Our Sweet Little Sarah

Here are some pictures of our sweet little Sarah. It is hard to believe that one week ago our lives changed forever. Our family is feeling more complete and our hearts couldn't be more filled with love and thanks for our sweet little family. She is such a beautiful little angel and her big brother couldn't be more sweeter to her. Alex loves to give hugs and kisses to his little sister, but I can't help but think that he is wondering why she isn't going "home" at the end of the day...
These pictures were taken about 3 days ago and she continues to change daily.
Be forewarned, Sarah's birthing story follows:
Here is the story behind the arrival of our sweet little one.
On Tuesday the 18th of November, I went to the doctor hoping that I would have progressed and would be well on my way. When he said that I was still a two, I was a little disappointed because I was really excited to finally meet the new baby that would join our family. I always thought that our baby would come early, I just didn't think that it would come this early. All week I had had the feeling that I should pack my bag to be ready to go to the hospital. Lesson learned, when prompted, act on that prompting.
Everything was normal on Wednesday, I cleaned the house, made bread, fixed dinner and enjoyed an evening with my husband. We went to bed about 11 p.m. and at about 12:45 I got up to go to the bathroom. As I got out of bed, I said "uh-oh" I don't think I made it to the bathroom. It took me a minute to realize what had happened. I came back to the bed and woke Eric up and said that my water broke and that we needed to go to the hospital. I quickly made arrangements for a friend, Trisha, to watch Alex and then started packing a bag for the hospital. We then dropped Alex off and ran a quick trip to Walmart to pick up some batteries for our camera. We arrived at the hospital and then I went to triage to get checked out. The nurse confirmed the rupture of my water, said that I was dilated to 3 cm and said that I had my ticket to stay the night. The contractions were getting stronger, but not anything that I couldn't handle. They got me set-up in a labor and delivery room and began the whole process of checking me in and getting me hooked up to the machines and IVs.
They checked me when they finished the process and then I was 4 cm. By now it was about 2:30 and things were going well. They continued to monitor me and about 15 minutes later I was 5 cm. I opted for pain medication through an IV, but they couldn't give it to me after I reached 7 cm. I said that I wanted it and she left the room and came back about 5 minutes later and was going to hook me up, but decided to check me again. I was now a 7. She said that she couldn't give it to me now. She asked if I wanted an epidural, and I remembered when I had Alex that it took about 45 minutes to get the epidural, so I opted not to get it. I was going for it. I always thought that if it got too bad then I could get one later.
They kept on checking me and I was progressing very quickly. I was 9 cm and fully effaced. About 5 minutes later I was 10 and was feeling the urge to push. They had already called the doctor on call and he was on his way. Because I was progressing so quickly, the labor and delivery nurses had already called the ER doctor to try and come up and deliver my baby. They were worried that I would be delivering without a doctor present. They kept telling me to breathe and not to push. I kept alternating between pleading to push and giving ultimatums that I would be pushing now. The contractions were coming so quickly all I wanted to do was push. It was probably about 10 minutes of telling me not to push and the doctor finally showed up. He got ready and I asked if I could push he said to go ahead an push and out she came on the very first push. The hardest part of the labor was waiting for the doctor to show up so I could push.
We didn't know if we were having a boy or a girl and we were excited to find out that we had a baby girl. Sarah Anne was ready to come to our family and we couldn't be more excited and privileged to be her parents. We loved you from first sight.

Our Newest Little One

We would like everyone to know that our newest little bundle of joy came into this world on its own timetable. We are now blessed to have a little daughter join our growing family. She made a rapid entrance into this world and we couldn't be more excited to finally meet her. I will have to post the birthing story later after a little sleep tonight. Our new daughter, Sarah Anne Stewart joined our family at 4:49 a.m., this morning. She weighed 6 lb. 11 oz. and was 20 inches long. Mom, Dad and Big brother Alex are doing well. Here are a few pictures to tide you over until I can get some more posted.

Victory

We finally are making the switch from a crib to a "big boy bed". We found a good find on Craigslist for a toddler bed, matress and sheet set for our little man. We showed him a picture of the bed and he was excited about it. The color worked really well with some furniture that we already had in the Nursery. This week has been busy with organizing, purging, moving, measuring, and rearranging stuff to get Alex into his own big boy room. We moved items out of the craft room and made it into Alex's new room in hopes that he would get used to the transition before the new arrival comes in a few weeks.
He did really well his first night considering it was a new bed and new room. He cried a little when he went down, and stayed asleep until about 1:30 and cried off and on until about 3:00, but never got out of bed. I went in and held him until he fell back asleep and then he slept until about 7:30. The next day the plan was to nap him in the toddler bed before church since our meetings are during his normal nap time. Apparently Alex didn't get the memo. Here is what happened.
We put him down to nap and left the baby monitor on so we could hear what was going on. We heard a lot of noise and talking, no peaceful sounds of slumber. I should have gone and checked on him, but didn't. Apparently, he opened the closet doors and found his own "toys" to play with. I went up later to check on him and this is what I found...



One big mess and one tired boy.

That night he went to bed fairly easy, because he hadn't napped that day yet. He only cried once because he fell out of the bed. Eric picked him back up and put him in bed and then he slept until the morning. Here comes the real challenge.
Nap time!!!!
I put Alex down today for a nap and it took some time, and a slight rearrangement of a night stand so that he wouldn't play with the drawers, but I would call it a victory for the parents. See for yourself.

I will post more pictures of his room and big boy bed when he is up. This will just have to tide you over until then.

The score to date:
Alex: 1
Parents: 2 1/2

Toddler Bed Time ????

I have a question for everyone. When did you make the switch from a crib to a toddler/twin bed? Alex is almost able to climb out of the crib and we are also expecting a new arrival in about a month. I don't want to rush the transition, but does anyone have any advice. We were planning on keeping our newest one in a bassinet for a while, so Alex doesn't need to feel pushed out of his crib and getting used to the new baby all at the same time. Does anyone also have any strong feelings about using a twin verses a toddler bed. This is all new territory for me. What have you found that works for you?

Happy Halloween and Hello November!

We finally got around to carving our pumpkin on Halloween afternoon. Alex, I think could have done without that tradition. He sorta screamed and was scared by all the goop that was coming out of the pumpkin. He also was not to excited about the pumpkin's inside smell. I was really surprised by how taken back he was. Maybe next year he will participate more in the carving activity.
I have already included pictures of Alex at our ward's Trunk or Treat, but the only picture that I got of Alex looks like the "deer in the headlights look". It sure didn't do him justice of how cute of a Spiderman he was. Thanks Trisha for the costume loan. After the trunk or treat, I think that Alex started getting the "idea" of Trick or Treating. We started about 7 pm and just went around to our neighbors. He loved going to the doors and knocking on them. Just a little tiny tap tap tap. He loved putting the candy in his bag and then heading out. We stopped by a few members in our ward's houses to show him off. I know that I am a proud momma, but I really do think that he is the cutest little Spiderman out there and here are the pictures to prove it.




So, so long October and hello November. I am looking forward to November and Thanksgiving and eventually Christmas. Mostly I am looking forward to greeting our new little arrival in December and November is now the only full month that stands in our way. Bring on the cooler weather, pumpkin pie and baking smells. I am ready for you.