John's Surprise Party

I decided a couple of months ago that I wanted to do something special for John's 30th birthday. I knew it wasn't going to be easy as we were going to have a newborn and just getting home from the hospital. I decided, though, to throw him a small surprise party. I invited our family along with a few of John's close friends. I kept it very simple since we literally got home from the hospital two days before.

I ordered a cake from Willie Mays Bakery in Plano. They have the absolute best cakes!! I had it made with lemon filling which is John's favorite and it was topped with chocolate and white chocolate strawberries. It was so good! The best part is that my mom had picked it up while John and I had taken Liam back to the hospital for a weight check. She hid it in the oven. Well, around 5ish John decided that he was going to reheat left overs to have for dinner and turned the oven on. Thank God, John's Dad heard him turning the oven on and his Mom rushed in there and turned it off. Talk about a close call!

My mom also picked up food from On the Border. I had a few party platters with appetizers. It really was such a simple party but it turned out well. John was surprised and I hope it made him feel special. I love you, John!

William "Liam" Henry Manning

Our third and final baby boy is finally here! We named him William Henry after his Great Grandfather and his Grandfather and are going to call him Liam. He was born on September 14th at 7:42 am weighing 8 pounds 9 ounces and 19 1/4 inches long.

39 weeks - on our way to the hospital

This birthing experience was so different than my previous ones. First of all, I actually made it to my scheduled date. I still cannot believe it. We got to the hospital at 5:30 that morning and checked in. Bill and Beckie met us there so they could help take care of the boys while I was prepped for surgery. My mom and dad arrived shortly afterwards. I couldn't eat or drink since the night before and this caused a few problems for the nurses to find a vein to draw blood and start an IV. It took two nurses to finally find a vein for the IV and a few pricks. One of the pricks even left a huge 3 - 4 inch bruise on my arm. Then they had to call the lab to draw blood since they were having such a hard time.

It seemed like time was flying by and then they wheeled me into the operating room. I climbed onto the operating table and they put in my epidural. Shortly after my epidural was put in, they brought John into the OR and they got started.

Having a c-section is a very weird feeling. I was completely numb from my chest down to where I couldn't even move my toes. However, you can feel pressure. It actually hurt when they pulled Liam out of me. He cried, though, as soon as he came out and that is the most precious sound in the whole world.

They quickly took him over to the warmer and started cleaning him off. John went over to be with him and the warmer was in a place that I could see as well. As soon as Liam was all clean and warm they brought him over for me to see and took a picture of the three of us.

John and Liam then went back to my room where the nurse finished up with Liam. As soon as my surgery was complete they wheeled me back into my room and they handed Liam to me for the first time. I was a little nervous because I get the shakes terribly bad from the anesthesia but one of the nurses told me that holding the baby would help. I was skeptical but it actually worked.

John then went out to the waiting room and brought Carter and Preston back to meet their little brother. Carter was very sweet and Preston, well, Preston was and still is just very curious.

After we had time as a family of 5, the rest of the family came back and we announced his name. It was an exciting moment to finally share his name, especially since it is such a special name.

I was then taken to my post partum room where we remained until Thursday, September 17th. Liam spent most of the time in my room with a few trips to the nursery so we could sleep. He is such a good baby. He loves to sleep as did my other two boys. He also loves to eat and is a great nurser. We had a few hiccups the first couple of days but I worked with a great lactation consultant in the hospital and as soon as my milk came in all of the problems disappeared.

He is now almost two weeks old and I can hardly believe it. I know time is going to fly by and I want it to slow down. With Liam being our last I know I am going to try to hold onto each and every little thing. He is already a little more alert and having a little more awake time. Before I know it he is going to be running around with this brothers.

My Dear Liam, We are so blessed to have you in our family. I cannot wait to create more memories with you and watch you grow up. You are my baby and will forever remain my baby. I love you, sweet Liam!

Family of Five!

Dr. Jacoby - my wonderful doctor!

Boys Truly Are The Best

I think I have the sweetest 3 year old in the whole wide world. Last night, I had a melt down. I hate it when my kids see me cry but sometimes it is just unavoidable. My nerves are really starting to get to me and I'm basically just freaking out about having a baby on Monday. While I was "cooking" dinner last night I just started crying. I had my back to the kitchen and was trying not to let Carter see me. I was talking to John and explaining to him why I was upset and he was trying to comfort me. Carter walks up to me and grabs my hand and says, "Mommy, don't be sad. Maybe you need a hug." So, I picked him up and he hugged me for at least 10 minutes. I would ask him if he wanted down to finish his pb&j sandwich (why "cooking" was in quotes, lol) and he would tell me that he wasn't done hugging me. So, we stood in the kitchen having the longest hug I think he has ever given.

Carter, you will never know how much that hug meant to me at that very moment. You made absolutely everything so much better in my world last night when I thought things were falling down around me. I love you so much and you are the Best Carter in the Whole Wide World!

