Our little boy has arrived!! Here's the story.... my actual due date was Dec. 31; however, based on one of my three ultrasounds, my doctor was going off of January 4, 2o11. We were getting a new insurance deductible on January 1, so I
realllllly wanted him here before the end of the year. My doctor is very conservative, and when I told her I wanted to have him by the end of the year, I believe her words were, "well, sometimes what we want and what we get are two different things." well duh..... :)
At 38 weeks I was dilated to a 2 and 30 percent effaced. I was so excited, and she even scheduled me to be induced on the 29
th. However my excitement was crushed the next week. At 39 weeks I was exactly the same, at a 2 and 30 percent. I was two days from my scheduled induction and now my doctor wasn't too excited to induce me. She said she still would but my chances of a repeat c-section were high and she would recommend waiting. Ugh....now we were faced with a choice. (such is life, right??) I had the "end" in sight and now she wanted me to wait another week or TWO?? We still felt we should proceed with the 29
th, but we were cautious to make sure we were making a good choice and not just an emotional choice.
The morning of the 29
th arrived, Isaac slept over at my parents so Taylor and I could get to the hospital by 7:30 a.m. The thought was to try the "balloon" which
mechanically dilates you to a four. When we got all checked in, we learned that I was now dilated to a 3 and 60 percent effaced (the most I've ever been on my own!) They started the process for the balloon---SO PAINFUL, literally had the thought "forget this, do a c-section!" --- and then, after all the pain, the balloon didn't take. So they started me on
pitocin. At my last appointment, my doctor didn't want to do
pitocin, but since I had progressed more, she was willing to start it. I was worried because I was on
pitocin with Isaac and it didn't do anything and I ended up having a c-section with him. Luckily, the
pitocin did what it was supposed to and at lunch time the doctor broke my water.
Prior to breaking my water I was asked if I was ready for an epidural. I wasn't--but when the first contraction after my water breaking hit, I was ready!! By the second one I told Taylor to go get the nurse! Epidural went in well and then it was such a great afternoon. I really don't know how to describe it, but it was almost serene and peaceful. Both Taylor and I slept. At 2:45 p.m. I was at 4.5, at 3:50 p.m. I was at a 6 and then by 4:05 p.m. (15 minutes later) I was at a 9 and ready to push. At 4:25 p.m. I was at a 10 and pushing. Beau was born via
VBAC at 5:47 p.m. I must say, Taylor was
sooooo great through the pushing stage. I would keep forgetting that I had to hold my breath, and he would be there saying, "good job Val, you're doing great, hold it, hold it, good, almost done...." He seriously was the best coach through that hour and I am so appreciative of him!! Oh and I should mention, the 29
th was our
FIVE YEAR WEDDING ANNIVERSARY!!!!
Beau Kevin Housley7 lbs 4 oz
19.5 inches
We were anxious to leave the hospital, so as soon as 24 hours after Beau was born came, we were discharged and on our way home! The above picture was taken of Beau right when we got home. He is wearing the same outfit Isaac wore when we took Isaac home.
So, life with two kids....seems so natural! Beau is a great baby. I'm not feeling exhausted, and perhaps that is because I am not working like I was with Isaac. However, the recovery has not been fun!! As of yesterday (Monday) I was finally feeling pretty good. I had no idea what to expect since Isaac was a c-section and until Monday I kept saying, "And they say this recovery is better than a c-section??" But my mom reminded me yesterday that I am up and about much quicker than I was with Isaac, so I will try to focus on that instead. But I can say that now I am feeling much better in all aspects. Beau nurses well and it has gone much better than it did with Isaac. I still have a love/hate relationship with nursing, but I am planning to stick to it.
Speaking of Isaac, he has been a GREAT big brother. So far I would say there hasn't been an adjustment issue--is that still to come?? He loves his brother so much and we talked about him so much before he came that now Isaac is so excited. Isaac always wants to kiss and hug Beau and hold him. He tells me when he is crying and will try to comfort him by saying, "It's
ok, Beau." We don't hold back on letting Isaac play and be loud...Isaac will run through the house and will yell or scream and Beau sleeps right through it...hopefully that will continue!!
