Friday, January 21, 2011

Visit from the stork!

Well, the day has finally come and we are so blessed to welcome a little miracle into our family!  Little Hunter Jack Bailey came into the world on January 19th, weighing in at 8 pounds 2 ounces.  He has a beautiful head of dark hair and is just so perfect!!!
Labor was quite the event.  I was due on the 15th, and each day that passed in the last 2 weeks have not been the funnest.  I was so desperate to have this little baby and hold him in my arms.  We also did not know the gender, so that was driving me crazy, wanting to know what we were having.  I was pretty convinced that we were having a girl, so to find out it was a boy was so exciting.  I was settling into the fact that I was going to be pregnant forever:) when I woke up yesterday morning and noticed some random contractions that were a bit stronger than my braxton hicks I had been having for months.  I ignored them for a bit, then decided to time them just for the heck of it, and to torture myself cause I knew it would turn out to be nothing.  There didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to them.  By lunch time, I was just waiting for them to stop, because they were not consistent at all, and I had once again lost hope!  David came home early from work, and helped me feed the kids lunch and get them down for a nap.  I decided to lay down and get some rest, and that's when they started coming, the real thing!  I started having them every 4 minutes, and they were stronger.  After 5 or 6 contractions, I felt a big kick and a pop and knew my water had broken, almost exactly the way it happened with Brigham.  Right away, the contractions were coming really strong, every 3-4 minutes as we scrambled to get things in the car and call Nicole to have her watch the kids.  We got to the hospital 20 minutes after my water broke, and I knew this baby was coming fast!  At the hospital, I went from a 5 to fully dilated in 45 minutes.  1 contraction and 3 pushes later, our little Hunter made his grand appearance and it was quite grand:)  I am still amazed that this sweet little spirit, who I was waiting so impatiently to come, decided to make things exciting, and only give us 2 1/2 hours from the time my water broke until he arrived.  I guess he taught me a lesson in patience:)
We are recovering well and excited to go home in the morning for some much needed rest without all the nurses coming in:)  David's residency program has been so wonderful and understanding and I am so grateful he has been able to be with me so much more than I expected.  
The kids are so excited he is here.  When they came to the hospital, Brigham just kept saying, "dats my baby brudder."  And Isabel had so much concern that he didn't have a toy and insisted we get him one ASAP.  I am confident they will show him lots of "love" and will be sure to keep an eye on them that they don't go overboard! 
I am still just completely amazed at my sweet little family and how perfect they all are.  I love my children so much and love this new bundle and the wonderful reminder he is of how I need to cherish my time with my children so much more.  I am realizing with each child how quickly time does fly and I definitely do not want it to pass me by with regrets.








Because David works for IHC, we were able to get these pics for free!  Enjoy!







5 comments:

Lisa said...

Congrats Amanda! Three kids is lots of....fun?

The Larsen Gang said...

Oh, Manders...so precious. And so glad your labor went so quick. I love those quick deliveries! Little Hunter fits perfectly into your family. What a joyous time for all of you. And you look AMAZING! Wish I could tag along with mom and come down next week!

becca said...

congrats amanda!! So so happy for you and your sweet family. baby hunter is so precious and all that dark hair! You are so patient....i can't believe you can wait that long to find out what you are having. Such a fun surprise! I don't think i could do it.
What a fast labor. I know the feeling....I was in labor & delivery for a whole 10 minutes before Tomi was born. But hey i would do that any day compared to a long hard natural labor like the first one. So glad labor was good and you made it to the hospital. next baby....you better run at first contraction. :) {that is my plan}
such a sweet blessing... and a precious time to have a newborn.

Whitney said...

congratulations! what a cutie! I can't believe that hair!

Goates Family said...

Congratulations!! He is so precious! Your kids are growing up so fast! They are cuties!! We're so excited for you guys. Miss you.