'm gonna sit on a yoga ball and rock like you said now.

Kim:  NO!  Get in the shower, seriously!  Even if you just wash your hair and pull back you can blow dry your bangs and still feel clean/decent.

Me:  Ok, going now.

Kim:  Then rock!

Me:  Actually, waiting for doc to call then I will go.  :)

Kim:  Ok or get your mom to answer while you jump in and jump out.  Keep me updated tonight!  I'll be your text messaging doula.  ;)

Me (actually, Mikey):  It's Mikey we are going to hospital in a minute.

Kim:  Good!

Me (actually, Mikey):  Heading to hospital

Kim:  I guess they admitted her?

Me (actually, Mike):  baby here


*I love how Mikey's texts are so detailed and informative.   ;)

Seaside

Mikey's sister, Erin, and her husband, Taylor, invited us to go down to Seaside, FL last week.  Taylor's parents (Tony & Lynn) and his brother and sister-in-law, Gahrett and Winn, all came...along with our sweet nephew, Jack and his cousin, Lyla.  Everyone was so much fun and got along wonderfully...they welcomed our whole crazy crew in like part of the family.

To be honest, I was TERRIFIED about making the 5+ hour trip down with two toddlers and a 2-month old...but it truly went WAY better than expected.  The kids were so good considering the time they spent in the car seat...and Mikey was pretty well behaved too.  ;)

Seaside is GORGEOUS.  Every nook and cranny of that town is beautifully constructed and laid out so cool.  It's a fabulous place for families...everything is walking distance, most people bike or walk to dinner, shop, beach, etc.  Not much car traffic, and it feels very safe.

The water was crystal clear and the sand was soft and white and oh so nice between my toes.

As silly as this sounds, one of the best parts for me (probably because of the relaxation it provided) was the fact that everybody had little kids...so trips up and down from the beach for naps and snacks and shade was no big deal.  Everyone kinda did whatever they needed to for the kiddos, and we enjoyed the time together without any pressure to spend too many hours in the sun.  Parks and Marlee had a blast and Finn was a little angel, being so adaptable to whatever we were doing.

Huge THANK YOU to the Wards for allowing us to join your trip...we had a blast!!

Finn is 2 months

My sweet little guy is 2 months old already.  What?!?!

He is such a joy and I am shocked every.single.day at how perfectly his personality fits into our family.  He is so good and so flexible and so easy going.  Having two toddlers would be MUCH more difficult if he were high maintenance, but he is so content in almost every situation.  He will nap in his bed, in a swing, in the car, on the beach, in a stroller, in my arms.  When he is awake, he is totally content watching Parks and Marlee play.

For the past couple of weeks he has been SMILING!!!  It just warms my heart seeing that sweet face light up and his coos are the greatest sound ever!

At 2 months, here's some FFFs:
- 12 pounds exactly at his 2 month checkup
- size 1 diapers
- size 3 month clothes
- eyes are turning blue and hair still looks strawberry blonde
- is getting so strong...he holds his head up for a long time and look around.  he also pushes off with his feet when he is on his tummy and can push himself across the floor.  i also figured out that if i prop him up on the arm of the sofa, he can stand!  :)
- is nursing really well and also takes a bottle well (I try to give him a bottle once every few days)
- slept 7.5 hours straight to celebrate his 2 month birthday and has been doing about 6.5-7 hours consistently
- is the sweetest most huggable kissable little guy ever  :)

I LOVE YOU, Finn-Man!

Finn is 1 month old!

Finn is such a sweet, easy baby.  He loves to snuggle and would sleep all day if I let him stay on my chest.  His older brother and sister LOVE him to pieces and constantly want to kiss his head and hold his hands.  Most of his "wake-time" is spent with me or another adult sitting close to protect him from this sweet but intense sibling love.  ;)


At one month, here's some FFFs (Fun Finn Facts):
- wearing size 1 diapers (we had to switch over around 3.5 weeks old)
- wearing 3 month clothes.  i feel like he grew out of the newborn stuff immediately!
- has dark eyes...they were dark brown for a long time but are starting to show some blue now...so I don't know what they will end up as.
- has some light colored hair, similar to Parks' that has almost a slight hint of red in it
- holds his head up really well when he is  on his tummy at an angle (ie. laying on my chest)
- sleeps with his arms completely out and loose.  this actually blew my mind since parks and marlee needed to be swaddled TIGHT every time they went to sleep.
- he is nursing very good.  i gave him his first bottle at 4 weeks old and he took that very well too, so hopefully he will just be a really good eater all around.  we can usually go on a 3 hour schedule in the morning (8, 11, 2) and then he gets hungrier in the evening so it's closer to 2 hours.
- wakes up at night to eat twice...but has now made it 3 nights with only 1 feeding...progress!!!
- he doesn't really love a paci, but has taken one a few times when we were out of the house and he needed settling.
- seems very content and is happy to lay in a seat on the porch or in front of the window and look at the trees and lights

I love this kiddo so much and he just fits in our family so perfectly.  What a blessing!!

