Sunday, April 28, 2013

Sydney's birthday


Whew!  What a week!  Our first week home with Sydney has been wonderful, she is such a JOY!!  I love having a little GIRL!!!  I never knew how much I loved pink!
I can hardly believe she was a week old on Thursday.  My mom has been here and was such a huge help and now I have had my first few days "flying solo", it hasn't been that bad!  :)
For my own memory, I am writing down the story of her birthday.  For those of you who love details like this, read on!  If you can live your days without reading a birth story, now is a good place to stop!

I was induced on the morning of April 18th, two days past my due date.  We had to be at the hospital at 7:00 am.  I had prayed from the moment we found out we were pregnant for my labor and delivery nurse and the moment of truth had come.  We sat in the waiting room and waited for our nurse to come get us and escort us to our room.  God is good, he gave me the most awesome nurse to be with me all day and her name was Katie.  I loved her.  She was so attentive, so informative, had a great personality and just made the day fun!
I was hooked up to IV fluids and put on pitocin right around 8:00.  Didn't feel much of anything and then Dr. Appel came in between 8:30 and 9 to break my water.  That got the ball rolling with my contractions.  Nothing too Earth shattering at first, just a lot of lower back pain.  I sat in my bed with Good Morning America and Live with Kelley and Michael on tv for the better part of the morning.  Around 11:00 I started getting uncomfortable and thought about getting my epidural sooner rather than later.  I held out until 11:30 and asked for the epidural but had to wait on the anesthesiologist until about 12:15. This was hold onto the bed rail kind of pain...not where I was wanting to go with this since I am a sissy with pain.  I was still dialated to a 3, not very far along.  I didn't care, I wanted my pain to go away and it did!!  Sweet relief!

The day continued and I read my stack of magazines, watched the Food Network and just hung out with James, his mom, and my parents and Parker on and off.  Things were going well.  Around 4:00 Katie checked me and I was dialated to around a 6, so she decided to put me in a position to see if that would help get me dialated a little bit more.  She called it the "fire hydrant" position...I was lying flat on my left side with one leg hiked up in a stirrup, real cute!  I was talking to my mom on the phone because they were at our house while P napped.  I hung up with her at 4:15 and started hurting a little bit, just felt mostly weird pressure.  A lot of pressure.  At this point I was alone in the room so I buzzed Katie and told her how I felt.  She checked me and said, "honey, you are ready to roll"!  Oh my gosh, I went from a 6 to a 10 in like 20 minutes!!  Dr Appel wasn't in the hospital so they paged her immediately because I was ready to start pushing!  My whole body starting shaking, it was wild.  They told me this was just a reaction to what my body was going through and about to do...I don't remember that with P.  I couldn't control my shakes, it was like an out of body experience!

James came in along with a big team from the nursery and more labor and delivery nurses.  Dr. Appel showed up, asked me to start pushing with my contractions and three pushes later...Miss Sydney Kate was born at 4:47 pm.  THREE pushes!  Did you read that??  I pushed for 2 hours with Parker, this was so exciting for me!

Now let me remind you that we did not know what we were having so when the moment of truth arrived, Dr. Appel held her up so we could both see her.  Sydney's cord was hanging between her legs and I kept starring, waiting to see the little boy part.  When Dr. A moved it, I was absolutely shocked to see my little girl!!  I was elated!!!
We hadn't completely decided on a middle name so as Sydney was being cleaned and me stitched up, we were talking feverishly about her middle name!
Once everyone was clean and presentable, James brought Parker in to meet his baby sister.  It was a moment I'll never forget, I cry just thinking about it.  So sweet. Then the whole family came in and we got to announce her name!!  It was the BEST day!

Side note...if you are preggo and toying with not finding out the gender...DO IT!!!  It is the best moment of your whole life!  The biggest surprise you'll ever get!  :)  Thank you to my friend, Shay Shull (Mix and Match Mama),  for all the encouragement you gave me in this decision...you were right!  The best surprise ever, it was worth the wait!!

Now...here are just a "few"
pics from the day!


The night before we went out to dinner as a family of 3 for the last time!  It was a special night!

Here we go, let's have a baby!!

Waiting for our newest family member!

My little buddy with a gift for his new baby!


Hanging out with the family!

Seeing baby Sydney for the very first time.  She was being cleaned up in the warmer.

There she is!  7 pounds, 6 oz and 19 1/2 inches long.


                                             Handing her to me for the very first time!

My wonderful doctor, Dr. Appel!  I love this lady!

Proud new daddy!

First pic as a family of 4!
Mom and dad meeting their newest grand-daughter!

Proud Nana

I love this pic!

We had some very special visitors that night!
This is Parker with some of his best friends Blair and Jack!

Me with Brie and Heidi, love these girls!

Grandad holding his new granddaughter!

Sweet baby girl in Neesie's arms.

Parker came up the next morning to hang out!

Getting her dressed for the first time in something pink!!

So in love!

I loved my Friday afternoon visitors!  
Julie and Amanda were so sweet to come by and meet Sydney!
Here we are with Julie.

Sydney loved meeting Amanda!  