So life is good and wonderful!! We're so glad he is here healthy and well!
Taylor came up with the name "Beau" and his middle name is after my dad. We've known since the 20 week ultrasound what we were going to name him and have referred to him by his name ever since then. So Isaac has known who "Beau" is for a while.
My handsome boys!! I love having two sons! We've heard that Beau looks a lot like Taylor and has Taylor's chin.
Isaac put a Cowboy's football by Beau during his nap...it was so precious. We got a little toy motorcycle "from Beau, to Isaac" that we wrapped up and gave Isaac at the hospital, while Isaac brought that teddy bear we made from Build-A-Bear that was "from Isaac, to Beau." Obviously Beau didn't care too much, but it's cute when Isaac plays with the motorcycle and I ask him where he got it he says, "Beau!"
We're so happy to be a family of FOUR!!!!!!
Beau is around 14 pounds already -- and I am proud of my little chunk! 
He smiles pretty regularly and it just melts my heart every time. Isaac is still great with him and that makes me so happy. 
Probably the most exciting news -- at least to me -- is that he is sleeping through the night!! I'm talking like 11-12 hours sleeping through the night! And a rested mommy means a happy mommy for all! Isaac slept through the night around the same time (3 months) and I just knew he could when we tried. It has been totally different with Beau. Since I'm nursing, I'm not as comfortable in knowing how much he is getting (although, again, he is 14 pounds, so it must be enough.) So with Beau I approached it as a gradual thing. He was pretty consistent going from 8 p.m. - 3 a.m. for about a week, so I thought I'd stretch his feeding to 5 a.m. The night I planned to do this, he woke up at 3 a.m. -- I put his pacifier in (another dilemma -- I did not want to get in this habit) did this a few times and then he slept until 7 a.m. So he was obviously much more capable than I thought. Then I was going to start pushing all night when he was 11.5 weeks but then Isaac got sick and we all didn't sleep well. Every time Isaac woke up crying, Beau woke up about 10 minutes later. So we postponed. Last Friday (12 weeks and 2 days), we put him to bed earlier and he woke up 5 hours later...I was so worried since we put him down earlier that I ended up feeding him. Then he woke up 5.5 hours later, again I reverted to feeding him. I remember thinking, "I have gone backwards in the process! I am so done!!" So Saturday night -- I was ready to let him cry it out. I didn't want to use the 'wait 5 minutes, comfort him, wait 10 minutes, comfort him...etc..' because then whenever his schedule gets out of sync, he's expect that and I'd have to do it. And I did not want to do that. Well, Beau woke up around 2:30 a.m Sunday morning and cried for several hours. I was so worried that Isaac wasn't sleeping, that it turns out he was and Taylor and I didn't! But it was all worth it when Sunday night he went to bed at 7:30, woke up at 4:45 a.m. and cried for about 20 minutes and then fell asleep again and I had to wake him up at 7:45! Every night since has gotten better and better and last night he went down at 7:30 and didn't wake up again until 7 a.m. Hallelujah! ....now if I could just get to bed at a reasonable hour... 
At the start of this sleep training -- I was worried about making him go for so long -- but his temperament and disposition have been so happy that I am not worried. He eats about every three to three and a half hours during the day. He's also gotten on a good nap schedule -- his morning nap is between 8 -9 a.m and is his longest nap -- anywhere from 2 to 3.5 hours. Then he has one between 12-2 and then again between 3-5. His lunch nap is between 1 -2 hours and then his afternoon nap is between 1 -2 hours as well. Usually if his lunch one is only an hour, the afternoon will be two and vice versa. There have been days that he will take four naps -- and then bedtime is between 7:30 and 8. ... not like anyone may care about his sleeping and feeding schedules, but now it is written down and I'll have it for next time (since I didn't do this with Isaac)... 
He has recently found his hands and will stare at them and then suck on them. We have a baby floor mat that has hanging rattles and such and he has also started to learn that he can hit them and make noises. He is becoming more and more fun (minus his weekly blowouts...grr!) We love our Beau! 
