One Week

As I sit here reflecting on William's first week of life, I am flooded with so many emotions, but more than anything it's an indescribable feeling of intense love and passion like I've never felt before. I always hear mothers talking about this feeling, but until you experience it for yourself there are no words to describe it. Enough with the emotions babble...we have honestly had a great first week (almost 2 weeks now) at home. In an effort to keep it real, there have been sleepless nights, frustrations, hormonal mood swings for mama, and overwhelming times BUT I've felt more happiness this past week than I have in my 27 years on this earth. I had William solo on Tuesday, Wednesday, and part of Thursday last week and we did surprisingly well, just the two of us. We are still trying to figure out our "routine," but each day I'm finding more of a new "normal." Here are some phone pics from our first week at home...

He loves snugglin' with Daddy!

Look at that little smile :)

He would be perfectly content in his swing all day long if we didn't want to be holding him 24/7!

WIDE awake before bed one night!

Trying out his crib during the day.

In the car on the way to the photo shoot

Relaxing on the apartment swing. It's nice for me to get some fresh air so I think we'll be visiting the swing daily. 

My mom came back on Thursday for William's first pediatrician's appointment, and I'm very grateful for that because we wouldn't have made it out the door without her! William had gained 1 oz. from his birth weight, so he weighed 8 lbs. 4.5 oz. Since I am only breastfeeding I was very relieved that he hadn't lost any weight! He wore his Peter Rabbit gown that my mom made. I had to snap a few pictures in his crib before we headed out.

 He claws his face when his hands aren't covered so we try to keep mittens on him all the time.

Getting comforted by his Juju after his heel stick :( He did such a good job and barely even cried. He'll get a shot at his 1 month visit and I'm already dreading that. 

Grant, William, and I had a relaxing weekend just enjoying each other. He had his newborn photo shoot Saturday morning, and he was an angel! My Aunt Sara and Uncle Bobby were so kind to let us use their house for the shoot. Here's a picture of mommy and William before we left the apartment Saturday morning. It was quite a circus at the Davis house getting out of the house! 

Meeting Granny

William got to meet a very special person last Saturday, his Granny (Grant's mom)! She arrived mid-day on Saturday and left Tuesday, so he got lots of lovin' from her. William is Granny's first grandson but third grandchild so she has lots of experience with babies. We are already looking forward to Granny's next visit in June when William will get to meet his beautiful girl cousins, Payton and Finley, and his Uncle Greg and Aunt Dana. I know the Davis cousins will have many wonderful times together in the future!

Bringing Home Baby

We got released from UAB on Friday, April 27th at 4pm. It was bitter sweet. Part of me couldn't wait to get home and the other side of me really enjoyed all of the TLC from family, friends, nurses, and doctors while we were at the hospital. Our nurse called security to bring up a wheelchair for me at 4pm (this is a mandatory policy) but they didn't come until 5:15 which left us plenty of time for an impromptu photo session. My mom made William's coming home gown that is such a gorgeous labor of love that I will always cherish. Grant has come to terms with the fact that you may see our baby boy in a beautiful gown dress from time to time :)

 Juju dressing William

 Love his little hands tucked up by his face. This may be my favorite picture yet.

 Sweet lips.

One last family picture in the hospital room

Baby ears

 Baby hands

 Baby toes

In the wheelchair and ready to go!

 First time outside!

 First ride in the car! 

 Grant drove 10 miles under the speed limit the whole way home. We had some serious precious cargo!

 Home sweet home. He loves his Nap Nanny!

 Melts.My.Heart.

All swaddled up ready to sleep through the night...HA HA!

April 25th, 2012 - Welcome to the World, William!

Our precious angel arrived on Wednesday April 25, 2012 at 3:57 p.m. weighing 8 pounds 3 ounces, 21.5 inches long. There are no words to describe the love Grant and I feel for this child, and we will forever thank the Lord for giving him to us. I really want William to be able to read this one day, so I'm going to attempt to recap the days leading up to his birth, along with his actual birth.