Time to go home!  I LOVED this baby buggy cart!  James was like..."I have to push that thing all the way to the parking lot??"  Yes you do!  ;)


Leaving the room.

Here we go, next stop, home!!

Parker was there waiting with some big kisses for his baby sister!

We love you Sydney Kate!  Welcome to our family!!
Many more pics to come!!




Sunday, April 21, 2013

It's a GIRL!!!!

Sydney Kate Austin arrived at 4:47 pm on Thursday, April 18th and weighed 7 lbs 6oz and was 191/2 inches long.  My heart is overjoyed with our newest little addition and I was beyond shocked when this baby GIRL was born!!  As you know, I just knew we were having a boy, so this was the biggest and best surprise of my whole life!
We are so in love already.  It's amazing how GOD can allow your heart to love that deeply so quickly! We are all doing well!  I'll have many more pics and the birth story in the days to come!

Here she is!
Right after she was born!


First pic as a family of four!


One very proud big brother!

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

My due date...

Came and went!  I was 40 weeks yesterday and do you know how weird it feels to walk around and do normal life on your due date?  It's kind of odd.  I mean, that date had been highlighted, circled, and put in bold for 9 whole months and then it just was just no big deal.  Oh well...we made a day of it anyway.  Parker was at school most of the day, so James and I met up for a lunch date and I ran errands for the last time by myself for a very long time.  It was awesome!
I go back to the dr this morning to see what's going on and the plan is for me to be induced tomorrow morning!!!!  Today is my last day to be pregnant and I'm bittersweet about it.  I've enjoyed it so much and have been so thankful for the experience.
Praying for a healthy, safe delivery and a precious, healthy baby by the end of the day tomorrow!  I will keep you all posted!

40 weeks!
Do I look "done" or what??

Lunch date with my sweet hubby at a favorite lunch spot called "Crush".

This cutie LOVES wearing his "big brother" shirt. He has kept me busy over the past several weeks asking endless questions about when the baby is coming, when Neesie and Grandad will be here, etc.  It's been a lot of fun!  Can't wait to see him meet his new sibling!





Monday, April 15, 2013

Happy Monday!

I thought I better check in for those of you wondering...I am still pregnant!  My due date is tomorrow and I have not one picture to post today.  The stomach bug hit our house over the weekend and lucky me, I came down with it the worst.
This morning, my coffee is back in hand and all is well.  Just waiting on this sweet baby to arrive, it seems as if time has stood still!  Waiting is hard.  My due date is tomorrow, can't believe it!  At my appt last Thursday, I had made no progress from the week before, still 2 cm dialated and 75 % effaced.
If this baby doesn't come sooner, I will be induced on Thursday!!  So we for sure will have a baby THIS WEEK!!  Praise the Lord!  :)
Today, I am going out to buy a baby book, it hit me at 4 am this morning that this baby doesn't have one.  What is wrong with my brain??  Happy Monday!

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

39 weeks!

Well, here I am one week from my due date...crazy!  I just thought I was ready to have this baby two weeks ago, well, I am READY to roll!  I have reached the point of feeling somewhat uncomfortable...lower back pain has set in, major fatigue and even some anxiety about how this is all going to go down!  I'm so excited about the big day though,  just beside myself wondering what it's going to be and watching Parker meet his baby brother or sister...it is going to be the best!!  Parker has kept up the excitement as well and continues to give us predictions as to when this baby is going to arrive and whether it's a boy or girl!

1 week to go!!

In the meantime, we've been busy celebrating Waco's 8th birthday!

Making pancakes

Getting baby items out of the attic

Being silly (with clean underwear I might add)

Enjoying the park

Getting a little wet on a very warm day

And going on one last date night with the hubs...Jurassic Park in 3D was awesome by the way!  :)

Stay tuned for baby news!!! I go to the doctor on Thursday morning so we will see what she says!


Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Easter 2013

Easter Sunday is the best because as Christians, we can proclaim that He is Risen!!  It also means that it is Spring and that it's ok to wear white.  Anyone else have that ingrained in them since childhood?  You can't wear white until Easter, it that a Southern thing?  I still think that way!  Anyway, silly clothing rules aside, we had a wonderful weekend celebrating the Resurrection with lots of festivities.  We typically spend Easter in Dallas, but since I can't travel, we stayed home and Amarillo didn't disappoint, the weather was perfect!

We started off with an Easter egg hunt Saturday morning at church!

Success!

Going through the "loot" with Walt, Wyatt and Morgan.

It was a gorgeous morning!

Later that afternoon we dyed eggs on our patio...in his underwear of course!

Parker took this very seriously!

Waking up Sunday morning to see what the Easter bunny brought in his basket!

Then it was off to church!

Loving on the baby.

Then we got casual so we could spend the afternoon at Nana's house for lunch and more egg hunting!

Lookin' hard for those eggs!

My two handsome boys!

Parker and his great-grandmother Dottie and Meemo.  
It was a great day!

Next up on the agenda...the arrival of baby!!!!
I've loved reading your comments on what you think it is, keep the guesses coming if you haven't chimed in!