Sutton's Pics

My sister-in-law, Mollie Cochrane is a great photographer. She took all of Cohen's pictures his first year, and she did Sutton's newborn pictures. We tried to get more of Cohen and Sutton together, but Cohen was way too busy to take pictures that night. Here are a few of my favorites.

And as far as the "colic" goes... it is so much better!!! I cut out dairy for the most part and I have noticed a huge difference in his fussiness. He is such a happier baby now. Chad actually is loving on him a ton more. Chad gets a bit overwhelmed when babies are fussy, and quickly hands them over to me so he wasn't holding Sutton much. Now Daddy and Sutton are good buddies.
Cohen is such a great big brother still. He walked up to where Sutton was lying and kissed his little feet today! These boys are such a joy in our lives. God is so good!

I think we have colic. Help!!

Yes, I am 90% sure of it. Just to demolish a popular misconception, colic is not necessarily related to stomach or digestive problems. Here is a good definition of colic from www.medicinenet.com
Infantile colic has been around for a long time. In 1954, Dr. Morris Wessel, a well-known New Haven pediatrician, defined an infant with colic as "one who, otherwise healthy and well-fed, had paroxysms of irritability, fussing, or crying lasting for a total of three hours a day and occurring on more than three days in any one week for a period of three weeks." It is also important to remember that not all fussy babies suffer from colic. Most infants normally cry two to three hours per day, but this is usually spread out during the 24-hour period
So technically, colic can't be "diagnosed" until the infant is at least three weeks old. There seems to be a few theories as to what causes the excessive crying: digestive problems, an immature nervous system, and overstimultion are a few.
I have no idea what is causing Sutton to be such a screamer, but he most definitely is. He cries 75% of each day. If he isn't nursing, he's crying. I'm talking like red-faced screaming. A pacifier, swing, Moby wrap, Baby Bjorn, nothing soothes him. He is gaining weight appropriately so I'm pretty positive it is not because he is hungry. The only up-side to this....He sleeps really great at night. I think it is half because of the Babywise schedule, and the other half because he is absolutely exhausted from incessant crying all day.
I have tried gas drops, which I think are such a hoax, yet I continue to pump him full of them because I am hoping they will actually do something.
Considering I have a 19 month old in the house who also needs his Mommy, I have no choice but to let Sutton scream in his swing or Moses basket sometimes. I feel so bad for Cohen. I feel like I have given 70% of my time to Sutton because he is screaming all day, and that leaves such little time for Mommy and Cohen.
I am definitely open to any ideas anyone may have for how to soothe such a fussy child. I hope this passes quickly.
Have a wonderful fall day!!

Pumpkin Patch!

We had a day yesterday to remember forever! (We also had one of these days on Saturday too at the
Granny White Fall Fest). But, anyways, I took the boys to Gentry's farm where we met my parents for a fun morning. The weather was perfect as were Cohen and Sutton. Sutton slept the whole time. Cohen was so busy exploring all there was to do at the pumpkin patch.

Sporting the Frankenstein shirt I made for him

Snoozing through the pumpkin patch, wearing the hat I made.

"Why can't I pet the goats, Mommy?"

His face after eating a lemon. He loves to eat lemons and make
funny faces.

He LOVES animals as I have said before, so he was quite confused when he was not allowed to feed or pet the goats because there was a sign on their cage that said to keep away. He stood outside the fence and "talked" to them instead. He loved all the pumpkins, but calls them "bumpunks" instead. So funny!
I so enjoyed watching my sweet boy play and have so much fun, all while sipping a pumpkin spice latte!

Welcome, Sutton Henry!

He is here! Sutton Henry arrived on Friday, September 30 at 3:27am weighing 7 pounds and 10 ounces and 20 inches long. We are blessed beyond words and cannot thank God enough for such an amazing gift.
        I went to the ER Thursday night and left Chad and Cohen at home. I did not want to get Cohen out and then be told that I wasn't in labor. So, I went to the ER around 9pm, got checked out and admitted by 10pm. I called Chad and he dropped Cohen off at his parents' house, then came and met me at Centennial. One of my great, wonderful friends Rowena was kind enough to come in on her night/day off and be my nurse. (She was also my nurse when Cohen was born). Her presence eased my anxiety immediately.
       Without any drama, our angel was born at 3:27am. Chad did an amazing job of remaining fully conscious. If I haven't mentioned before, he fainted when Cohen was born and doesn't remember much of the first 20 minutes of his life. Chad watched Sutton come into the world and did wonderful. He said everything happened too fast for him to get light-headed or faint. I wouldn't have had the wonderful birth experience I did without Rowena. She is such an amazing, kind, Christian woman who will do anything for a friend. And it is such a blessing to have a great friend to be your nurse during such a life-changing event.
      Cohen came with Nana and Aunt Lora to meet Sutton. He was instantly excited and wanted to touch, kiss, hug, and hold him. He was so sweet and involved with Sutton for about 10 minutes, then the excitement was over and he was busy destroying the room and asking for food.

