The past few weeks

This sweet little boy is going to be 1 month old tomorrow...big sigh. But for today he is still only 3 weeks! The past 3 weeks have flown by way too fast. We are so in love with this sweet baby boy and I can't imagine him not being in our family. It's crazy how quickly a new baby just fits right in. We sure do love him, and all of his many little facial expressions!

The "stretch face"

The "mouth wide open passed out face"

The sweet little yawn face

 My favorite, the "owl lips"

And the sweet little sleepy face

I love this one of his double chin, he is quite the eater!

Mom, stop taking my picture

Precious little hands

Here is Cade's first picture with Bunny at 1 week old.

At his first Dr. appointment (5 days old) Cade weighed 7lbs 7oz (almost back to his birth weight). We went back the following week for his 2 week visit and he was already up to 8lbs 6oz and 21.5 inches. I'm telling you, the boy loves to eat! He is such a sweet baby, we've all been enjoying lots of snuggle time with him!

Carson and Avery love him so much! They love kissing his head and feet (we've been working on not kissing his face all the time, especially since Cade already has his first cold which he caught from his big brother and sister...I knew it was inevitable with having older kiddos around, but I still wish he was a little older before he got sick the first time. He has been so pitiful when I suction him, it makes me so sad. But let me tell you, if you don't have a nosefrida, go get one. It's a totally disgusting little device used to suction babies noses, but it works so much better than the bulb suction) Anyway, Carson and Avery have been adjusting pretty well to having a baby around. They want to help a lot, which can be a little overwhelming for mommy sometimes, but I am just so thankful that they love him and have accepted him with open arms and hearts!

 First cousin picture! And yes, Carson is wearing Avery's dress and tutu (they had been playing dress up... and yet another reason it's so good Carson has another boy around)

Carson and Avery have been keeping pretty busy the past couple of weeks. They had Texas week at school a couple of weeks ago.

Then MiMi stayed with us last week during spring break to help out. It was wonderful! Carson and Avery stayed very busy with fun trips to the Arboretum, and the Heard Museum. Plus lots of fun outside playtime. 

Planting flowers

Carson loaded up these crates and said he was going to the deer lease.

Backyard campfire and hotdog roast!

Reading their babies some books.

I am so thankful for my mom, she kept Carson and Avery very busy last week so that I could enjoy one more week of recovery and lots of quiet time with this sweet boy!

Cade's first few days...

I love having a new baby! I love being in the hospital and holding my baby all day! I love everything about the whole birth and postpartum process! I know, it sounds kind of crazy, but there is something so wonderfully sweet about those first few days with your new little baby!

Cade was quite the little screamer that first night in the hospital. I couldn't believe the shades of red he turned while he was screaming during his first bath (which they came to do at 4:00 in the morning) He was really only happy when he was nursing or laying on my chest. Which is where he pretty much camped out for 4 days.

I didn't mind one bit though!

After that first night, he really calmed down and seemed to adjust to the outside world. He's been a pretty laid back baby since then (unless he's cold or hungry). He figured out the whole breastfeeding thing right away and I was able to nurse him within the first hour he was born. He's a good little nurser and breastfeeding has been going really well so far! He is such a sweet baby and I really cherished those 4 days I had in the hospital just getting to know him.

Precious boy!

We waited until Sunday morning to bring the kids up to the hospital. I had him so late on Saturday night and we thought it would probably be a disaster trying to bring them up so late in the day. Our sweet baby sitter Brittany came over to watch Carson and Avery so that my mom could be there for his birth. DD stayed at our house while we were in the hospital and brought the kids up to meet their new baby brother. They were so excited to meet him!

Our first picture as a family of 5.

Proud big brother and big sister!

Cade also got to meet his Mimi and Papa,

DD,

Cousin Taylor,

Cousin Kennedy,

Uncle Ryan,

and several of our sweet friends that came up to the hospital.

Carson and Avery came back up on Tuesday to visit again, which was a little crazy and loud, but they loved seeing their baby brother again.

Shane and I enjoyed lots of sweet cuddle time with this baby boy before we headed back home and back to reality.

My wonderful Dr!

They discharged us Wednesday morning and I once again cried (just like I did last time I left the hospital with my babies). The hormones had kicked in and I started having all the same feelings I did last time. I was sad that he was already 4 days old and that this was (most likely) my last time to give birth and bring home a new baby. I get really attached to these newborn days and I get really sad when I think about my babies growing up! Anyways, I knew I couldn't stay forever and that I had to get back to normal life sooner or later, but I was still a little sad about it.

Here we are all packed up and ready to go!

So tiny in that carseat.

We had two very excited kiddos waiting for us when we got home!

They sure love their baby brother!

Cade's Birth Story

"Baby Brother" has arrived! Here is his birth story. It's lengthy!

