he's finally here!!!!

the wait is over! our second son, dylan nash, was born august 20th at 11:34am...but it was no easy road to get him here that's for sure.

after dealing with preterm labor since week 24 and being out of work and on bedrest, we finally got the point where the doctor said we could be induced, that was on the 11th. i was put on the induction list at arrowhead hospital for sunday the 16th starting at 8pm. that sunday, we took landon to chuck e cheese so we could spend some time with him before his brother came. he loved it, but got overwhelmed by all the kids. he wasn't crazy about the big, talking, dancing mouse either, which i thought most kids loved.

sunday night came and went...as did all day monday and all day tuesday and all day wednesday. the whole process was ridiculous!! i would call and ask how long it would take to get in, they would say "we'll call you". they would call me and say "you're still waiting". my doctor would call and they would tell him "keep waiting". for four days straight there was apparently never an opening. i was in so much pain and back labor and all the waiting through the nights was keeping us from sleeping. finally, my doctor called another nearby hospital to see if they could get me in. there was an opening thursday morning at 2am and so we waited to hear if that was going to work out. we got a call at 2am to be into banner thunderbird by 3am. thank heavens!!! some relief was near knowing we didn't have to keep waiting by the phone.

we dropped landon off with logan and felicia. we had them on standby all week just in case we had to get called in in the middle of the night. he wasn't too happy about it at first, but logan said he calmed down pretty soon after we left. i felt sad knowing that my baby boy wasn't going to be the baby anymore and he had no idea.

we got settled into the hospital, prepaid for their service (which is some new hospital policy and it may have been to early for the lady to get jordan's joke about what they do with the babies if you can't pay ahead of time for them), and went to our room. the hospital is really nice and the people were nice to us. they started pitocin on me right away and asked me about 100 questions, one of which being what the maximum pain i could tolerate would be. i assumed this was to gauge whether or not i was going to need the drugs and i said yes, i will be asking for them at some point. dr erickson came around 7 and broke my water, which is the most disgusting feeling ever but for the sake of any male readers, i'll spare the details. jordan left for a few mintues to get landon and take him to daycare for the afternoon. we would have kept him with us but landon isn't one to be contained and there were too many things for him to mess with and get in trouble. while jordan was gone, i got to experience the horrible pain of real labor. last time with landon, i had the epidural early and so i never really felt the intense contractions....but i sure felt them this time!!! i thought i was dying! it was terrible. jordan called and asked how i was and all i said was "come back". he came back and then the wonderful anthesia doctor came back!! she was my hero. the medicine made me a little loopy and had to be administered twice for it to work but it finally took effect and it was so much better after that. each leg felt like it weighed 100 pounds.

at 10:45 i was ready to go. i pushed with the nurses for three sets of contractions and then had to stop because the baby was coming out and we had to wait for the doctor to come back. it took him a little while to come back and when he did, i only pushed a couple of times and then, there he was.

it was a totally different feeling than what i felt with landon. i didn't know what to expect but when he came out, i was overjoyed! i had been so worried that this day wouldn't come because of the early complications and i was worried all throughout the pregnancy that this day would be tainted with rushing nurses and doctors and oxygen masks and loud beeping of monitors. when it all went smoothly, it was mroe than i ever could have asked for. i was so happy. so was jordan! he is the cutest daddy ever. his face was just lit up and he was so excited to see them measure and weigh him. he weighed in at 8 pounds, 1 ounce.....big boy!!! we all guessed he would be in the 7's somewhere. he was 20 1/8 inches long and he was built like a little bulldog, just stout with a barrel chest and chubby arms and legs. he had blonde hair and looked very similar to landon. another beautiful boy. we are so blessed!

all his tests came back good so we were able to keep him in the room with us the whole time, expect he had to stay under the heat lamps for the first few hours because he was struggling with his temperature a little. that night, jordan brought landon back to meet his brother. he was more excited than i thought he would be! he wanted to kiss the baby and hold him and give him hugs. later on, kyle and his friend britt came to visit and landon was so excited. he loves kyle!! the perry family too and we were so happy to see them. they brought their little girl kamryn and she is two months old now, which i can't believe! she's so adorable. landon was elated that kade was there to play with him, although the hospital room isn't the best place for boys to play...lots of buttons that call people and make noises and sound alarms. the perry's were so awesome; they took landon home with them so jordan could get some sleep..he was exhausted beyond belief.

we got to go home the next evening and today has been our first full day home. it's taking some getting used to with landon and the baby. he isn't always willing to share his time and attention and he doesn't fully understand what is going on yet. we have to say "be gentle" about 100 times an hour to him. dylan is good though. he sleeps a lot but has been awake a lot today..so hopefully he sleeps tonight. last night was a little rough because dylan was getting used to being home, landon got woke up by the monsoon and wanted to come to bed with us, and gage was having seizures (caused from the new stress or the heat probably).

my family feels pretty complete now. everyone keeps asking if we are going to have another one, to get a girl or whatever, but i like having my three guys. i'm outnumbered but i know that it is going to be so fun....going to soccer games, camping, playing baseball, doing all the boy things with them as they grow up together. i'm so lucky to have these two boys in my life and i'm even luckier to have such a wonderful husband! he has been awesome through this whole process, he was amazing in the delivery room, and he is so supportive now that we're home. i loved seeing him and dylan sleeping on the couch together last night.

so now we're home and our life starts a new chapter. it'll be interesting to see what is written for us to come.

tick, tick, tick

baby dylan update.....he's still in there. as of last wednesday, i was allowed to stop taking all the medicine to keep him from coming and my doctor said that if he was to try and come, he wouldn't postpone it at all. over the last few days, every little twinge and contraction and pain has me reaching for the hospital bags and the car keys. i keep waiting impatiently however...i'm waiting for a clear cut sign that it's time...mainly because i don't want to pay the bill only to be sent home to wait some more. so here we are, closing in on 37 weeks and the doctor has given me the "any day now" sentence. between waiting for dylan to come and waiting to hear about the offer we made on our house, the suspense is killing us.....ah, how wonderful it would be to be landon; blissfully unaware of everything that is about to change. he is still too young to understand that soon, that huge mass that has been growing in mommy is about to become a human whom he will have to share us with. he thinks babies are cute and he seems to know that he needs to be gentle around them but it will be interesting to see how he copes with a baby brother. i think the biggest frustration for him will be that the baby won't be able to play with him right away. instead, he will be demanding time and attention from us that landon is usually obliged to soak up in mass quanity. i was telling jordan the other day that i almost feel guilty for having another baby.....maybe it's an expecting mom thing, or maybe not but i feel like it isn't going to be fair to landon. i feel like he will think that he wasn't enough for us (which IS NOT the case because he is MORE than enough). case in point: we went to lunch today and it was so hot out and landon wanted a drink of our drink because it had a straw. he just figured out how to use them so he likes to try whenever he can. the drink was diet pepsi. landon went crazy!! he was yelling and running around walmart after lunch, pulling things off the shelf, climbing in and out of the cart, taking off down the aisle in a sprint...more than usual. he was so wired! after just a few minutes in the car on the drive home, he crashed hard. he was so exhausted that he didn't even wake up when i took him out of the car seat and took his shoes off to lie him down for a nap. that boy!!!
so for now, the restless nights filled with anticipation and the long days waiting around is what we are doing....we'll keep you posted in the event that something climatic happens....hoping it happens soon...