       Our friends from church, Jason and Marie Caskey had their baby boy Rhys on Thursday morning at Centennial. They are literally in the room across the hall from us. Rhys was due the day after Sutton, but they both came slightly early. But Rhys weighed in at an impressive 9 pounds, 15 ounces and 22 inches long! He is such a handsome, healthy baby. Jason and Marie came over and we placed the boys in the same bassinet and took pictures of them. There is definitely a noticeable size difference!  We plan on them growing up together and becoming great buddies.
 *I will add these pictures when I download them. They are so cute*
       We cannot stop praising God for our many blessings. We are overwhelmed at how amazing He is, and are SO looking forward to the wild ride ahead of us as parents to these little blessings.

Any day now...

Every day I wake up and go to bed thinking, "the baby is coming today/tonight." I worked Saturday, Sunday, and Monday and halfway through the day Monday my contractions were coming pretty regularly. They were not painful, but I could definitely tell they were there. Before I left work, one of the girls checked me and I was 3-4cm dialated. The whole way home from work I contracted every 2-5 minutes. This continued until about 1 am when I was finally able to fall asleep. I didn't go to the hospital because I know better and DID NOTwant to sit in the ER forever and be monitored and not sleep, and stop contracting and get sent home.
Well, I am still contracting. Yesterday I contracted every 4 minutes for a few hours, then it stopped. Same thing last night.
I am hoping I don't wait and get to the hospital at the last minute and not have time to get the antibiotics I need during labor to keep the baby from getting sick. But I am not going in with false labor either.
So, I guess I am waiting on one of these things to occur:
1) My water to break
2) These contractions to become pretty intense/painful
3) The doctor to tell me I need to be admitted after she checks me tomorrow.
If none of these things occur, I am having Sutton on Wednesday, October 5.

Maybe next time I post, I will have that sweet baby boy in my arms. We shall see......

Going Crazy??

I think I have said this many times before, but here it is again....
"It is NO GOOD to be a labor and delivery nurse while you are pregnant."
When people hear what I do for a job they say, "Oh, well you know what to expect so I am sure pregnancy is easy for you." Oh, so, so wrong.

It is in my nature to be a nervous-Nelly as you probably know. But this morning, I was a total mess. First of all, I didn't sleep well at all last night because I had contractions most of the night. Nothing that I was concerned about, but they kept me awake. Then I woke up for the day at 7:15 with Cohen. I made us breakfast and I made me a homemade pumpkin spice latte. I noticed by 7:45 that the baby hadn't moved yet. I drank more coffee, layed on my left side, poked at his usually active little feet.....Nothing. Not one tiny movement. It had been about 1 hour since I had been awake, and the baby hadn't moved once. You should feel your baby move at least 4 times in 1 hour, and this guy hadn't moved a bit. I called our wonderful life-saver babysitter Miss Lily and asked if I could drop Cohen off for a bit so I could go to the ER and get the baby checked out. I dropped Cohen off at Lily's, then called my Mom bawling. I have seen too many sad outcomes to brush his lack of movement off as him just sleeping. My mother said her and my Dad would meet me at the ER. Chad said not to worry, the baby was just really tired. I prayed like crazy and cried so much I could barely see to drive. I was stuck in rush-hour traffic and also had an empty gas tank. I stopped and put $10 of gas in my car and drove like a crazy person to get to the hospital. As I was getting off the exit at Centennial, I felt a tiny little kick. Whew! I then began to cry again and praise God that the baby was okay. I went to the ER, baby looked great, and I was able to relax. God is so good! I can't take another lazy baby though. It scared me so bad.
My parents did scold me for not having a full tank of gas in my car since I could go into labor at any time. Haha. I always run my car to the E. Good point though.
When I went to pick up Cohen, Miss Lily said as soon as I left she grabbed Cohen and held him tight and they prayed for the baby to be healthy. So thankful for such a wonderful babysitter for my sweet boy.
So, I am sure my doctor is ready for me to have this baby because I have been a crazy patient for the last two weeks. I am ready to meet him too. Hopefully not for 2 weeks though. But anytime will work:)

2 weeks or less....oh my!

Good news on the baby today. The fluid level is much better. No bedrest and no repeat ultrasounds. Yipee! The baby got a 8/8 on his BPP. (That's a test done for fetal well-being).
So the plan is to go back to Dr. Yu next Thursday for a 38 week visit, then induce on October 5 if he hasn't arrived yet! He will be sharing a birthday with his 2nd cousin Braden who will be four that day.
I was highly against induction last time because I really wanted to go into labor on my own and have the mad rush to the hospital that only happens on TV, and be completely surprised as to when Cohen would arrive. But after having to be induced last time, I know my chance of having a c-section because of being induced is extremely low. And, it is much easier to arrange childcare for Co if I know the date and time we are going to the hospital.
So, maybe he will come before Oct 5, maybe not. I am fine either way. I really want an October baby since it is by far, my favorite month.  My doctor is only on-call on Wednesdays, and this weekend. But I am pretty positive he won't be here by this weekend.

We finally got Sutton's crib together last night. Now I just have to put the bedding on it and hang some stuff on the wall. We didn't get Cohen's bedroom done until 39 weeks. We are procrastinators.

Here is little Sutton Henry today. Looking like he has his brother's
lips and nose. I sure hope he has Cohen and Chad's eyes. They are
so pretty:)