Toby's Birth Story

Our due date with Toby was April 1st and I knew all along it would be a joke of some kind. What I didn't expect was to see our due date come and go and a whole week go by. I tried to remain in good spirits and enjoy the extra time with just Ethan. We enjoyed some extra playdates, Defy Gravity (trampolines), playgrounds and a couple rounds of chase mommy. In reality I was done and uncomfortable. Wednesday my mom arrived. Thursday we went to the doctor and I was 2 cm. This was super encouraging because there was forward movement. That night at midnight I woke up to go to the bathroom and my water started leaking. I was not sure at first but after a couple wardrobe changes I was sure. I got in bed and immediately had a contraction. I woke Chris up and we started to head for the hospital. I was group b strep positive so we needed to get there for ivs for 4 hours. We got to UNC at about 1 and confirmed my water had broken and got admitted. By two we were in our room and ivs were flowing. We tried to sleep. For Chris it was the uncomfortable couch and for me it was contractions. About 4 we decided to walk the halls. Contractions were pretty regular around 2-3 minutes so I decide a bath would be nice. It all about stopped labor which was frustrating. There was a shift change at 7 and our new midwife and nurse arrived. I got out of the tub and around 8:15 asked if I could be checked for progress. Everything has started to get super painful so I was debating pain relief of some kind. Our midwife came up and checked me and I was only 5 cm. Not seeing progress like I had hoped made me think we were hours from the end. We all chatted for a bit and Instead of pain relief we decided to walk the halls. We made it around once with awful contractions every minute. Halfway down the hall I told Chris we were going back to our room for pain relief. We walked in and I climbed onto the bed on all fours and hit the call button. Our midwife walked in immediately. I tried to explain what I wanted. We decided on nitrous oxide. She ordered it with the nurse at about 9.  (I don't know exact times on any of this but I'm guessing). Before they could get it ready I felt like I needed to push. She checked me and sure enough we were at 10 and ready to go. She called in the birth team and I started to push. I think all in all I pushed for 10-15 brutal minutes. At 9:23 Toby was born. Praise God. He came up face up which caused some damage. They put him on my chest immediately. He screamed for about the first bit until he was able to nurse. While the nurse and midwife went to work on delivering the placenta (the easy delivery) and damage control/repair. The midwife did most of the repairs for a 2nd degree tear but called an OB because she found a hematoma that needed attention. The OB finished the repair and put in a packing to stop the hematoma from growing. By noon we were heading for our recovery room very grateful that was over and a little nervous about being parents to two kiddos.

His name: Toby means God is good. Matthew is my dad's middle name and means Gift from Yahweh. Toby is a good gift from God. We love our two boys!

10 months

Ethan is 10 months old. (This is the closest I have been to posting a month update on the right date). He is so much fun these days, learning new tricks everyday and showing so much personality. He is observant just like daddy in new settings but at home he is all smiles and babbles. He has a lot of energy and wants to be outside always. This month has been full of fun changes.

Clothes: mostly 9-12 months or 12 month clothes. Some 6-12 month things fit. Clothing runs in so many different sizes.

Nursing: 4 times a day as he has been for a couple months. He is so much faster now too which is fun.

Food: Ethan loves food and went from only having puréed food to wanting mostly pieces of food this month. He has tried all sorts of new foods too. He loves banana, mums and Cheerios the most. He has tried chicken, turkey burgers and beans this month and likes some spice in his food. He also loves peas and blackberries. For veggies he has had green beans, sweet potato and squash. Fruits he's had melon., honey dew melon, strawberries, mango, raspberries and blueberries.

Activity: Ethan crawls fast and everywhere. He pulls up on anything he can find and cruises around the house. He stands by himself and goes from sitting to standing unassisted. He seems to be close to walking but can get around so fast crawling that walking doesn't seem necessary yet.

Sleep: we try to get in two naps a day at least a couple days a week and on the weekend the other days we go for a long nap either in the morning or afternoon. Bedtime routine starts at 7:30 with the goal of bed by 8:30/8:45. Either he is up or we encourage him to wake up by 7:15 in the morning.

Teeth: Ethan has 4 teeth. Two bottom and two top. The first top tooth came in right after we got home from Virginia. The second one came in yesterday. These two were not as painful as the bottom two as far as we know.

We love you buddy and enjoy seeing you grow up.

DVD reorganization.

My new swing!

My guys

Family picture...love this.

science center fun

Easter 2014

Touchdown Panthers.

