Two Weeks

 We've now had Davis in our family for two weeks and it has gone by so fast, and at the same time, I feel like he's always been part of us. These big brothers are absolutely as smitten as I thought they'd be. They have been so helpful and so sweet to their new brother! They ask to hold him all the time and are so willing to do little chores and errands for me (as long as they somehow help the baby- like fetching diapers or grabbing a binky).

I set Davis down one morning so I could change the laundry and when I came back Hudson was reading him a book! It was the sweetest thing! Both boys jump at any chance to hold their baby brother.

We've spent most of the last two weeks just snuggling Davis. This newborn stage goes too quickly and Ben and I are determined to enjoy it to the fullest. Holding a newborn is really the closest thing to heaven.

This was the first time Davis came along for morning carpool! Chase was so excited about it. So far, this has been the biggest challenge (the few times I've done it). Davis's eating has been a little stressful- he's not the greatest nurser and is very unpredictable. Sometimes he latches immediately and eats great. A lot of the time it takes over 30 minutes to trying to wake him and get him to latch- and then calm him when he gets frustrated- and by the time we finish the feeding it's taken over an hour! This particular morning I started trying to feed him 40 minutes before leaving for school, but it took me until 10 minutes before we had to leave to get him to latch! But we made it!

Hudson got a little cold so we've been trying to keep him away from Davis, which didn't really go well. He just loves him so much! Here he is blowing a kiss to the baby! Hudson has written two lullabies he sings to the baby. One is his celebration milk song (celebration milk=nursing, another Hudson original) which just goes "suck, suck, suck, suck" over and over and ends with motorcycle noises. The other is "rock a bye baby, don't go a stray" which I think is a hybrid of rock a bye baby and Follow the Prophet. Sometimes that song ends with an elephant noise. They are so funny and have made me laugh a lot these past few weeks.

Ben had to go to Toronto for work for a few days, so my mom came to stay with us. She spent all three nights with me (which was good since Davis REALLY struggled with nursing those nights which was stressful) and then took a day off work to spend with us. She cleaned my whole house, made shamrock cookies with the boys, did our laundry, helped Chase with homework, held the baby and offered lots of moral support. We are so blessed to have her so close by! She was a lifesaver. My dad also took the boys to work with him one of the days, so they got in a little farming adventure. We survived Ben's trip!

I didn't do much for St. Patrick's Day this year. With Davis still being so new we were doing well to just basically survive this time! But the boys did wear green and I dyed their milk green at breakfast! I really loved Davis's little leprechaun outfit! My friend Andrea gave it to us and his tiny body and red hair made him the cutest little leprechaun I've ever seen!

Choosing His Name

I always like to record the story of how we landed on our babies names. And I like Davis' story!

Last time around, we had a hard time deciding on a name for Hudson, mostly because Ben kept shooting down all my favorites! This time from early on in the pregnancy I knew I wanted to name this baby either Cooper or Sawyer (both names I tried for with Hudson) and I was fairly certain if the baby was a boy he would be one of those two names.

 Then we found out it was a boy, and Ben pretty much vetoed Sawyer, but said he was open to Cooper, although not totally enthused about it. Ben came up with Blake, which I was kind of okay with, but wasn't loving either. I assumed it would be awhile before we came to a name consensus. Within just a few weeks of finding out we were having a boy, one night Ben randomly suggested Davis.

 It was like a little light went off in my head. I liked the name Davis! To make it even better, Davis is a family name on my mom's side. The Davis family joined the church in Wales and immigrated to America. They started the journey west, and their daughter Jane married a young man named William Lewis. Jane's parents stayed behind to help other pioneers build handcarts, and ended up dying before being able to come to Utah themselves. Jane and William traveled across the plains in an early handcart company nicknamed the "starvation company". William was a strong, young man, and was helping many other families with the journey as well. Their food was strictly rationed and they were limited to 1/4 cup of flour per person per day. Jane could see that William was struggling to maintain his strength, as many were depending on his help to make the journey. She started sneaking him her portions of flour (unbeknownst to him) and they both made it to Utah. Their story continues to be one of strength, courage and sacrifice. Once I told Ben about this story, it really cemented in his mind that Davis was to be this child's name.

 It's kind of funny, now that we've named three boys I figured that our subsequent boys would use a name we'd discussed for one of their older brothers, but both Hudson and Davis' names weren't even on our radar until that particular child came along. We had never talked about the name Davis before this conversation, but it just immediately clicked and felt like it should be his name. He just felt like a Davis.