Nervous

I am now 3 days away from meeting Baby Boy #3. Which by the way, I cannot wait to tell everyone his name! It will be nice to refer to him as his real name and not Baby. But anyways...I am getting very anxious and nervous. In a way it has been nice to have been surprised when my water broke and we just went to the hospital to deliver. This is so different now that I'm so close to my scheduled date. I have started to feel like I'm not prepared which I know that I am. All the baby needs is a place to sleep and a few clothes and blankets. All of which are ready. The anticipation of the c-section itself has me nervous. I have survived 2 c-sections and know this will be no different. I'm dreading the recovery process of it. I know I don't have a natural birth to compare it to but a c-section is definitely not a walk in the park. Seeing that it was just 13 months ago that I went through it, the pain is still fresh in my mind. The intense burn you feel when you stand up for the first time, the pain in the incision from moving into a different position in bed, and the pain after they take the epidural out - 24 hours later.

It is all worth it in the end as there truly is nothing like holding your newborn for the first time and looking into each other's eyes. It is amazing how there is that instant connection between a mom and her new baby. I'm excited to see Carter and Preston meet Baby for the first time. I'm excited to see every one's expression when we announce the name. I'm excited to find out how big Baby is. And I'm most excited to have our family of five complete.

I can't believe how I can have all of these emotions all at the same time - nervous, scared, excited, anxious, happy, sad... It will all come together though in just three short days!

Really? Sick 3 Days Before Baby Comes?

I started feeling bad yesterday and started to run a low grade temperature. I had no other symptoms so I called and spoke to Dr. J's nurse. She told me to just take Tylenol and give her a call in the morning if I still had it. Then last night I started to get some major sinus pressure and Carter was getting a little nasally (is that a word?) too. Carter started to also run a low grade temp. He woke up in the middle of the night with a 101 temp. So, we gave him Tylenol and he got to sleep the rest of the night in our room. I called this morning and got him in to see Dr. M. They performed a flu test which came back negative, Thank God! So, he prescribed him a zpak just to be on the safe side. I spoke to my nurse this morning and as soon as I started talking she said, "Oh you don't sound good." LOL And I didn't feel good! She was so sweet and I didn't even have to go in to see the doctor. She called in a Zpak for me. I asked her if this would affect my c-section on Monday and she said the only reason they would delay it would be if I was still running a fever. I hope and pray that I'm not!!! We picked up both prescriptions and have already started them. I certainly don't want Carter sick and not able to be around the new baby. How heartbreaking would that be? And I most certainly don't want my c-section delayed. I am very ready to meet my third baby boy!!

38 Week Dr. Appointment - The Final One

I had my 38 week doctor appointment today. This was my final appointment which is a little hard to believe. I have never made it to my final appointment! I'm shocked that this kid is so content in there and doesn't want to come out. My blood pressure was back down to normal 110/80 and my weight, well, lets just say I'm going to be thankful to start losing the weight instead of gaining. I am measuring at 39 weeks and Dr. Jacoby thinks that Baby will weigh approximately 7-8 pounds. Now, that is just from feeling him from the outside and the size of my uterus so there is really no telling. I feel like I have a 15 pound baby in there!! Dr. Jacoby said everything looks great and he will see me early Monday morning unless something happens before then.

Carter's Video: February 2006 - December 2007

For Christmas 2007, John and I made a video/slide show of Carter's life up to that point. John put in a lot of time and effort into making it a video and we gave a copy to family as a Christmas gift. We decided that it was best to make one every other year since it is so time consuming and it makes for a better video when there is more time to cover. So, I am now starting to go through all of our pictures starting at December 2007 and pulling the pictures and video to include. It will be so much different than the first one we made since we will now have two new children to include. I got a little sentimental and decided to post the video we made of Carter. The quality is significantly reduced so it can be uploaded onto the web so I apologize for that in advance. I hope you all enjoy Carter's first year and a half!

First Steps

At 13 months old, Preston is officially walking. He has been taking steps here and there for about a month but on Sunday (9/6/09) night he took off. He always paces back and forth while holding onto the couch. Well, the other night he got to the end of the couch and just kept going. I was in such shock I couldn't even say anything. I just looked over to John and started pointing. He made it half way across the living room until he fell down. He is so proud. He holds his little hands up in the air in a fist to be sure not to hold on but he knows he can catch himself if he needs to. I am so proud too! What a big boy!

