In all the hustle and bustle of life, I realized that I haven't really done a dedicated post about little August! August is three months old now and I can't believe this time next year he'll be running around! It's crazy how much happens in the first year of life.
My delivery with August was a dream. It was the easiest, most wonderful delivery and I am very thankful for that because if I had another delivery that was as long and insane as Hadley's I would have killed myself. August's due date was May 4, 2014, but my awesome Dr. Klomp agreed to induce me at 39 weeks 1 day because of my delivery problems with Hadley. I really didn't think I would make it to that day because I had been dilated since 36.5 weeks. I was so swollen, and so freaking uncomfortable. I couldn't wear shoes and my face looked like I had been stung by a bee. I couldn't wait to be induced, and even tried some tricks of my own to kick start labor. (Just about everything besides castor oil...)
The morning of April 28th arrived and Levi and I got to check in to St. Luke's labor and delivery. My amazing sister Laurie and two of her girls were able to come up the day before and knowing they were going to be there to see August right away made me so happy. We got checked into our room and met our awesome nurse. Her name was Heather and we found out that she was also LDS. Having an LDS nurse and doctor was great.
Around 8:45 they broke my water and found that the baby was super low and just about ready to come out. I hadn't felt any pain at that point but I knew that he was going to come quick and I was worried that I wouldn't have requested my epidural in time. Around 9:10 I started to have regular contractions, which weren't bad at all. After the back labor with Hadley, I feel like I can handle anything! I got my epidural around 9:30 and it was AMAZING. I told the anesthesiologist about my issues the first time (I had a really bad reaction to the lidocaine and was 100% numb on my left side and my lower half. It was very scary.) She took care of me and gave me the best epidural. I had full movement, just no pain. The epidural also gave me a little bit of a buzz and I think I was saying some dumb things, but I can't remember now.
My mother-in-law Maria and my sis-in-law Avery were able to visit with me for a while and then everyone from my family came to visit too, and eventually the rest of Levi's family was there. It was just a nice, relaxing open house! The weather was beautiful and the big windows in the room made the room sunny and cheerful. Around 11:25 I felt like I needed to go the bathroom, the sign that it's time to push. It wasn't painful at all and I was so thankful that this was going so well. The nurse checked me and made a quick call to the incredible Dr. Klomp, who told her, "Don't push! I'll be right there!" He came running from his office across the street and I told him I was doing my best to hold the baby off. Even though everything was progressing so well, I still had a fear that I would have to push for hours and hours like my last delivery, so I was so pleased when he told me he thought it'd be before noon! That was in 20 minutes! Sure enough, I only had to do 3 or 4 sets of pushes (3 ten second pushes with each set) and at 11:59am our GORGEOUS baby boy was born!
The very first thing I thought was how beautiful and perfectly formed he was, the second thought was, "Where is his hair!?" I never in my wildest dreams would have thought I'd have a bald baby! Hadley had black hair at birth and with this baby also being 1/4 Mexican, I thought there'd at least be SOME hair! Ok, he did have a little bit of hair, and as soon as the light hit it, we all saw that it is RED! So excited at the thought of possibly having a redhead. Who knows, maybe it will change, but that first day it was as red as a rose.
August weighed 8lbs 3 oz and was 20.5 inches long. He had an adorable little cry the first day and we couldn't believe how sweet he was!
I only stayed in the hospital the one night (I HATE being away from home, even if I do get to eat the yummy room service they have at the hospital.) Hadley was fairly uninterested in August while we were in the hospital, which is what we assumed she would be like. I knew that it would be harder once we got home.
On the 29th, we took August home and that's when his fussiness started kicking in. The poor little guy had acid reflux so bad, but we didn't know, we just thought he was super cranky. After several doctor appointments, including an ER visit when he was five days old, we got him on some medicine and a good formula. That whole process did take a month and it is definitely a month you couldn't pay me to revisit. I will just focus on how incredible he is now!
Photo of August at 1 month old
Here are some August-at-three-months Factoids:
-He still loves being held ALL the time! That boy loves to be swaddled up and snuggled. I love looking at him all bundled up with his little binky in his mouth. So precious!
-August is an amazing traveler. Just like his sister, he really enjoys being in the car.
-His hair is starting to come in more and, while not as red as it was the first couple of months, it definitely still has a red tint to it.
-He is very active. He can roll to his stomach with almost no assistance and has flipped back to his back once. He also loves being held up so he can "walk".
-He is vocal and coos and blows loud raspberries.
-At church, he likes to be held up and will stare at people until they look over at him and then he'll break into a huge smile.
-He is on a great schedule (knock on freaking wood!) where he only gets up once during the night, usually somewhere between 3-4am, eats a quick bottle, and then falls right back asleep. I finally feel sane again!
-Hadley likes to lie on the floor with him and hold his hand. She really does think he's pretty cool and I can't wait until he can start following her around.
-He still loves feeling the sun on his face and it has been wonderful being able to take him in the backyard many times throughout the day.
August at 3 months.