 We decided to wait until he was born to pick a middle name. We tossed around a few ideas, but I kind of hoped when we met him we would know what it was supposed to be. I wanted to name him Davis Jack, since Hudson had been asking to name him "Jack went to Monkeys" since the minute we told him Davis was coming- and continued to suggest it as a middle name. When we realized that Davis was going to be born on the exact day Hudson knew he was coming, we both just knew he was supposed to be Davis Jack. While I was in labor and trying to deal with the pain of contractions, I tried to "connect" with the baby- and during those moments I just really felt he was supposed to be Davis Jack. Jack was Ben's least favorite on our list of middle names, but when I told him how I felt he immediately agreed- he was Davis Jack.

Shortly after Davis was born we sent a text to the family to let them know, and included his middle name it in. When my mom told it to the boys, Hudson was immediately in denial and exclaimed, "No, it's supposed to be Davis Michael Jack-went-to-Monkeys Hugo! Quick, someone FIX THIS before he gets any bigger!" There's a chance Hudson still thinks his middle is/should be Jack-went-to-Monkeys. Hudson was just so connected with Davis during the pregnancy (right up to guessing the exact day he'd be born) that we thought it would be a meaningful name for our little Davis.

We love his name, and love this baby even more! He's just the best.

(All these pictures I took when he was 5 days old)

Our Hospital Stay

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in the hospital. Even though I was dealing with uncomfortable recovery pain and all that very unglamorous stuff, I still loved all the quiet bonding time with Davis. Ben stayed with me the whole time and the boys enjoyed being spoiled by grandparents.

 Will and Kate came to visit on Saturday night and we had fun talking with them (we rarely see them without all the little ones running around/fighting and requiring parental attention). Then on Sunday morning my mom brought the boys back to visit their new brother. They were just as excited as they were the night before.

 Our first night in the hospital we sent Davis to the nursery so we could get some sleep and asked that they bring him back when he needed to eat. Well, as hard as I tried I hardly slept a wink all night. Every time I'd fall asleep, I'd quickly jerk awake within minutes. I think I still had so much adrenaline in my system from our crazy delivery day. My nap on Sunday went much the same way, so by Sunday night, going on almost no sleep for two days and all the pain of recovery I started to feel very sick, dizzy, nauseated and just all around terrible. The nurses suggested I take a phenergan (an anti-nausea pill that also makes you very sleepy) and that we send Davis to the nursery for the night. They said they would still bring him to me to eat, but not very often and asked permission to give him a bottle if he couldn't give me at least a three hour stretch of sleep. I quickly agreed to that, since I knew I really needed the sleep at that point and I wanted to be a little more well-rested to go home. I sent Davis off and quickly fell asleep. I guess he got fussy kind of quick, so they gave him one small bottle, and then brought him to me to nurse a little later, giving me a nice 5 hour stretch of sleep, which was heavenly! I guess while they had him, he had a de-sat spell and turned a little blue, but quickly brought his oxygen back up with them picking him up and moving him. I was a little scared when I heard that, and nervous that it would happen again. Since it didn't, they decided it was an isolated incident, he may have spit up some amniotic fluid that got caught or something. I was grateful that the nurses were watching him when that happened!

 I think this picture best highlights that Davis got my hair color! Every nurse asked if all our kids were redheads- and we told them just this one!

 In the past I've been ready to go home the second they will let me. This time we decided to just stay as long as possible and enjoy the quiet time with just Davis. The hospital food was actually really pretty good, and since they kept telling me "order as much food as you want" I always ordered a lot of stuff and Ben and I just split every meal. But after we had lunch on Monday it really was time to go home. It was nice to not feel rushed to get home, and not have to stay any longer than we wanted. We were ready to get home to the other two boys and sleep in our own bed!

Even though we've done this before, a new baby continues to be the most beautiful, special, miraculous experience we've ever had. Ben and I both love holding babies- so we basically just took turns holding him the whole time. We had wonderful doctors and nurses the whole time. I felt like the whole hospital staff was just there to help us, make us more comfortable, and otherwise let us be on our own and just be with our new little son. Those two days together in the hospital were sweet and quiet and just perfect. 

