Introducing Henry Russell Crain!

Geez! Where have we been? We have been living in a sleepless state of happy, frustrated, delirious bliss the last 5 weeks.

On Monday, February 22 at 12:24pm, Henry Russell Crain joined our family. He weighed 8 lbs 8 oz and was 21 1/2 inches long. This was 3 long days after my due date. Who would have thought I would have had a post term baby? I know we certainly didn't.

On Friday, my due date, I had lunch with friends, shopped, grocery shopped and made dinner. A nice spicy dinner. Thanks for the enchilada recipe Shelby! That night, I started having contractions. They were 5 - 8 minutes apart for 2 1/2 hours. At that point, I took a shower and packed my and Rhiannon's bags to get ready to go and the contractions stopped. Saturday, a trip to the park and lots of walking. Still no baby. Sunday, Rhiannon and I played outside. Hopscotch of all things. Maybe that will get the baby here. We had a great dinner with ice cream sundaes for dessert and said the same thing we did over every dinner for the last few weeks. "This could be our last dinner as a family of three." And it was. My water broke in the middle of the night at around 3:30am. And the fun began.

When I arrived at the hospital at 5am, my contractions were every 3 minutes and I was 75% effaced and 5 cm dialated. I had not made up my mind about an epidural so I waited, and waited to get one. At about 7 cm, I gave in and begged for the drugs. And my epidural only worked on one side of my body. Frustrated, I asked to take it out but they convinced me to try again using the excuse that if I had to have a c-section, then I would have to be completely knocked out since the epidural didn't work. So, they tried again. And it still didn't work on the other side! Luckily, it was time to push at that point and Henry arrived 20 minutes later.

I was shocked that he was a boy becuase I was convinced he was a girl. Russ claims he knew all along.

He is a beautiful, chubby, dark haired baby. . .

That has screamed most hours of the day for his first 5 weeks of life.

Let me start by explaining that Russ and I are amateurs to newborns. Rhiannon was in the hospital for 45 days and when she came home whe was already on a schedule. And preemies rarely ever cry and sleep all the time.

I'm not talking about normal crying. I'm talking about screaming and wraithing in pain and breaking out into sweats. It was terrible. Russ and walked the halls, bounced, swayed, rocked, sang, swaddled, and cried with him all hours of the day and night. We visited the doctor at 1 week, to see what could causing this pain. In one week, he had gained a pound so he was definitely getting enough to eat. After a few other visits, we decided that he had silent reflux. He doesn't spit up but the acid comes up and then he swallows it again. So it's double the pain! So, now we have tried zantac and that didn't work. Now we're on prevacid and I think we have found the cure.

The other thing recommended is that I change my diet. I'm breastfeeding exclusively. So, I have to exclude all dairy, onions, garlic, spicy foods, cabbage, brocoli, beans, and the worst . . . chocolate, caffiene, and alcohol. Let me get this straight, I can't sleep and I can't have chocolate, coffee, or booz? This sucks.

But it seems to be working. We now have a happy, smiley baby boy. He no longer screams in pain and for the last couple of nights has slept 5+ hours at night.

So, that should explain where we have been. I'm completely in love with this little guy. His little chubby smile melts my heart.

Rhiannon is great with him and it is already clear that he prefers her as entertainment. She gets most of his smiles and coos.

I can't believe how fast time has flown. Here are a few of our favorite pics from the last few weeks.

This is where he sleeps most of the time. . .




And my favorite!

I have tons of other pictures to post and hopefully now that Henry is sleeping, I will have time to do so!

Jelly Bean's Nursery

Here is sneak peak of Jelly Bean's nursery. There are a few things still left to do to personalize it after he/she arrives but this is what we have so far!

The bedding:

Dr Amanda drew this for Russ' nursery when he was born. It gave us the idea to use a circus theme.

And one of the first things I bought for #2. It says "I Love My Big Sister." The other was a gift from one of the ladies that Russ works with.

Snow!

All week the weatherman predicted it. Of course, we didn't believe it. But we got it. Snow! Almost 4 inches which is like a blizzard for GA. And it came on a Friday afternoon. Rhiannon saw the snow beginning to fall and then went down for her nap. She then woke up to a winter wonderland! The snow was still falling and we already had a blanket of snow covering the lawn.

She and I put on as many layers as we could (which is not easy when you're 39 weeks pregnant I might add) and then headed outside to play. The bank closed early so Daddy was able to join us as well.

We made an Alabama snowman. We trecked all up and down the lawn. And then we decided to do some sledding.

As I mentioned, we just don't get a lot of snow in GA. So, we don't own sleds. But, we do own laundry baskets! Rhiannon went down once and decided it wasn't for her. Daddy on the other hand, loved it!

The next morning, the snow was just as beautiful! And again the bank was closed so the three of us went back outside to play with our neighbors Erin and Eric and their kids Conner (5) and Rylee (21 months).

The dads had the bright idea to use our jump house as a sled. So they threw all three kids in the house and pushed them down the hill. The kids loved it. Rylee is not quite 2 and a tiny thing so we pulled her out thinking it was too much for her. She simply climbed right back in.

We had so much fun! I had hoped that all the hiking up hills and rolling snow men would help baby arrive. But he/she is still pretty comfortable. I'm due on Friday and to back to doctor on Thursday. I will update you afterwards.

A couple of parties

So, for weeks I was stuck at home so we obviously we didn't have big plans for New Years this year. Well big plans outside the house anyway. We did have our own little New Years party!

I'm taking photos from my position on the couch. . .

We got party favors and sparking white grape juice and plastic champagne glasses. We told Rhiannon all day that we were having a New Years Party that night. She had no idea what New Years was about but she loves parties so she was pretty excited.

