Feeling so Blessed

This was me (and Bodie) 11 days ago. I can't believe our boy is already 9 days old. Here's a little bit about our time so far with Bo...

My labor and delivery was quick and a little crazy at times. When I got to the hospital I was dilated to 3 cm and not in labor. My doctor broke my water first thing, which hurt like crazy. Apparently I have a very tough amniotic sac. That might have been the most painful part of the whole day. Anyway, we started the pitocin around 8:00 am and Brian & I had time to just sit and talk, read and text people. Around 9:30 am, the contractions were pretty painful, so I asked for the epidural. The nurse checked me and I was 5 cm, so I got the epidural around 9:45 am.

I casually mentioned to her that with my last baby I went from 6 to 10 cm really quickly. She asked me how long I pushed for my last baby and I told her probably around 15 minutes or less. Her eyes got a little bit big and she started moving around our room kinda quickly. She then mentioned that they didn't have the lab orders for the cord blood sample that was supposed to be taken at the birth of our baby to check for galactosemia. Apparently they hadn't received a fax from my doctors office with the specifics of which color tube and how much blood to draw.

So around 10:00 am I was around 6 cm, and still no orders. At 10:30 I was dilated to 8-9 cm and I finally offered to get on my laptop and pull up the orders for them to look at from my email. Which we did. Thankfully everything worked out at the last minute and they were ready to take the blood sample from the cord. At 10:45 I was complete, but of course, my doctor wasn't there because he didn't expect me to be ready to push until after noon. So I had to wait about 10 minutes for my doctor to get there, feeling like our baby was about to pop out on his own. I was so happy when he finally walked in the door. I pushed through about 3 contractions and finally at 11:10 am, Bodie was born! I later found out he had to use the vacuum to help Bodie come out because he was such a big boy! That's why he has a little cone head.

I was so happy when I heard "It's a boy!" Bodie was the biggest of our kids at birth, weighing in at 8 lbs 11.5 oz. Tatum was second at 8 lbs 8 oz. Laney was 8 lbs even and Avery was 7 lbs 10 oz.

He came out screaming and wailed through the entire cleaning/weighing/footprinting process. When they finally put him in my arms, he got completely quiet. It was one of those memories I will always cherish. I just talked to him and he just stared at me, and I was completely in love.

Brian is so good at helping me through every step of the childbirth process. He is so calm and reassuring to me. At one point when I was dilating quickly, I got the chills so bad I asked for more blankets. He came over and held my hand and the warmth of his hand helped me relax and feel so much better. I am so happy for Brian to have a son. He will be such a great dad for Bodie. I know he will teach him about the Lord and fishing and baseball and how to be a good man. And deep down inside I'm pretty sure he is hoping he will fight and rough-house and knock things over.

Here we are... our first family photo with all six of us!

Grandad and Bodie

Nana, Papa & Bodie

Papa, Avery & Bodie

Nana, Papa and the whole crew

Gigi, Aunt Adriana and Bodie

The girls got to watch The Little Mermaid in our hospital room that night. My mom was so sweet to come stay with us and help take care of the girls so I could focus on getting used to Bodie. We appreciated her help so much and the girls loved having Nana all to themselves.

Avery is CRAZY about her baby brother. Here is the first time she got to hold him.

My sweet friend Bethany came to meet Bodie in the hospital. Also, our pastors Stephen and Matt came to meet Bodie and pray for him while we were there. Bodie also got to meet all his grandparents while he was in the hospital. We were very thankful to be released about 24 hours after Bodie was born. We were very ready to get home and get settled in. Here's Brian & Bodie with his stork in our front yard.

Bodie Luke - one day old

Three clean pajama girls so glad their baby brother is finally here!

Uncle Brent, Aunt Jenn & Tara came to meet Bodie this past weekend. Brian had games on both Friday and Saturday, so it was nice having Brent & Jenn there to help me out. They kept the girls entertained and we enjoyed just hanging out and visiting with them. Bodie also got to meet the Cavazos family and Uncle Brandon and baby Matthew during his first weekend.

Aunt Jenn & Bodie

Uncle Brent & Bodie

Tatum getting some sweet kisses from Bo

Bodie - three days old

The other day Avery said, "When I first heard 'bodie' I thought 'oh, that's okay', but now I think bodie is the cutest name in the whole world!" I must say, I agree with her!
When she gets home from school each day, the first thing she wants to do is hold Bodie. And he is so content in her arms. She talks to him and kisses him and occasionally squeals and says "I can't believe he's finally here!" These two have already bonded and it makes me so happy!
Tatum loves to kiss his head and put his paci in. Ever since we found out I was pregnant, Tatum has been praying and asking God for a "brother with blond hair." When we found out it was indeed a brother, she was very excited that God had answered that part with a "yes." And apparently He has answered the "blond" part too because Bodie's hair is a lot like Tatum's when she was a baby. So unless it falls out and grows in dark, we really think he will probably be a blond like Tate. She is so very happy to have another blond in our family.

Laney has done really well with Bodie. I was worried she would be jealous and it would break my heart to have to choose him over her, if they both were crying. But so far, she has been fine. Mostly she just ignores him, which is fine with me for now. But she does like to kiss his head and point to him and say "Bo-bee."

We are so thankful that Bodie's first newborn screening for galactosemia came back normal! We are still waiting for more tests to find out if he might have a minor case of it ("duarte", which is what Avery & Tatum had) or if he is just a carrier of it, like Laney. We have seen God answer our specific prayers so many times and we are so amazed and grateful!