Davis Birth Story

Our darling baby boy made his grand debut on March 4, 2017. To preface this story, let me say that once March 1st hit, and we were officially in the safe zone (37 weeks) and the boys knew it was "march" aka- the month baby brother was going to be born, we were all getting a little impatient for him to come. I knew I was being silly, but I still was longing for him to come earlier rather than later and even told my doctor at my appointment that I'd really like to have the baby that weekend, which just sounded like a good time to me.

January and February were hyper-nesting months for me. I had all his little clothes washed and ready to go, the nursery stocked, meals prepped and in the freezer, and the house clean (as clean as it could stay while we still lived there). I was still going to the gym 5 days a week, I even went a had a pretty decent workout on Friday, March 3rd, the day before he came. I was so ready! On Friday, Hudson told me that Davis had told him he was going to come the next day- a thought he repeated several times throughout the day. 

Saturday morning came. I'd slept awfully on that night, feeling lots of cramping, but nothing consistent or labor like. Then, while lying in bed that morning I felt a gush of fluid. I hoped it meant my water had broken, but I continued to second guess myself as I went about our morning, got all ready and now, of course, started washing my sheets. I didn't say anything to the boys about it, but while I was fixing breakfast Hudson came up to me, placed his ear against my belly, and said, "Davis is talking to me! He says he wants to come today!"

Ben finally convinced me to call Dr. Spencer and get his opinion, which was of course, to go in and get checked. My mom ran right down to be with the boys and we headed out. I had a fairly pessimistic attitude as we drove to the hospital, and felt like 90% sure they were going to turn us away and I would feel foolish. Contractions weren't coming super frequently and weren't painful at all, and I wasn't continuing to leak fluid (which is a fairly sure sign that water has indeed broken). 

We got to the hospital around 9:00 am to find it totally quiet and not busy at all. They quickly checked me and concluded that my water had broken! We were going to have the baby today! I was so excited! It really was the perfect day to have him. It was easy to have my parents watch the boys, Ben didn't have work, we didn't really even have any plans for the day! It took awhile to get an IV going and all that, but once we did they started some pitocin to get me in a good contraction pattern, since I wasn't really in one.

My plan (when I planned this labor in my head) was that I would already be dilated to a 6 or 7 upon arriving at the hospital. Hudson's labor was so fast I was fairly certain this one would go faster. I guess Davis had other plans. Although things got painful fairly quickly, it never "took off" like it did last time. I kept putting off the epidural thinking that soon enough I'd make that quick transition to complete, like I have in the past. For the first few hours I felt like I was working through the pain really well and staying fairly calm. Ben rubbed my back and feet and held my hand through it all and I felt like we were going to make it. After being stuck at 5 cm for 2 hours, with contractions getting more and more painful, I knew I needed an epidural. I finally ordered it, and at that point I really have never been in such pain in all my life.  It was SO intense. It took a half hour for the CRNA to get there and she couldn't come soon enough, it was so so hard and so so painful. Ben mentioned to me that this time I was working harder and in more pain than the other two combined. Dr. Spencer checked me right before she put in the spinal block, just to see if I had miraculously gone complete in that time, but I was just at a 7 and he recommended we go ahead with the block. 

She did a spinal block, instead of an epidural, which has the benefit of working faster (within 5 minutes) but doesn't leave a catheter in the spine so it isn't easily re-dosable. Which we were fine with, knowing that the end should be near. I think I'd been comfortable for all of 15 minutes when they checked me and sure enough, I was at a ten and ready to have the baby. I think my body needed to relax at that point, I was too tired and too tight with all the pain, that I just wasn't progressing well. Bless anesthesia! I think the spinal went in around 2:10, and started working around 2:15 pm. 

They quickly set up the room, I pushed through one contraction and out came our sweet, perfect little Davis! It was so surreal. After such an emotional, painful day, I couldn't really believe he was even here! They let me hold him skin to skin right away and just take in all his sweet goodness! We immediately noticed how tiny he was (compared to our other boys) and that he has RED hair! After leaving him on my chest for a few minutes they took him over for monitoring because he was grunting. They worked on him for awhile, put him on oxygen, suctioned a lot of fluid out his little lungs, and finally got him to pink up and breathe a little better. They were just about ready to take him to the NICU when my sweet nurse said, "let's just let him stay with mom for a few more minutes, I'll watch him closely." They let me have him back, I nursed him, and he seemed to do even better. When the NICU came 5 minutes later to take him, they ended up deciding that he was doing just fine and let us keep him with us! I was so grateful! Ben and I spent a wonderful hour with him, bonding and admiring our sweet little son.