Finn's Birth Story

Finn Michael Richardson was born on May 16, 2013 at 11:12pm.  He weighed 8 pounds, .4 ounces and was 21.5 inches long.  He was and is perfect!!

My entire pregnancy went pretty smooth.  I had some bad heartburn, and couldn't sleep towards the end, but that's all par for the course.  Because I had a previous c-section and wanted to attempt a VBAC this time, I had an ultrasound at 39 weeks to make sure everything looked OK and it was safe for me to continue the pregnancy.  All was well, and I made it within 48 minutes of my due date.

I had my 40 week appointment with Dr. Carter the morning of the 16th at 11am (a Thursday) and everything looked good.  She predicted I wouldn't make it through the weekend.  She was right!

My mom had come to that appointment with me, and we headed to CMO to pick up the twins and grab some lunch after that.  We ended up going back to her house and hanging there with my dad while Mikey was working...and made plans to cook out that night when Mikey got there.  

We put the twins down for a nap around 2:45.  I laid down with Marlee to try to nap and felt TERRIBLE.  Just really uncomfortable and crampy.  Around 3:30 I had my first full-blown contraction and decided I wasn't going to fall asleep so I went downstairs and sat on the porch with my parents.  We started timing my contractions around 4:00 and they were coming every 5-6 minutes.  Of course I was in denial for a while, but after an hour I called the doc and he said to come in.  I hopped in the shower (after encouraging advice from Kim to do so...I will blog our conversation later) and headed in.

We got to the hospital a little after 6:00pm (Mikey took detailed notes for me as I asked, great hubby!).  I had to stop and put my hands on my knees once as we walked through the parking lot because the contractions were so intense.  

We went upstairs and they put us in a room right away to start filling out paperwork.  I was Strep B positive so they wanted to get 2 doses of antibiotics in me before the baby was born.  However, I checked in and nobody even came into the room for the first 30 minutes...which delayed getting the meds in me!  That was a bit frustrating.  We got there right as the nurses were having their shift change, so it delayed us getting started and ended up making me not have time for the second dose.  Everything was OK and Finn didn't get exposed, but I would've been a bit more upset if something went wrong.  

The nurse tried to get my IV in and blew 2 veins, so then they had someone else come in and try.  The second nurse got it the first time.  (I've never had anyone blow a vein on me...and I always get comments about how great and big my veins are, so I was shocked she blew 2!)

Dr. Cook came in for the first time at 7pm and I was at 5 cm.  He also said "You have a great pelvis" which Mikey thought was HILARIOUS.  I wasn't in a laughing mood at that point.  My contractions were about every 3 minutes, lasting about 30 seconds and very strong.  Not fun!

I got an epidural a little after 8pm (they had to get a bag of fluid and a dose of antibiotics in me before they could start the epidural).  Last painful contraction was at 8:17pm!!! Woo-hoo!  It did make me get a little nauseous and very tired so I rested and Mikey found the NBA playoffs on the TV to watch.  He noted that it was ironic that the first uninterrupted basketball game he has watched in 2 years is on a 17" tube TV.  Poor Mikey...this was really tough on him.  ;)

I got checked at 8:45 and was at 7cm.

Checked again at 9:15 and was at 9cm.

9:45ish I started feeling pressure, was at 10cm and the nurse called for the doc.

Doctor Cook was there within a couple minutes and said it was "Go-Time."  He broke my water and said he would be back shortly to check again.

At 10:30 it was time to start pushing!!  Lots of people came in the room, but it was very calm and actually a nice experience.  It still hurt even with the epidural, but it was manageable and I was able to recover in between contractions.  I pushed for about 45 minutes and Finn made his appearance at 11:12pm.

They put him on my chest right away (so thankful for this...I didn't get to hold Parks and Marlee until they were over a day old).  After I held him for a few minutes, the nurses took him to weight him and do the Apgar stuff.  He got a 10!!  Then they gave him back and I nursed him...he latched right away and did great.

I had a full term baby!  The experience of having Finn was completely, 100% new and different from having the twins.  While I remember overwhelming fear and worry the first time, this was happy and celebratory.  I am glad we got to have the "normal" experience this time.