I went into labor two days before my scheduled c-section. I was scheduled for Monday 2/25 but started having contractions Saturday morning. The contractions started about 4:30 Saturday morning. I had woken up at 3:30 (when Carson came into our room wanting daddy to lay down with him). I wasn't able to go back to sleep so I ended up going out to the couch to watch TV. Around 4:30 I felt my first official contraction. I had been having Braxton Hicks contractions for about half of my pregnancy, but this was different. I never had any pain with the Braxton Hicks, just tightening in my belly. The contractions I started having Saturday morning were painful in my lower abdomen and my lower back. The contractions started coming every 10-20 minutes after that. I wasn't sure if this was the start of labor or not. I've heard of women who have contractions off and on for days before real labor starts, so I didn't really know what to think. We went on about our day, went to a birthday party and came home to put the kids down for nap. I continued to have irregular contractions throughout the morning. By early afternoon they were becoming more and more painful and much closer together. I started really timing them with an app on my phone and by mid-afternoon they were consistently 5-7 min apart. I, for some reason, was still not convinced that this was real labor. Around 4:30 I decided to go ahead and call the doctor. I got the answering service and the on-call Dr. (whom I had never met before) called me back. He told me to go ahead and come in and they would check me and see what was going on. So we called our family, finished packing our bags, and headed to the hospital. My mom came over to watch the kids and Diane decided to go ahead and head up from Houston just in case this was it. On the way to the hospital I started stressing a little because I didn't know if this on-call dr. was coming or if he was going to call my dr. to come in. I didn't even think about asking my dr. about this at my last appointment. I really didn't think I would go into labor before Monday. We got to the hospital about 6:00. They got me in a room and on the monitors. The contractions were about 4-5 min apart when we got there and still pretty painful. I told the nurses when I got there that we had discussed with Dr. Reisler possibly doing a VBAC if I went into labor on my own. They both looked at each other and said, "I'll tell you right now that Dr. Kay is not going to want to do a VBAC." Shane and I just kind of stared at them and at each other in disbelief at their reaction. They said that they would check me to see if I was dilated and call him to let him know that I was thinking about trying the VBAC. While they were contacting the dr. they took a couple of blood pressures and they were pretty high. 160's/90's. I was nervous and confused about what was going on so I wasn't too surprised that my BP was high. They checked my cervix (which, oh my word, was painful) and I was dilated to 3cm, 60% effaced and -3 station. The nurses came back in a few minutes later and said that they had called Dr. Reisler and left him a message but they hadn't heard back from him yet. They talked to Dr. Kay who said that he would not do the VBAC basically because I was not his patient and my BP was too high. He also told them to give me IV labetalol (BP med) and to start a magnesium drip (also for the high BP, I had to be on the mag drip after giving birth to Carson and Avery, and it was awful). I was shocked and angry. This Dr. still hadn't even seen me or even talked to me and was making all these decisions for me. I told the nurses I really didn't want the magnesium and that my BP had been fine at all of my appointments, and that I really thought it was high just from stress and pain. She called Dr. Kay back from in the room and told him I didn't want the magnesium and also asked if we could just draw some labs and dip my urine to see if the high BP was causing problems. At the same time another BP cycled and it was even higher 180/105. The nurse told him the latest BP and he said to start an IV, push the labetalol, push the mag, start a mag drip and get me ready for the c-section. He hung up, still not talking to me or Shane about any of this. That's when the tears started. I felt like everyone was freaking out and rushing around and not listening to me. I was really upset, this was not at all what I had planned for my delivery this time around. They started getting everything ready for the IV and meds when the nurse came back in and said that Dr. Reisler called back and said to stop everything, for everyone to slow down and that he was coming in. I can't even tell you the relief I felt when she told me this! He still wanted to give the labetalol but wanted to check some labs before starting the mag. All the labs and urine were normal, and my BP came back down to normal after the labetalol, praise God!! He came in around 9:00 and we discussed all my options. I told him is wasn't that I was demanding to have a VBAC, and actually I wasn't even sure if that's what I wanted, I just wanted to know what my options were and how quickly I was progressing. Shane and I had decided that if I went into labor and was progressing quickly I would try the VBAC (I was thinking like if I came in and was 7 or 8cm and close to ready to push). My Dr. checked me again and said I was 4cm and 80%, still in early labor. He said I would probably labor through the night and that they could possibly start a very small dose of pitocin, but they couldn't give me much because of my previous c-section. I asked about an epidural and he said it was probably still a little early, he was afraid it would slow down my labor. He told me he would do whatever I wanted. We could go ahead and do the c-section or he could come back in a couple hours and break my water and check me again. He was fine with either choice. Shane and I discussed it and I decided to go ahead with the c-section. Honestly, the thought of being in labor all night and then possibly still needing to have the c-section stressed me out. I had already been up since 3:30 that morning and I was tired and emotional. I was completely fine with the c-section, it was more Shane that was really wanting the VBAC and I just didn't feel like I was progressing quickly enough for that. I told Dr. Reisler that I was sorry that he had to come in after all the drama and then I decide to have the c-section anyway. He was so nice about it. He said that this has been a problem in his group, patient's planning on a VBAC and then being told by the on call dr that they have to have a c-section. My mom and Shane said that they overheard their conversation (or rather debate) in the hallway about whether or not to allow patient's to have VBAC's. So he said he was happy to come in and do either the VBAC or the c-section and that if I changed my mind again then that was fine too. I, again, was so relived he was there, not only so that I could feel like I had a say in my delivery but also because I never had to be on the awful magnesium drip (which was stressing me out even more than the whole VBAC situation). I really was thankful that I went into labor on my own and got to experience some contractions this time and got to do the whole "call the family and drive to the hospital" thing. But in the end, the c-section was the right decision for me and I am glad that I had it.

Here we are about to head back to the OR.

And then at 10:06 pm on 2/23 our precious baby boy was born!

He came out pink and very loud! I was surprised at how loud he could scream. I don't remember Carson and Avery being that loud.

I was also surprised at how light his hair was. Carson and Avery both had really dark, almost black hair when they were born, and Cade's hair was really light and he didn't have much of it.

7lbs 10oz and 19.5 inches long.

And absolutely perfect!!

 I know this sounds so cliche, but I had all those feelings people talk about when you're pregnant with your 2nd and 3rd kids. Am I going to love him as much as my other ones? And, oh my goodness, yes, I do!! It was love at first sight!

Welcome to the world our sweet Cade Michael, we love you so very much!!