 The next best part of the day came when my mom brought the boys over to meet him. They were so excited and so sweet to him. Hudson immediately whispered in Davis' ear "Let's go home!"  And then quickly later whispered to Davis "I'm so happy!" Chase held him and sang him the sweetest little lullaby. Hudson held still to hold him for a long time with a huge grin on his face. This long awaited little brother is very loved!

Davis Jack Hugo

March 4, 2017 2:36 pm

6 lbs 15 oz 20 inches

So there is the story of how we met our sweet little Davis. It was honestly one of the best days of my whole life. We love this little angel so much and we are so happy he's here! 

The Brothers

My boys frequently refer to themselves as "the brothers" and Hudson almost exclusively calls Chase "bro-ver" instead of his given name. I love that they are such cute brothers, and I'm sure they'll be the best big brothers to this new little guy!

I wanted to record several of the cute and fun things that have happened over the last several months that have warmed my heart and brought a smile to my face.

The night we told the boys- and everyone else- about the baby I went to bed feeling happy, thankful and excited about having another little boy. And then panic set it. I don't really know why, but the thought of three little boys seemed entirely overwhelming, and I was completely doubting myself and if I even really wanted to do this (pregnancy is not always rational). I hardly slept all night and just generally felt terrible. I got up early to go the gym, but after working out for about 15 minutes I gave up and left. By the time I got home I was in tears. (Talk about an emotional roller-coaster!) I crawled back in bed by Ben, woke him up, and he tried to console me and reassure me that we would love this baby and everything would be great. Shortly afterwards the boys came into our room and Ben said, "Guys, mommy is having a rough morning, can you give her and the baby some hugs?" Immediately both boys were all over me, hugging and kissing my belly (that wasn't showing at all yet), and talking in baby voices to their baby brother, who they had only known about for less than a day. I immediately felt so much better, knowing how loved and wanted this little boy is in our family. Their excitement about the baby hasn't diminished in the slightest since then.

(picture taken at 35.5 weeks)

At about 30 weeks, the boys were finally able to feel him kick! They were both so excited and it made me so happy to see! When I was pregnant with Chase, my mom gave me a book called "Baby Oh Baby, the places you'll go" which was a Dr. Suess book meant to be read to babies in utero. We found it and Chase reads it to his baby brother now! It's the sweetest thing.

The boys loved helping me get all his little clothes washed and put away. They pulled out every single outfit and wanted to know where we got it from, whose it was first, and then claimed it was their "favorite" when they were a baby. I have to say, getting to use all those tiny clothes again is pretty exciting and nostalgic for me too.

Hudson drew this picture the other day- it's baby brother! I think it's so adorable, and it's the first time I've ever seen him draw something that actually looked like something! Chase said it looks like a walking egg.

Hudson has attended several of my doctors appointments with me, and now frequently wants to play doctor and check on the baby. He has me lay down, measures my belly and "finds the heartbeat". It's pretty cute! He also likes to boss around the doctor at each appointment, frequently asking, "What took you so long!" (when we've been waiting all of three minutes in the office).

Hudson likes to sit on top of the baby and then laugh about how he's "baby-sitting". (picture taken at 32 weeks)

And a little update on the pregnancy:

This pregnancy has been a little rough, just like my others,  but we are both healthy so I can't complain too much. I finally weaned off the Diclegis around 30 weeks and have done okay without it since. I feel much more achy and tired this time around, or maybe I just don't remember being this tired and achy. Sleeping at night was getting to be a big struggle- so I finally went out and got some unisom (one of the two ingredients in Diclegis) and it helps me sleep much better at night. The little guy is extremely active (which reminds me of Chase's pregnancy) and I feel like he moves all day and all night long.

Emotionally, I am super ready to have this little guy. I can't wait to hold him in my arms and get to know him and the amazing little guy he will turn into. I am so excited to see my boys with their new, much anticipated little brother. And of course, I'm a little nervous because I still remember all too well how hard a newborn/recovering from delivery/sleep deprivation/helping older siblings adjust is. I am trying to remember that even though that first month with a new baby is hard, it's also one of the most wonderful parts of life.

We are ready to meet you little one! Feel free to come any time now!