That evening, Russ made tacos and then afterwards Rhiannon put on her party dress and party favors. We poured glasses of sparkling grape juice and did a toast. Okay, Rhiannon liked the juice, and the toasting, so we did several toasts.

Notice the taco sauce still on her face!

Then at the late hour of 7:45, we did a count down to the new year. And again, Rhiannon thought that was pretty fun, so we did several countdowns to the new year.

After a bubble bath, we put the party girl to bed. She told us as we tucked her in, "Thank you. I loved my party." Russ was asleep by 10. I was out shortly afterwards.

Hands down, "The Best New Years Party Ever".

For our superbowl party this evening, Rhiannon and I made cocoa krispie footballs! It's a party for the 3 of us but we're having fun. Go Saints!

Hair cuts

Don't worry, I still haven't cut off my litle girl's hair. I'm to scared that the curls won't come back! However, Russ also an aversion to hair cuts. He prefers to let his hair grow until he can't stand it any longer and then he personally shaves it off. I have only gotten him to go to the hair stylist maybe 3 times in our 11 years together.

So, as you can see from the pictures, his hair has gotten pretty long. I LOVE IT!! With a little 5 o'clock shadow and he's the sexiest thing alive. He has been waiting to shave it because I love it so much. I told him I was on bedrest and it made me happy. So, his plan was to wait until the baby arrives to shave his head.

Well, that has obviously taken a little longer than expected.

So, he walks in to the living room sporting this pony tail and tells me to say goodbye to his gorgeous hair because he's shaving it tonight.

Of course we took pictures of his pony tail.

And then of Rhiannon's pony tail.

And of just Rhiannon.

And then he shaved off that beautiful head of hair. Boo.

38 weeks and holding

Well, 37 weeks has come and gone. I had my cerclage removed on the day I was 37 weeks, Friday, Jan 29. Honestly, Russ and I believed that the baby was just going to fall out there at there at the doctor's office. Dr Harrison even teased as he was cutting the stich that he knew how to "catch" a baby. The night before the appointment, we put my suitcase in the car. We made sure all the bills were paid. The house was cleaned. Laundry was done. Russ took the day off.

Our belief that this was our weekend was from more than just the cerclage. This has always been an important weekend for us. Russ asked me on our first date on Jan 30, 1999. We moved in together that weekend in 2001. Russ proposed on Jan 29, 2003. And we found out we were pregnant with Rhiannon on that weekend in 2007. This weekend held a lot of significance for us and we just knew it was going to be it.

So, that morning we took pictures. . .

Okay, Russ was just little stressed out that morning. You don't see this often folks.

We just knew that it was going to be THE DAY.

Guess what people, it was not the day. Nor the weekend. The cerclage was removed and when the doctor checked me, I was not thinning or dialating. He says, "This could be a while".

So, now I'm 38 weeks. We had our 38 week appointment on Friday. The night before, we took more pictures. . .

And at the appointment, we find out that I'm still not dialated at all and only 50% effaced.

The doctor asked me about induction and I told him that I would rather wait for it occur naturally. I'm due for another ultrasound at 39 weeks to see how big the baby is. We will discuss induction at 41 weeks unless there are other problems.

We have been passing around an ugly stomach virus at the house. Rhiannon had it earlier in the week and then I woke up with it the morning of my appointment. It's very difficult to pee in a cup when you can't keep water down. I made it through my appointment but was completely out of commission for the next two days. It's also difficult to hug a toilet properly with a watermelon in your belly. Luckily, we are all better now and Russ still hasn't caught it!

More updates to come!

Freedom!!!

Tomorrow I will be 37 weeks!

Here's a picture. . . actually this was at 35 weeks. I'll post another after tomorrow of 37 weeks. But you get the idea. H-U-G-E.

Tomorrow morning, I get the cerclage removed. This is the stitch that has been holding my cervix closed for the last 18 weeks. The midwife thinks that I will go into labor very quickly afterwards. The doctor said it could be a week of more. We're going to the appointment with a packed suitcase just in case!

At my appointment last week, the doctor gave me my freedom back. My mother and I basically ran out of the office screaming with joy. We headed straight to the mall and shopped. Now granted this was Lakeshore Mall in Gainesville so there wasn't much to look at but we shopped for make-up, pajamas, baby clothes, lotion, shoes. Whatever. Then we went out to lunch at Red Lobster. We were going to a movie but they didn't start until later on that afternoon. What a day.

This freedom also meant that I could keep Rhiannon! I haven't been able to spend the day alone with my daughter since September. I was pretty excited. So what did we do with our first day of freedom? We painted, we played outside, we made rice krispie treats for Daddy, we played in the floor. We had a blast.

Painting using brushes. . .

Then we moved onto just using the hands. . .

What else have we done?

We visited INK, a children's museum in Gainesville with my best friend Jessica and her son Hudson, also known as Rhiannon's future husband.

We have also been potty training. Again. Rhiannon was at the point in August where she was only wearing a pull up at night and panties all day. Around the time I was put on bedrest we had a bit of regression. Thankfully we are now taking outings again with panties and have been successful. Last night she even made it through the night without wetting her pull up. I am expecting some regression once the baby arrives but think we've made some big steps in the right direction these last few weeks.

Baby "Beth" has been potty training too. I walked into Rhiannon's bathroom one afternoon and found this. . .

Oh and one more funny picture. This girl can eat! She now eats an entire sandwich. Here she ate her peanut butter sandwich (minus the crusts), one whole apple and then while I was away from my seat, she ate the rest of my apple! What a cute little piggy!

Thank you all for your prayers. It's been a very long 18 weeks but we now have a full term baby. Rhiannon had 45 days of training from the wonderful NICU nurses so she came home to a rested Mommy and on a perfect schedule. This baby will be a completely different experience and we couldn't be more thrilled.

We'll keep you updated. . .