We definitely got a big Christmas surprise this year.. I was only 35 weeks when my water broke Christmas Eve. About two hours after I had fallen asleep, so I was so super tired and not thrilled about heading to the hospital..haha. It was around 11 PM at that point so we were pretty sure he was going to be a Christmas baby. I was soo tired and the nurse that was with us most of the time was pretty much amazing – really thankful for her. I definitely called Rex this week to tell them how much I appreciated her. I also had a great nurse with Owen and feel so blessed – that can really make a difference in your delivery.
Yes I had planned ahead and hired a birth photographer and a photographer to capture the siblings meeting but when your baby is born on Christmas morning, that just doesn’t work out. I was a little sad but also glad that I felt well enough to snap some photos with Owen and Harrison and our family that came to visit.
They prepared us for the fact that he would be taken to the special care nursery pretty quickly, and that there would be a team in the room to check him out. He was so big and healthy – 6 lbs, 15 oz..His Apgars were good, they gave him right to me and then the team checked him out a little bit before taking him to the nursery to try to get his blood sugar up. He was only in the special care nursery for about four hours to check on his blood sugar and then we were able to have him in our room the rest of our stay. He went home on time – such a blessing. His only struggle is eating/gaining weight but that is expected when you are born at 35 weeks, no matter your size.
I was totally convinced I would have to be induced so we didn’t have anything set up around here…I had a list of things I wanted to get done (ha!) I was looking at buying a new car seat, organizing a few things (Michael’s still sad I missed the whole nesting phase! haha!) Oh, and when your baby is premature, they have to take a “car seat test.” and sit in their car seat for 90 minutes on an oxygen monitor and our little guy passed with flying colors. Even with him being so early, overall, this has been aloooooot less stressful. (Owen was in the hospital for 10 days and had a few incidents where he stopped breathing…my 9lb 40 week baby?!?)
Owen is in love. Did you see this video when he first came to see us? Such a sweet time for the four of us, and Owen has not wanted to be separated from his brother. He showers him with hugs and kisses and still wants to know why Harrison gets to wear pajamas all the time. If you’ve been following me on facebook or instagram, you’ve probably seen some of the big brother cuteness..
He made Harrison a Monkey as his gift to him and constantly tries to leave friends for him in his chair.
He leaves him little love notes on his chair with all the names of “The people that love him.”
Still trying to figure out why he has a time to wake clock while he hears Harrison partying all hours of the morning and night.
I treasure these days. It’s hard not to cry every.single. day. I feel so blessed..and newborn snuggles are just the best. (I still don’t know what to do with a baby this tiny..at his last appt this week, he was 6lbs, 9 oz.) Thank you for all your cards, notes, e-mails and gifts – it really means the world to us.