5 Week Update!

Henry is five weeks today, and I just wanted to jot down a few updates on what he is doing as of now!

He eats every 2-3 hours, and seems to want to eat a lot in the evenings. He takes a good nap in the morning, and then usually a "marathon" nap in the afternoons. He sleeps a lot, it seems, a lot more than I remember Abbie ever sleeping at this age, but maybe I just don't remember!

He has a lot of gas and going to the bathroom problems right now. He has had it pretty much since he was born, and that tends to wake him up a lot from naps or at night. I am really praying this goes away in a few weeks - and if anyone has any advice I will take it. We have tried mylicon but it doesn't really help. It doesn't make him mad all the time, but there is usually about one or two times a day when he gets really upset. As I write this right now he is in the pack and play fussing about his belly...

He loves the Baby Bjorn, and we carry him around in it a lot. I think the upright position is comfortable to him because of the gas thing too - and at night I tend to hold him on my chest so he can go to sleep. His first stretch at night is his best and most restful, and that is usually from about 9-12. Then after that it's very sporadic, depending on his belly that night.

At his last appointment he weighed 10 lbs, 5 oz, and was 22" long - I am pretty sure they said that was 50 % for both. And he had to have his first hepatitis B vaccine. Broke.My.Heart.

And lastly, I think he looks like Wes. He is absolutely gorgeous, with blue eyes and dark hair. He has three dimples, one in each cheek and one in his chin, which runs in my side of the family. He has long fingers and long thin legs.

I will post some pics soon!!

What's happening around here...

Yesterday Henry was 4 weeks old. I have to say I can't believe it's already been 4 weeks, even though some days seem to drag by. It's been an adjustment with the move and having a new baby and having Abbie home with me full time. I am not going to paint this perfect picture of our life and say it's a cake walk, because it's pretty hard and my patience wears thin on a lot of days. But I am learning about my limits and adjusting and with a lot of prayer and a little wine, I think I am managing ok! I truly love these two kids so very much, and my heart has totally made room for little Henry!

Abbie is going to a church camp next week for a few days, which will be great for her and me. I'm looking forward to a little bonding time with Henry, and Abbie is so excited already!

That's about it for now!

Introducing....

James Henry Ledford!!

This post is way overdue, about 2 weeks actually, but wow, life with two kids is busy!!

Henry was born on Friday, May 6th at 4:48pm. He weighed 7lbs, 12 oz, and was 21" long. He is absolutely perfect in every way and we are loving him so much!

So here is how the day of his birth went - I had a scheduled induction for Friday, the 6th, because of Wes and I's situation of living apart, plus the fact that I really didn't want Abbie and Henry to have the same birthday. So anyways, I went in at 6am, and it took a good couple hours to do paperwork, bloodwork, get my iv in, etc. So by the time they started the pitocin it was about 8:30 or 9. They also put the line in for the epidurral but I opted to not get the medicine in until I made some more progression(when I got there I was between 1-2 cm dilated). I started having pretty good and steady contractions almost right away, but wasn't making a lot of quick progression with dilation, so they broke my water around noon. It wasn't much longer after that until I got the medicine going for the epidurral - I was about 4cm at that point and the contractions were getting much stronger with the pitocin. I think the next time they checked me I was about a 5, and then, just like with Abbie, I progressed really quickly to over a 9 and it was about time to push! From there it went so fast! I pushed through about 4 contractions, and he was here! I couldn't believe how much quicker the pushing part went with Henry, it literally took no time at all once he was ready. Oh and also the epidurral had numbed me up a ton, like too much, and they had turned it off about an hour before I started pushing, so thankfully I could feel enough to push. They layed him on my chest, and my first thought was he looked just like Abbie when she was born. I was able to nurse him right away, and he had no problems and was really in picture perfect health! I immediately fell in love with Henry, just as I had with Abbie.

This time around it was just Wes in the delivery room, but my grandmother and Aunt Debbie were at the hospital all day waiting, and then Wes's parents were taking care of Abbie, and they brought her to meet Henry later that evening.

Since Henry's birth, things have been a little crazy, but we've made it through! We were able to come home on Mother's day, which was a wonderful present in itself, and then we had a few days before we started packing up our stuff and getting ready for our move to Atlanta! We celebrated Abbie's 3rd bday on the 13th, and then the following day made the move down here to our new home. We had soooo much help from family, and couldn't have done it without them.

So now we've been in our new home for a week, and things are great. We are loving the area, Wes is back to work and is so happy to not have to drive to NC every weekend, and just be able to come home and have a normal life again, and I'm adjusting to being at home alone with two kiddos!! Henry is a great baby, he hardly ever cries! Abbie is doing great with him. She loves him so much and wants to hold him and kiss him all the time. I do think she goes a little stir crazy being here at home with us so I try to get out and keep her as busy as possible. She's used to going to Pam's house every day, so I have to keep reminding myself this is a big change for her too. Thankfully we live in a kid-friendly neighborhood and town, so there are parks and all kinds of things for kids to do. I've also enrolled her in a preschool that starts in August, and she'll go to a couple morning camps in June and July.

So that's about it for now! We are truly so thankful that our family is together again and that everything went so well with Henry's birth! Enjoy the pictures and I'll try to be better about posting!

Oh and just for a stat update too - Abbie went for her 3-year check up Friday and weighed 30 lbs and I believe was 3 foot 2" tall. And Henry, at 2 weeks, weighed in at 8 lbs 9 oz.

We did it!

I feel like singing the Dora song and dancing! We did it - we made it to the end of this separation and Wes is home and now we just have to wait on the baby to get here and we can move down to GA together, as a family. There still might be a few days where Wes has to go on down there before me, but overall, we've made it to the end, and it seems unreal to me almost. I keep thinking, well, today is Friday, and Wes has to leave Sunday or Monday, but no, not this time! He's here and I couldn't be happier. Next update? Might be about baby boy, we'll see!!

Soon this precious little girl will be THREE!!!

Yep!

We are sooo very close to this chapter being over in our lives! This week will mark the last week of Wes being gone and after that, it's baby time! Induction is currently set for Friday, May 6th. My appointment went well on Thursday - I found out I am dilated 1cm, but he still has a long way to drop, much to my disbelief. I pray he waits until either next Thursday or after, or if we have to wait until the induction that will be fine too. I can't believe we are so close!

There are some other things going on too - the job situation is looking promising, and we might might might have someone interested in buying our house - but we'll see how those two things pan out. For now I'm thankful for the events that took place so very long ago that give us reason to live today. I hope you all have a wonderfully blessed Easter, and don't forget the reason we are celebrating!

Getting Closer!!

This morning Wes left for Los Angeles, and he will be back Friday - I was sad to see him leave after only being home a day and a half, but when he gets back, we'll only have about 2 more weeks of living apart! Yippeeeeee!! I will be 37 weeks this week - and I go back to the doctor Wednesday to start weekly appointments. I have no clue if I am dilating or not, but I've definitely felt a lot more pain and pressure this last week or so. I will update you guys and let you know how things are progressing! Overall I am feeling great though, aside from just having to bend over so much with Abbie and being pretty worn out at the end of each day. On the job front, I had a phone interview Friday for one of the two sales positions opening up with Eaton down in Atlanta. I think it went well, and I am just holding out hope that they will hire me for one of the openings! I am not sure at this point if I will know before I have the baby or not, but we've waited this long so what's a little longer???!! And Abbie's babysitter is off this week so I've got family coming here to help out with her, so that will be awesome! I think that's about all the news I have for now! I will try to update after my appointment Wednesday. Hope all you locals are enjoying this beautiful spring weather!