Dinner fun. 

pica-boo with daddy

 

Trip to Virginia

Two weekends ago Chris went to the beach with his dad and brother for the second annual Masters fishing trip. Since he was going out of town Ethan and I headed for Virginia to see my brother and his family. We left Friday morning and got up there Friday mid afternoon without too much traffic or tears from the backseat. I was very thankful Ethan did really well on the drive up.

He was super excited to be out of the car and to have three fun playmates. They played hard all weekend. He and Liza are two months apart and they played well together. They took out the kitchen cabinets, played with refrigerator magnets, followed the big kids and played with a plethora of toys. Ethan also learned to climb the stairs in their house so he kept all the adults on their toes.

On Saturday morning we visited with Jonathan and Ann Webb and Maggie. Ann was Peter's 4th grade teacher and a family friend. She took the three of us to the beach in Costa Rica a couple times and we have seen her a couple times in Washington State. What a treat to see her and meet Jonathan and Maggie.

Saturday afternoon we went to some friends house to help them move. In the evening we went to a neighborhood movie night. So much fun.

Sunday we hung around the house and went to the park. Ethan fell asleep in the car so I hung out in the car while everyone else played. We went out for lunch and then came home and played. In the evening we watched Frozen before bedtime.

Monday we drove home and were excited to see daddy when we got home.

Thank you to Peter, Betsy, Sam, Marina and Liza for a wonderful weekend.

Ethan and Eliza

The whole group: Betsy, Me, Marina, Peter, Maggie, Sam, Ethan, Ann, Eliza and Jonathan

Betsy and Liza playing

Sam and Ethan playing

Ethan and his beloved jump rope from the weekend

Peter and Ethan and Liza on the kitchen floor

9 Months

Ethan is nine months and he seems to grow and change so quickly. He has been crawling and pulling up for a while but in the last week he has started standing in his own. We also bought him a push toy he loves and plays with constantly. Over the weekend he learned to go up stairs and I am thankful we don't have them at home. He loves playing with others, being outside and is always on the go.

Weight: 21lbs 11 ounces

Height: 29.25 (83 percentile)

Clothes: Ethan is now in mostly 9 month clothes, some 6-9 month clothes, and some 6-12 month clothes. It varies by brand. Most days he just sports a onesie and I'll add shorts/pants once in a while.

Diapers: size 4 diapers. We switched mid month and they are a little big but doing their job. He wears cloth during the day.

Nursing: 4 times a day and sometimes a little snack before nap time.

Food: he is eating dinner every night with breakfast and snacks here and there. He likes sweet potato, squash, green beans, carrots, banana, mango, apple, blueberries, cantaloupe and black beans. He also tried more chunks of food, puffs and mum mums. We are hoping to start more chunks and have him start feeding himself.

Sleep: he goes to bed around 8:30 and gets up around 7:15. Naps are still variable. This month he actually napped worse than any other month with several no nap days. He seems to be improving though.

Teeth: Ethan has two bottom teeth and the top two are threatening to come in. The bottom two came in at the same time with a lot of fanfare: fever and spitting up. Once they were in, he was much more comfortable.

Found him underneath the crib one day

On the back deck

Playing outside

And two videos:

Walking with the walker:

Laughing with daddy:

8 Months

I am a little behind on my monthly posts as Ethan is now 9 months old and I'm still on his 8 month post. Ethan continued his on the move ways and started pulling himself up on things around the house. He liked to see what was on the couch and playing in the Tupperware drawer. He also discovered all sorts of household items like toilet paper and the trash can.

Clothes: 6-9 month clothes with mostly 9 month clothes fitting best.

Diapers: size 3 but we also did better on using cloth during the day

Nursing: 4 times a day. I am very thankful he is more efficient and is normally done in under an hour

Food: Ethan lives dinner time. He likes sweet potato, squash, carrots, green beans, bananas, apples, mango. I also try to get in breakfast when we can.

Sleep: Ethan goes to bed around 9 and sleeps until about 7:15. The goal is still two naps a day but those are not always consistent.

Pulling up on the couch

Looking outside

DVD reorganizing

Starting dishwasher loading training.

Ethan's Dedication at Westover

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may have a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God. Colossians 1:9-10

On February 9th, Chris and I dedicated Ethan to the Lord at Westover. This was our opportunity to present Ethan to our church and promise that we are going to raise him with Godly principles, with God's help. We hope that our Church will come alongside us in this process. We were very grateful to have the Johnson's and some of Rebecca's sisters here to support us.

Mommy and Ethan

Family Picture

Up on stage with Pastor Don

Praying

We pray Lord, that he will know you and follow hard after you everyday of his life. Amen.