Birth story

Sometimes I think Pantera has a much greater pull with Heavenly Father than I give her credit for. When I look back at the last year it is funny how in tune she was with everything concerning her little brother. About a year ago we were at Meredith's house and Pantera said "Mom, the girl baby in your tummy was sick. So now we are having a boy baby." I don't know what brought this up but it took me by surprise because she had never once acknowledged the baby we lost before. Then in January I found out I was pregnant and I told her she was going to have a brother or a sister coming. She looked at me very seriously and said "we are going to have a brother." I told her that it could be a sister and she again told me "No, it is a brother." Seeing the way she acts around Ezekiel, makes me have a firmer belief in the premortal life. She loves him so much, everything he does is just perfect to her and she is not easily impressed! She is adjusting well, I just need to figure it all out!!!

Physically, I feel great. A little pain here and there but that is to be expected. I had a great labor experience with him. I was a little annoyed because I went into labor on Thursday night and ended up in the hospital 3 hours before I was supposed to be induced (go figure;). From the time my contractions were getting bad at the house and the time he was out was about 12 hours. They put me on some pain medication at the hospital 1/2 a dose and I was giggling like a lunatic!!! That slowed down my progress so we waited for the new shift to start and they put me on pitocin and gave me an epidural around 8:30 am. I was ready to push around 11 am, thanks to the great nurse that we had. He was born at 11:27am, perfect at 8lbs 4oz. My favorite part was no episiotomy...what a difference in recovery!!!

He is a pretty mellow baby, as long as he is being fed constantly. He is sleeping longer in the night, about 3 hour stretches. We took him for his first checkup yesterday. They want him to be back up to his birth weight by 10 days old. Yesterday he was 5 days and he weighed in at 8lbs 13oz. I can't wait to see those rolls!!! Jess is enjoying the time off, but has decided that he won't become a stay at home dad anytime soon! I am so grateful he was able to take off of work to help. I feel incredibly blessed to have such a beautiful little family. Thank you for all of the thoughts and prayers!!!