Ethan had his one week check up yesterday. No more doc trips until he is 2 months old in March. Yay! I am so done with appointments!
Anyway, he was 8 lbs 4 0z, and still the same length. So he got his birth weight back plus some. I guess that means I am doing something right! Really it was an uneventful, and fast appointment. The kind I like!
Last night was interesting. Sitting in bed feeding the littlest booger and he pukes on me! Luckily it all went on me and him and not the bed. But yeah that was a nice surprise at 3 am! He slept fairly well last night too. He didn't wake up for his first nighttime feeding until around that 3 am mark. Then only once more after that until we woke up at 8:30. I am just still so exhausted that nothing will help until I can sleep straight through.
Sesame Street is a wonderful show. I actually have quiet in the house right now thanks to that show. Dylan is parked in a little chair watching it, Ethan is asleep in the boppy pillow beside me and the dog is asleep on her blanket. Ahhh....just a few moments of peace. Thank you PBS.
No pictures this time. Hopefully next time though!

Ethan is a week old as of yesterday. So sad. He won't be little for very long. We are all doing well. Dylan cares so much about him and worries about him with each sound he makes. He helps out when he can with Ethan, and that is great. He gives Ethan kisses each night before bed. I am proud of him for taking so well to his little brother.

Dylan is still doing well at potty training. No accidents for quite sometime. We also have let him nap in his big bed in the new room a few times. Most of the time, he stays awake and talks to himself, but he does stay in the bed like we ask him too. We haven't let him sleep there overnight yet.

Ethan is doing well. He nurses well for the most part. We have a few issues, but I hope they will work themselves out as we go along. He doesn't do too bad at night. Sometimes he is up every 2 hours to eat and others he is up every 3 hours. Today for some reason I don't feel as tired as I thought I would.

Ryan is back to work as of Monday. We are slowly falling into a routine.

A short update, and here are a few pictures of Ethan!

Finally!

We went in for my induction on Monday the 18th. We had to be at the hospital at 6 am to start the medicine. I think the whole process of getting the IV was almost more painful that the delivery itself, haha! Anyway they stuck me 4 times before finally getting the needle in my arm for the IV. Ouch. So they started pitocin to make me contract at about 7:30 or so. I started to feel contractions at around 8. Sometime after that the doc came in and broke my water. I labored for a while without an epidural, but couldn't go through the whole thing with out it. I think I was about 4-5 centimeters dilated when I asked for it. After the epidural things moved along a little better.

Ethan Robert was born at 1:02 pm. He was 8 pounds and 20.5 inches long. They set him on my chest right away. Which was so nice. He is so sweet and amazing. I'm cutting the post short but hope to be back soon with an update. Here are a few pictures. Of course I have more, but I will post them on my next entry.

Today is the little man's due date. Can I officially say he's late? I know there is still so many hours left in this day, but I just don't feel like labor will be starting anytime soon. I have been driving myself nuts waiting on him to get here. It is a combination of wanting to hold, know him and then just feeling so uncomfortable. I'm curious as to how much life will change once he is here. Will we all have a huge adjustment to make, or will it just flow smoothly?
We have the name narrowed down to 2. Looks like we may wait to see him before we decide. I wonder how much he will look like his brother, or his dad for that matter! I know he will be bigger! I can feel that! Dylan was born with dark black hair. Will this little one be the same or will he be bald? It will be interesting to see how much he is his own person but at the same time, how similar he is to his brother.
I really just want to meet him. I have enjoyed being pregnant for the most part. It hasn't always been easy, and I have done my share of complaining, but overall, it was an enjoyable pregnancy. Part of it I think is that this will be the last one.
Once he gets here, I will want him to stay little. I think that I will want to hold on to that infant stage just a little more. Sadly though, I cannot stop time. I haven't mastered that power yet. I'm not saying that the infant stage is easy, because it wasn't with Dylan. It was a lot of sleep deprivation, but they are just so cute, sweet and innocent. After the infant stage, its not easy to get them to lay in your arms. They get too nosey, or too busy.
So since little man decided not to make his entrance today, we will go after him tomorrow. We are to be at the hospital at 6 am so that I can be induced. It is an unknown process to me. I have never been through it, so I am a little nervous. Dylan will be here at home safe and sound with my grandparents. He will have a wonderful time.
So once we get home, I will have a name for him as well as pictures! Wish us all luck.
We can't wait to meet you little man!

Still no baby. Yesterday evening I was so uncomfortable, I thought that maybe something was going on. I really didnt want Ryan to go to work, but I guess it was nothing. Just mild cramps is the best way to describe it. Since then, not much. Baby still moving around in there. We got the house as tidy as we could yesterday as well. Ryan helped me mop the floors. My house will never be spotless, but its not too bad if I say so myself. I feel comfortable leaving it as is. Anyway, just a little update.