I convinced my mom to come up to Birmingham on Monday, even though I wasn't scheduled to be induced until Thursday morning. I will forever be grateful for the very special time I got to spend with my mom leading up to the birth of William. We enjoyed walking, talking, eating, and shopping with each other all day on Monday and Tuesday. On Tuesday, my mom and I had a very eventful day of intense shopping and running last minute errands and I was literally outside, on my feet, for the entire day! We started the day by taking a long walk around the Summit before meeting Julie at Olexa's (my favorite lunch spot) for lunch. For the rest of the afternoon we perused all of the fabulous baby stores around Birmingham.

So Tuesday night, Julie, Grant, my mom and I had dinner at Avo in Mountain Brook and I had the best salmon salad I have ever eaten.  I also indulged in some of Grant's french fries he had with his burger because I just couldn't resist! After dinner, we all went back to our apartment where my dad was waiting on us. As we were all sitting there, I vividly remember my mom saying over and over again, "You are going to have that baby tonight.....get ready." I remember thinking, "Yeah right....I'm just ready for Thursday to get here so I can be induced and have this baby already!"  Well, Tuesday night I was having trouble sleeping and at about 3am, I got up and took a Tylenol PM to try and help me sleep a little better.  Shortly after 4am, I woke up to my water breaking!!  My exact words to Grant were, "Grant, I think my water just broke and I am being completely serious."  I called the after hours number for my OB and after the on-call doctor asked me a few questions, he finally said the words I have been dying to hear "Come on in because you are going to have a baby by the end of the day!" I don't think Grant nor I have ever smiled that big!  He told us not to rush and that I could take a shower and get all of our things together.  This was such a relief because I definitely did not want to be rushed and end up forgetting something. We had our bags packed for weeks so Grant and I really weren't panicky about getting to the hospital.

The ride to the hospital at 5am was one of the most fun 15 minutes of my entire life. Grant and I were seriously giddy. When I arrived at UAB, we went straight to the Maternal Evaluation Unit so they could confirm my water had broken before moving me to the Labor and Delivery Room.

 It was confirmed my water had broken, so an IV was started. We are going to have a baby today!

Then we were transported to the Labor and Delivery Room where the real action started! We arrived in the L&D room around 7am. 

Labor and Delivery Room - so nice!

Even though my water had broken, I was still only 1 cm. dilated when I arrived at the hospital. Shortly after arriving to the L&D room, an epidural was started and then the Pitocin drip was hung. Contractions had started in the picture above. 

 Contractions monitor

 Telling my parents to come on up to the hospital

 My parents arrived around 11:30.

 The hardest part of labor was not being able to eat. The entire 12 hours I fantasized about what my first meal would be :) I ended up eating a chicken pesto sandwich from Newk's.

 William's birthday cake from Aunt Ray Ray.

Most wonderful nurse ever! I will call her "E", but she was a God send. I don't have enough nice things to say about this girl. She was amazing. 

 We were a little worried Douglas may not be able to come up for the delivery but he made it happen. I was at 10 cm. at this point so this was right before the family left the room. At 3pm I started pushing. Dr. Gleason arrived at 3:50 and William was born at 3:57. This is going to sound really cheesy but Grant was THE most amazing supportive "coach" to me the entire day. I am blessed beyond measure to have a husband like him, and William will soon learn just how lucky he is to have Grant as his Daddy.

 Pure joy.

 First family picture

 8 lbs. 3 oz. 

 He looks SO big in these pictures! I think he was still pretty swollen.

 First bath

First time in Daddy's arms. I tear up every time I look at this picture!

 First time in Juju's arms. 

 Loves his Aunt Birdie

 Happiness.

 All of my amazing cheerleaders that patiently waited outside the door. William is one loved little boy!

 With some of his very special "aunts"

 Family picture. 

 Yaya's minus Meg.

 This is one of my very favorite pictures. Dad and Douglas are checking out William's toes.

 Snuggle time with Elaine

 Early Thursday morning after our first night at the hospital. 

This is a rough picture of me but I want to remember these special moments. 

 Snoozing with Daddy

 Mommy doing what she does close to 24 hours a day...just staring at my baby.

Delivering at UAB was such a fabulous experience! I seriously felt like I was at a resort. I had mixed emotions about going home on Friday afternoon. Next post is bringing baby home.