Introducing Daniel Joshua Lee

We could not be happier or more excited to introduce our little Daniel Joshua Lee.  He was born on Wednesday, October 10th, at 6:01 PM.  He weighed 8 pounds and 2 ounces and measured 20 and 3/4 inches long.  He came out nice and healthy and full of love.  Here's the story....

Daniel's due date was October 9th.  Well, that day came and went.  Luckily, we only had to wait one more day to meet our little man.  On Wednesday, the 10th, the hospital called us at 5:42 AM and told us that they were ready for us to come in.  Josh and I quickly got dressed and ate some pumpkin waffles to gear up for the day ahead.

We got to the hospital around 7:00 AM.  After answering tons of questions and signing lots of papers, I was hooked up to pitocin around 8:30.  At that time, I was only dilated 2 cm and was about 80% effaced.  It took me a while to get a set of regular contractions.  They finally started getting consistent and then died off.  I began to get discouraged, thinking they would send me home or I would for one reason or another need a c-section.  After 6 hours of not progressing at all, they decided to break my water around 2:20 in the afternoon.

By 3:45, my contractions had gotten more intense.  They were showing a very consistent pattern, so things were looking up.  My nurse checked me and I was only at 3.5 cm!  Holy cow!  This was taking much longer than I thought it would.  My pitocin was already at a 12, and I thought for sure that things would be further along by now.  Josh suggested that it might help if I walked around a little to get things going.  By this time it was about 4:35.  I decided that I might as well try since just sitting there waiting wasn't proving to be very effective.  We figured that Daniel's head was acting as a cork and stopping my water from fully coming out.  We thought that if I walked around, more water may be released and labor would speed up.

Well, I must have married someone really smart because Josh was right!!  I stood up to walk around and in about 10 minutes, my pain went from moderate to severe!  And I mean SEVERE!  I could not believe it was hurting so much.  I asked for my epidural at 4:50.  By the time the anesthesiologist walked in the room, I thought I was going to die.  I was screaming!  I've never understood why women scream so loud when in labor until now.  I could not help but scream.  It was just too painful.  The guy gave my my epidural and then packed up and left.  I was still in so much pain waiting for it to kick in.  That's when it happened....

I felt the pressure.  I knew what that meant.  I must be complete.  I told my nurse and she checked me.  I was right.  I was fully complete at 10 cm.  I felt it all.  Wow.  I'm a weak sauce person too!  I began to panic thinking that I would feel him coming out and everything.  The resident anesthesiologist was walking by and heard me screaming.  She popped her head in to see what was going on.  Thankfully, she gave me some more medicine and after another agonizing 15 minutes, my epidural finally kicked in.  I didn't think it ever would.

Around 5:15, my epidural was almost fully working and my dad walks in!  I about died.  To our knowledge, he was at work in GA.  He surprised us all!  He didn't even tell my mom that he was coming.  He bought a plane ticket about three weeks ago.  We all just died!  It was so great to see him and what perfect timing.  We only visited for a couple of minutes because it was time to push!

My doctor got there around 5:40 and my epidural was working wonders!  Life was good again.  I'm not sure exactly what time I started pushing but after three short pushes, Mr. Daniel Joshua Lee was born!  It was amazing! 

We are just completely over joyed and totally in love with this little guy.  We are officially a family of five, and it feels great! 

Waiting for some good contractions.

My AMAZING mom has been an angel throughout this whole process.  She has been there for us in every way!  Daniel is lucky to have such a wonderful Granny. 

This is when I stood up and my contractions started going crazy.  Three and a half centimeters to ten in no time!

Daniel came out super purple.  This is after several minutes of getting him to pink up.  He looked so dark on my tummy, and I began to get really nervous.  Luckily he's OK though.

He had to have a little extra oxygen after a few minutes. 

He weighed 8 lbs 2.8 ounces.  They won't round up though.  So, officially, he is 8 pounds 2 ounces.

Smitten.  Totally and completely smitten. 

Dr. Smith was amazing.  We just loved having her deliver both Andrew and Daniel.

Best moment ever!  I was feeling so, so grateful that he arrived safely and that he was mine. 

Daddy holding Daniel for the first time.  They're buds already.

Here is the most thoughtful man you'll ever meet....my dad!  He was so wonderful to surprise us and be there to celebrate Daniel.  It was a really sweet experience. 

