Getting Settled In

Things are going well at home with Baby Finn. I'm not going to lie though, the first night at home was pretty rough. I think I got 1 hour of sleep before 5 am. It's not that he was really fussy, he just did not want to sleep in his bassinet. Last night was much better and he woke up twice during the night/morning for a diaper change and feeding. We gave him his first bath at home and I think that helped him relax for bedtime.



Today Shawn took the kids to run errands for a few hours and it was nice relaxing at the house with Finn and I actually took a nap with him. :-) So far he has been great at home and is really a content baby. He is still feeding well, which is such a blessing. I forgot how exciting changing a poopy diaper can be! Seriously though, wet and poopy diapers are a great sign to him getting enough food. Here is our little man this afternoon.



This evening Shawn and I were sitting on the couch and I looked at him and asked if he would do me a favor and he said sure. "Will you go get me a chocolate malt?" "Absolutely" he said. A little while later he shows up with this.


Yes, it is that big! First thing that came to mind is from Dumb and Dumber "big gulp, aye?" I did not know that had a large size . . . this could be trouble for future weight loss!

As for Jase and Allyson, they are doing great with him. Jase is in awe with Finn and asks to hold him all the time. Ally thinks he is too cute and she always has a kiss for him on his forehead. We are loving our family of 5 and feel beyond blessed.

Home Sweet Home

We made it home safe and sound this afternoon with our new little addition! When we were pulling up we noticed the yard had been cut and balloons were out front welcoming us home. Aunt Alisha had the kids inside with fresh cards made on the table. Today is my birthday, so it was a double celebration! :-)

The house looked great!! Alisha had picked up, cleaned the floors, and Ally was down for her nap! I cannot tell you enough what a blessing that was to come home to. Not that I was feeling stressed, but that made me that much more relaxed knowing we did not have "jobs" to do, except enjoy our family of 5. Thank you so much Alisha and Joseph, y'all are such a blessing to us!

It was nice being home with the kids in their own element. While I thoroughly enjoyed having them up at the hospital and seeing them with their new baby brother, there is only so much they can do up there without getting too loud or wild and crazy!

Finn is doing great and is a wonderful eater! Praise God! It probably helps that this is my 3rd go round and I am a little more relaxed this time. This experience in the hospital was the best thus far with a baby. I felt very relaxed and Finn has been awesome, rarely crying. When they gave him his potassium shot and drew blood for his jaundice test, he did not cry any! I remember that being traumatic for the other two.

As for me, I am doing well. I am starting to feel a little sore though. Not sure if it's from sleeping in a hospital bed for 2 nights or if my body is feeling the pains from labor and delivery. I took Motrin in the hospital and now Tylenol at home and hopefully that will do the trick.

On top of having wonderful friends and family, I have an amazing husband. He is such a great helper and team player. No job is too small for him, whether that's filling up my water cup around the clock, being friendly to the nurses or changing diapers (I'm know he changed more than me in the hospital). What a blessing to have him home with me this week! Love you, babe!

Introducing Finn Michael French

This morning I woke up early and asked Shawn if he had any meetings and if he could work from home. I had a feeling that today was the day. I had my first contraction at 6:04 AM and they were 8 minutes apart for about 30 minutes and then became 6-7 minutes apart. We called the on-call doctor and told her our situation and she said to come on in. We left the house at 7:17 AM and headed to the hospital. It was about 8:00 AM by the time I got up to labor and delivery.

I got checked into my room and my nurse registered me . . . oops, I forgot to preregister!! My nurse checked me and I was 6 cm. My doctor came by soon after that to see how I was doing. I got up to use the restroom around 9:45 and was in some pain. I decided at that point to get the epidural; there was no way I wanted to get up again and feel that pressure! Dr. Anding came back around 10:20 AM and checked me and I was 8 cm and he decided to rupture my water since my contractions were pretty regular at 4 mins apart. He asked the nurse to check me in an hour at 11:20 and to let him know how I was doing.

I was still in quite a bit of pain and feeling every contraction, even after the epidural. Anesthesia came in and gave me some pain medicine straight into my epidural. They did this pretty frequently until I delivered. The same thing happened with Ally as well and that's why I was holding off on getting the epidural since it did not work as expected. Anesthesia said that when you progress so fast, sometimes the medicine doesn't have a chance to kick in. Since I kept feeling a lot of pressure, my nurse decided to check me around 11:00 and I was at 10 cm and fully effaced. She called for the doctor to get the ball rolling.

After 4-5 rounds of pushing, Finn Michael French made his debut at 11:28 am weighing in at 8 lbs 5 oz and 20 3/4 inches long. Such a sweet and beautiful baby boy! He nursed great the first hour and has since then as well. I can't believe that he is here! We are so blessed to have Finn with us and his older brother and sister are so excited as well!