Today was my last OB appointment. I am 2 cm dilated and 80% thinned out. Yay! Progress. Ryan went with me in hopes of talking to the doc about inducing. Luckily they are letting us. She actually gave us the option of being induced tomorrow if we wanted to! I was surprised. But Ryan and I had already decided that if we could, then Monday would be the best. So if I don't go into labor on my own between now and Monday, then bright and early on Monday morning we will go to the hospital and start the whole process. I am still hoping that I will start labor on my own. That is part of the reason we decided to wait until Monday.
So now I am doing my best to get last minute things done around the house. I am trying to keep it together and clean. Dylan isn't helping with that though. While I was cleaning up part of the house, he was in the living room tearing it apart. Now there are toys everywhere. I'm not going to worry about it right now though. He is napping and I am going to lay down for a while too. The guy who is doing the work in the house with the bathroom and Dylan's new room has been here the last few evenings working, so there was/is dust and crud everywhere in the dining room, bathroom and that new bedroom. I think I got most of it swept and mopped up. It may need to be done again later, but we'll see. If I can manage to get that cleaned up, then things will be good enough for me not to worry.
A few more things and I will be good to go. At least my bags are all packed. Grandparents are on call for caring for Dylan. We should be good to go. I'm just not good with the unknown! I'm a planner! Ahhh!!!
Anyway, lets hope for baby any day now! Maybe he will actually get a name too!

Blah. I'm sad to say that I am sooo done being pregnant. I really have kind of enjoyed it this time around, knowing we probably wont have anymore. But now that I am 39 weeks along, I am ready to have the baby. I hurt a lot. My hips mainly. At night the pain seems to be worse, so of course all of this sleep that I should be getting right now isn't happening. My appointment is on Thursday and it can't come soon enough. I am curious to see if I have progressed at all. Also, I believe they may let me set a date for induction. As long as I reach my due date, they should let us schedule something. My due date is on Sunday, so I am hoping that next week will be the date for baby. While being induced isn't ideal and it does scare me some, I am ready. I worry too about the size of this little one. Dylan was about 6 and half pounds, which was ideal. I'm worried that this one will be much bigger. Why I have this fear, I don't know, I just do. This morning, I felt a little nauseous and part of me hoped that maybe it was my body's way of getting ready for things. But here I am 12 hours later and nothing. I think that feeling only lasted a couple of hours. I just got busy and didn't notice it anymore. Oh well, still waiting. Not so much patiently anymore though.
We have been working on potty training Dylan. Since last Wednesday, the 6th I believe. It's not going too bad. There are a couple of accidents each day. I just have to ask him every 15 minutes or so if he needs to go, because he won't tell me that he needs to most of the time. We put him straight into underwear. He wears those during the day except for nap which he is still in a diaper for. And of course at night. Night training just has to come on it's own I believe. His bladder has to have the capacity to hold it for all those hours. Anyway, it's really not that bad. There aren't any fights about going potty. It either happens or it doesn't. When he does to potty I will give him 4 mini marshmallows as a reward and that seems to be working well enough for now. I didn't buy diapers this week! I have about 1/2 of a box to last me for a while. If we are out and about I still make him wear one. Too many distractions. We are still early in this whole process, so I'm just trying not to expect too much all at once and we will take it slow.
More on Thursday after the appointment!

Not much new. Its cold, windy and snowy. I've been doing my best to keep the house presentable in case someone wants to make his entry into the world sometime soon. It seems like all I can do is try to keep the clutter down. Somehow its proving to be a little difficult. A few days ago I was packing my hospital bag, and went to get something off the fireplace mantle. I stepped up on the bricks to reach it, stepped down, and slid on one of Dylan's toys. One foot slid out from under me and the other one rolled. I fell back and hit my back on the stand beside the couch too. After an xray turns out I did sprain my ankle. They gave me an air cast to wear. I hate that thing. Ryan found me something more comfortable to wear thankfully. I'm pretty much over the injury now. Its a little tender to the touch on either side of the ankle, but really not that bad. My back is still scraped up though.
Yesterday though, I did get my hospital bag packed. All that is left are the last minute things that I still use each day. But I made a list and put it on the bag so hopefully I will remember. I am still hoping that I wont have to go to my next appointment on the 14th. I'd be happy with going into labor any day now! Do you hear that little one? And maybe if you arrive before your due date, we will actually have a name for you! So come on, get out and get a name!

Yet another appointment. Short and sweet. There has been no change in dilation what so ever. I was so hoping that there was some progress, but NOOOOOO. Otherwise everything is looking good. Baby is just hanging out I guess.
So after the appointment I ran to Walmart to get some last minute things. A couple of nursing bras, pads, hairbands to hold my hair back during labor, and a baby book for the little one. I also picked up a photo album for baby. Dylan has his own and so will this one. I get home and open everything and put stuff away and realize then that the pages inside my new BLUE photo album are PURPLE! What is that about?! Whatever, I bought it, its not worth the hassle of a return, so I will just deal.
The days are getting harder. I am so exhausted each and everyday. It hits me mid morning and then again in the afternoon. Each day when Dylan naps, I do too. I just cant help it. I can be sitting down and my head starts to fall and my eyes are shut. Next thing I know, Dylan is coming up to me trying to wake me up. I feel so bad for doing that, but I honestly cant help it! It just happens.
I have been doing my best despite the exhaustion to keep the house clean and together. Its just not easy. Things get cluttered and I don't have the energy to fix it when it happens.
I am so ready for this baby though. I'm hoping for any day now. Sooner rather than later.