My beautiful mom!

Do you think Josh could look any happier?  We just can't stop smiling over this little guy.

Our family of five.  This is truly what makes life wonderful!

Lots and lots of details still to come...plus one million pictures!

Last post before the big day!

 I just uploaded a bunch of blog posts so that I can be all caught up before our big day with Daniel tomorrow.  So, go check them out! 
I love these pics of Josh with the kids.  This was right before church a few Sundays ago.  Josh is usually gone to meetings before church, so when he is home, my life is bliss!  Everything is better when Daddy is around!  There is no doubt, Josh is the sweetest, most wonderful dad in the world.  Those are really lucky little kids. 

 Josh got to go to BYU a couple of weeks ago for an accounting conference.  I was sweatin' it, let me tell you.  Ten days before my due date!  Are you kidding me?  I was so nervous.  Luckily, our little bun in the oven kept on cookin'!  He had a great time and got to see some family too!  Check it out!

 He even brought home little gifts for the kids.  They LOVED them!

Family Date Night

 We had family date night this past Friday.  We figured this was our last weekend as a family of four, so we went to Cracker Barrel to spend some quality time with our kids.  We had been given a gift card from my dad a while back and have been saving it for a special occasion.  The kids loved going to a restaurant!  They hardly ate anything, but they loved the experience overall. 

 These are just a few random pics.  Anna on her way to school, looking cute...

 Doesn't that face look funny?

 Anna fell asleep in the laundry basket the other day.  It was just too cute not to capture!

How do you spend your conference weekend?

We spent our conference weekend with picnics, play dough, puzzles, and lots and lots of crying.  Conference is just never the same when you have kids.  ;-)  It was great though!  The kids thought it was really special to have a picnic in the living room, especially because they can only ever eat food in the kitchen. 

Sliding down this pole was a major hit.  I think they went through every toy that we own, a few times.  We survived though!  It was a great weekend!

Balloons of FIRE

We went to St. Louis' Balloon Glow about a month ago.  Andrew can talk about NOTHING ELSE.  He now calls all of the hot air balloons, "balloons of fire" and prays for them every night.  The first thing he talks about when he wakes up in the morning are the balloons of fire, as well as when Josh asks him at dinner time how his day was.  He LOVED it.  I think it really made an impression.  The pics don't really capture the feel of it all but here you go anyways!

Two. More. Days.

Two more days!  One. TWO!!  We are SO excited for this little guy to get here.  We can hardly stand it.  It's funny how the excitement of a baby coming really doesn't go down with each child.  Even though we've done this before a couple of times, we are still on top of the world when we think about meeting this little man.  The labor and delivery part makes all of the pregnancy worth it.  I remember that my friend, Stephani, once told me that the actual delivery was the most exciting part.  Sure, that sounds obvious, but before I had Anna, that just seemed like the most terrifying part.  I was so nervous for the pain and how everything would go.  Now that I've been down that road, I feel nothing but excitement.  Pure excitement.  I have no nervous feelings at all.  We would still appreciate any and all prayers you can send our way for a healthy and safe delivery.

The picture above proves that I just don't have small babies.  My doctor thinks he will be smaller than my other two.  Anna was 8 lbs, 10 oz. and Andrew was 8lbs. 11oz.  She thinks he'll be a 7 pound baby.  I agreed with her for a while but I think in the last few days, he's hit a growth spurt and might make the 8 lb mark.  I guess we'll just have to see. 

I had so many contractions and pregnancy pains yesterday that I thought I was going to have Daniel last night!  I even called my mom to prep her to get ready.  However, since then, everything has basically stopped and I've only had a few contractions here and there.  I think I'll make it all the way until Wednesday.

We're being induced on Wednesday, the 10th.  Hopefully, we'll get called first thing in the morning and have a quick labor like before.  Andrew's labor was just shy of 5 hours.  I will gladly take that again. I have wonderful friends who are making themselves available to help out while he's being delivered so that Josh and my mom can be there.  What a blessing it is to have people to watch out for you....AND your kids.  I hope I can repay the favor for them soon. 

We just finished setting up the swing, bouncer, and crib.  We even moved my rocking chair into our bedroom for those late night feedings.  The hospital bag is semi-packed and the cameras are charged.  My mom flies in on Tuesday, so now all we have to do is just wait.  That may be the hardest part of all!