best feeling ever

Since we told our kiddos that we were going to become a family of 5, I have been imagining how they would react.

I was totally unprepared for the rush of emotion watching the 3 of them meet.  Babies totally bring out the best in people including my little ones.  A. calmed her intensely sensitive and reactive personality and relaxed with him.  K. calmed his crazy running around personality and sat to examine each and every toe and finger.  This fantastic change lasted for about 20 minutes while my overly emotional self watched with tears in my eyes.  

However, then, the emotion transferred back to my two kiddos.  They realized that they were leaving and  the baby and I were staying.  They started to cry in my room and apparently continued with louder and louder sobs until B. transferred them to Oma and Papa at the door to the hospital.  

Fast forward a few days and my expectations have been met.     

  I knew that A. was going to be my little mama.  I knew that she would want to hold him, change him, dress him, the whole 9 yards.  I knew that she would help me by caring for him when I cooked dinner.  I knew that she would be fiercly protective of him yet want to show him off.  I also knew that we would have many talks about who the actual mama was. 

 However, I wasn't able to quite grasp how K. would react.  I had some scenarios in my head of him throwing the baby like a ball or trying to tackle him.  I was not prepared for the complete love that K. has shown for his brother.  It might be different once R. can play back but, for now, K. is happy with cuddling, sharing his tractors to a practically unresponsive infant.

he's here

My fantastic OB wrote me out of work starting Oct 26.  Man were those last few days amazing.  Kids in school, Mama resting and nesting.  Glorious... Thanks, little one.

On Oct 30, at about midnight, I started having contractions.  Well, I've done this now about 5 times with this little one.  I'm not falling for it again.  I waited it out for about 2 hours timing them and then decided that I should get up and walk around.  At 3:45 B. came down to find me eating some raisin bran with almond milk.  Well, they won't let us eat once we get to the hospital.... We left the house around 5 and got to the hospital at 5:30.  When we got there, the nurse asked, "What brings you in?"  Seriously...  We got through those shenanigans and got admitted to a room where they started the blood work for the epidural.  Well, a downfall of going so early in the morning to a small town hospital is that they do not keep an anesthesiologist in the hospial.  Nope, you have to wait for the blood work and then they call the Dr. whom then commutes the 25 minutes to the hospital.  Well, this little guy was not waiting for that.  B. got to be the lucky person to tell me that this was going to be an unmedicated birth.  As soon as he told me, I said, "well, lets get this baby out."  Unfortunately, he was sunny side up and apparently lodged behind my pelvis.  So, it still took 1.5 hours for him to come.  I was so out of it, that I didn't even know that he was finally born.  It was B's. job to tell me the sex of the baby.  The midwife said, "Sarah the baby is here."  I immediately looked at B.  His response, "I don't know, there is a lot going on down there..."  1 job, he had 1 job.  Haha

So, our sweet little guy was born at 8:02 am 

Big sister and big brother were told by 8:10 with a picture to my mom's cell phone.  Apparently, the rest of the town knew at 8:40 when the happiest girl and happiest boy ever went to school.  What could be better than a baby brother and a Halloween parade on the same day?