February Stuff

February started a month of a lot of travel for Ben. During the month he visited Toronto, Boston, Austina and San Jose. Mostly, things went pretty smoothly at home. One night over FaceTime Ben asked Hudson if he'd been good that day, to which Hudson responded, "Well, today I was a little bad." So at least this cutie is self-aware and honest.

One day we made Valentines. Chase was thrilled that I let them use glitter. It's nice every now and then to say "yes" to messy projects and see how happy it makes my boys!

Last summer Hudson started telling us stories about "a snake named grapes" and then this past month he made a snake at preschool and immediately told us it was Grapes! Here he is telling us another "tall tale" about "a snake named Grapes."

For Valentine's Day we decided to do a celebration at home with the boys. At breakfast we did pink waffles and had little gifts for the boys. Then they got to open their valentines from their aunt Heidi (once their jobs were done- they've never finished them so quickly before!). After dinner we planned to do our chocolate fountain again. Ben sent me out for a pedicure (which was heavenly) and he got the chocolate fountain all set up, we had fruit (my favorite), pretzels, crackers and marshmallows (the boys favorite). My parents came to join us, bringing along Valentines for us and we were all spoiled. It was a wonderful way to celebrate the holiday!

 My mom gave the boys new playdoh sets and then we spent a LOT of time the rest of the month playing with playdoh- which is perfect when it's cold outside! Hudson's new set was a breakfast making kit and he's made me many delicious breakfast dishes since. The boys will sit and play with these for hours!

 Luckily for us, the weather during February was mostly fairly warm and pleasant (for February). That meant an almost daily bike ride! The boys were thrilled to be outside getting some fresh air- and so was their mom. My super pregnant state, and Hudson's improved balance bike skills, meant that I was frequently waddling as fast as I could trying to keep up! Also- Hudson frequently pulls out the "chick socks" to wear, and frequently puts them on over his pants (he thinks they are like soccer socks) and we think it's hilarious.

Ben turned 32! And we didn't take a single picture to document the occasion. Ben was given an awesome birthday gift of waking up with strep throat on his birthday! This was the only full week that Ben was home all month, and that dang illness kind of threw a kink in the plan! Luckily, when he's working from home it isn't too bad for him to keep up on emails and stuff from his bed and not have to take a day off work. Ben and I did go out the next night to one of our favorite restaurants, Mazza and had an amazingly delicious dinner, and then did a little shopping for the birthday boy. The boys spent the night with Papa and protested when we showed up three hours later to pick them back up. 

Ben left town again, for the final time until the baby comes. During that week it was the last free day at the zoo of the winter. I have been meaning to take the boys to all of them, but it was way to cold and snowy and I chickened out. I was determined to go to this one! Even though it was a cold day, with a forecast for a storm, Hudson and I dropped Chase off at school and headed straight to the zoo. It did not disappoint! I loved being there with just my Hudson. He is the best kid to take to the zoo- he's so excited about every animal, he names them all (mostly names like Liony, Elephanty and Trunky, Mr. Rhino and Rhino-ey, Polar Beary) and talks about the animals as if they are his friends. I love holding hands with my little guy, listening to him talk non-stop and just soaking up his sweetness and cute personality. I was glad that I got to do a fun date with him before he's not my baby anymore and my time because much more limited and divided. 

I feel like I've got to document some of the bad, along with the good. When I look back on this record someday I don't want to think life was all parties and fun outings- there is plenty of real life going on here. After our fun day at the zoo, and dinner at my parents house that night, Hudson seemed fine through it all. Then around midnight I heard the worst sound- him screaming frantically. Whenever that happens I always hope it's a nightmare and not sickness, but no luck! Puke was everywhere! His sheets, the carpet, a library book, the bathroom towels, rug and floor and walls. It was so messy and I was so tired and Hudson was so upset! Usually Ben and I divide and conquer in these situations with clean-up and child-consoling. It took awhile, but I got everything cleaned up and finally got Hudson back to sleep(ish). It was a long night! The single parenting thing has been mostly manageable, but has definitely had it's hard moments, which makes me appreciate having a partner in this parenting job even more! Luckily, the bug seemed mostly self-contained and after a down day at home, Hudson was back to his happy self.  Then the next morning I woke up with strep throat! We have had plenty of sickness around here this month (Chase has avoided all of it, which doesn't really surprise anyone, he has the best immune system).

This winter hasn't been terrible, but I'm definitely happy to see Spring come. Having a baby due at the beginning of Spring might have something to do with that...