Second Trip to L&D

I have now been pregnant longer than I have my previous two pregnancies. I do not know how people go past their due dates, sometimes two weeks, and don't go crazy. I am 38 weeks today and already starting to go crazy! Yesterday afternoon I started having severe pelvic pressure. It hurt to walk, sit, stand...just the slightest movement made it feel like Baby was going to come out. The pain was so intense that I couldn't even feel my contractions. I decided to go to sleep and see how the night went. I was up and down all night long. I think I only got a total of 3 or 4 hours of sleep. I thought about waking John up around 4 but decided we were so close to the daytime that I would wait until the morning and call my doctor. I spoke to the on-call doctor around 9 am this morning and we decided it would be best to go ahead and get checked out. We got to the hospital around 11:30...even though I thought I had been prepared and bags packed, it still took us a long time to get out of the house with two kids in tow. We went fully packed in case we ended up staying. So, that included getting both kids packed and ready to spend the week at Grandma's and staying a full day at the hospital. I got hooked up to the monitors and got settled in. Dr. Reisler (the on-call doctor) came by almost immediately and checked and I wasn't dialated at all. This actually surprised me considering all of the pressure I had been feeling. My contractions were still considered irritability. After a couple of hours later I was discharged to go home and continue on with my life for the next week. I will either be back next Monday morning or sooner if my water breaks or if I go into true labor. You would think would my third I would know a little bit more of what to expect but I don't. My body has never actually gone into labor and I'm not sure what it feels like. I have had my water break twice and labor induced once but not even on my own.

The nurse I had today was great. She joked that maybe Baby could hear the chaos going on with having Carter and Preston and has decided to just stay put. I honestly wouldn't doubt it. It's ironic...you would think that each pregnancy would get shorter instead of longer but I always tend to be in the small percentages and this is just another one of those times. At least Baby is doing great and healthy. I couldn't ask for anything more.

Finally, We Can Play Outside

Now that the weather is cooling down a little bit we actually got to go outside and play in the backyard. John and Carter went out this afternoon while Preston was napping and then we all went out after dinner. This was the first time for Preston to play on the new playset and he LOVED the swing. I was actually shocked at how high he wanted to go. The higher we went the harder he laughed. Carter pushed him for a little bit but was a little rough. I was scared that Preston was going to get whip lash but he loved every minute of it. Carter played with balls and loved throwing them up the slide and watching them slide down and loved just throwing them up in the air. John helped Preston slide down our little slide that Aunt Shannon got Carter last year but he wasn't so sure about that.

The Boys Cooked Dinner

I have not been in the mood to cook dinner lately. This isn't so convenient as we are on a pretty tight budget but we are doing pretty good at not going out. I was so wiped out today though after our trip to the mall so John volunteered to cook dinner. We had BLT sandwiches and the boys did such a good job! Thanks, Honey!

Train Ride

Carter has been asking for a few days to go to Collin Creek Mall. He LOVES trains and they have a little train that kids can ride for $2. He could care less about the mall but he has been wanting to go and ride the train and eat. Why are kids fascinated with the food court? So, today, we actually didn't have anything planned. It was a nice change of pace. We got up and had breakfast and Preston took a morning nap. After Preston woke up we headed to the mall. The first stop was at the train. He was so cute. I gave him the money and let him buy his own ticket and he loved handing his ticket to the conductor. He really wanted to ride in the engine and told me he was the engineer.

He is funny...after taking a ton of pictures he actually told me, "No more pictures, Mommy."

37 Week Belly Picture

I'm not really sure how much bigger I can get. Just when I didn't think I could get more stretch marks! I'm also sporting some awesome cankles (sp?). I hate swelling up but at least it waited until the last month.

How Did He Do That?

This is how I found Preston one morning when I went to get him out of bed. I still haven't figured out how he managed to do it.





And his other amazing trick is eating his feet. "Look, Mommy! No hands!!"

The New Teddy Bear

My Aunt got me a new Teddy Bear to sit next to Baby for the monthly pictures. This bear is huge! Carter and Preston love playing and wrestling with him!




Can you find Preston??

37 Week Doctor Appointment

I went to Dr. Jacoby today for my 37 week check up. My blood pressure was slightly higher today and was 128/90. It is still in the "normal" range but it is just on the higher side of normal. I didn't even pay attention to the weight gain...at this point I don't really care. I am 37 weeks and 2 days and measuring right at 38 weeks. I figure I'm doing really good!

I talked to him about possible moving my c-section up a week to next week. However, he wouldn't agree to it. I think if I had begged he might have said yes but he said no. He participated in a study at the hospital that he used to practice at (where I delivered Carter) where they looked at the admissions into their NICU. He said that there was a significant increase in admissions at 38 weeks versus 39 weeks. Before this study he had no problems delivering at 38 weeks as this is considered full term but he just isn't comfortable doing it anymore, unless there are medical reasons. Preston was born at 37 weeks and 6 days and was healthy as could be but I certainly don't want to take any risks. I mean, seriously, I only have 12 more days until I get to meet my little guy. I think if I have waited this long I can wait another 12 days. How do women go to 42 weeks???

So, I plan on taking advantage these next 12 days of enjoying being a family of 4. John and I are about to be outnumbered which will be an adjustment. Everyone has some major adjustments in our household coming up! Hopefully, the transition is a smooth one.