Sydney and Gavin

It has been such a joyful experience watching Sydney interact with her little brother. She is VERY proud of him and always enjoys chattering to him and singing to him. Also, she gets very tempted to touch him all the time. She'll take one finger and touch his cheek or his hand, real quickly, then look at us to see if we "caught" her. :) She is always very gentle with him and even likes to "pet" his head---so sweet. It just warms my heart to see her love him so much! Here are just a few pictures from our first week home with our new little guy. :)

Gavin's view of his silly sister

Having another conversation

Checking each other out :)

Bright eyes!

Introducing...Gavin Joseph!

At 7:44 on Saturday morning, April 3rd, we were blessed with a healthy and handsome baby boy! Gavin Joseph entered the world after almost 8 hours of labor...here's the story!

All last week I had been having cramps and contractions, when I had gone to the doctor on Tuesday I was dilated to 2 cm. The cramps and contractions continued throughout the week, off and on. Thursday was my last day of school and we got to spend Friday together as a family of 3. We decorated Easter eggs and played outside and just enjoyed our time together! I had been writing down my contractions and only ever got up to 4 in an hour--dr. wanted me to call when I had had 6 in an hour. So that night we went to bed around 10:30-11:00 and I woke up right before midnight to go to the bathroom. When I got back to bed I noticed I was quite uncomfortable and having some strong contractions (which felt like cramps which felt like the contractions I remember having with Sydney when I was in the hospital--not the "tightness of the belly" I had been told to look for.) Anyhow I had 5 of those contractions in 25 minutes....that was when we decided to head to the hospital. Hoping and praying it was not a false alarm, we called a friend to come over and sit with Sydney until Bailey could get there. I would have felt SO bad if I would have been wrong!

When we arrived at the hospital, the nurse checked me and I was dilated to a 3 and the contractions were closer together, 2-3 minutes apart. They admitted me and started pitocin, which really jump started the contractions even more! The anesthesiologist came and inserted the epidural--it was a much different experience than when I got one for Sydney. This guy had to try 3 different times and it took him about 30 minutes as opposed to maybe 10 minutes in my first experience. Not long after I got my epidural I started feeling light-headed and woozy---my blood pressure was dropping after getting the epidural so they had to lessen the dose until I felt normal again. Which of course meant that I got to feel more too! I dilated one centimeter per hour until I got to a 7, which was when the doctor came in to break my water. After he broke my water I could tell I progressed quickly--sure enough in less than 30 minutes I had gone from a 7 to a 9! I was at a 9 for awhile and the contractions by that time were very intense. I was actually relieved to finally reach 10 cm and get to push! Once the doctor arrived and I got the 'go ahead' things moved really quickly. In just a few pushes his head was out and the nurse said "okay, last time to take a guess--boy or girl?" I said "boy"--and then I got to meet him! :) Our beautiful, 8 lb. 20 inch long son was born at 7:44 in the morning.

Our experience after his birth was a wonderfully relaxing one compared to his big sister's and it was a very welcomed switch!!

Welcome to the world little man!

First bath

Syd meeting Gavin!