Thomas Banks Vickery

Thomas Banks Vickery was born on Friday, April 25th at 7:52 am.  

He weighed a whopping 6 lbs, 9 oz and was 19.5" long!  We were absolutely thrilled with his stats!

Josh and I woke up Friday morning around 4 to prepare to be at the hospital by 5:30.  We drove mostly in silence and arrived to check in.  We updated all our health insurance information and signing some forms and then waited in the waiting room for a nurse to come get us.  We saw one woman come in, clearly in labor, and I was ever thankful that I will live my life without ever feeling a labor pain contraction.  

 The nurse came to get us and took us back to the pre-op room where they began all the steps they do prior to a c-section.  They hooked me up to the monitor to listen to the baby's heartbeat and inserted my IV.  I gave the nurse who stuck me a warning that I'm somewhat of a difficult stick and she took her time and did a great job and it only took her twice to find the vein.  They started me on two meds that are routine prior to a section and then we just waited.  I told Josh about 20 minutes in that I was not feeling well--literally felt like I was coming out of my skin--and so the nurse came in and realized my blood pressure had bottomed out.  They turned down the IV and gave me a wet washcloth and thankfully that did the trick.

 Because my section was at 7:30, there was a shift change with my nurses so I went from Stephanie to KT.  They wheeled me back to the OR and immediately set me up for the spinal.  I had the same anesthesiologist as I did with Ellie, so was naturally very nervous as it hurt like the dickens with Ellie.  I did my best to relax and round my back and it went so much better this go round with little pain.  After that, things went very quickly.  They did several checks to ensure I was numb and Dr MacChlenahan came in.  Within minutes with some pulling and tugging and pressure--she held the baby up and Josh announced to the room that it was a boy!  

 They took him over to the warmer and gave him an unofficial birth weight of 6 lbs, 9 oz--Dr Mac shouted "That's not growth restricted!".  My hope was that we would have a 6 lb baby--I was thrilled with his birth weight!  

 Josh had asked a nurse while he was waiting for me to have my spinal for them to take his footprints--that sweet nurse literally went on a man hunt for an ink pad so that they could be done.  (the hospital feels like doing prints takes away time from mom/baby so they don't do them anymore?!)  When she found the ink pad, I realized the nurse was Rebekah and she was our nurse for Ellie's delivery too.  I loved her then and I loved her that day.  She and KT took excellent care of both me and Thomas.

 Thomas got an Apgar score of 9 and a 9.  Healthy as could be.

 and he actually has some fat on his little body.  I think he looks like Ellie--and most people tell me that they think so too, everyone except my mom!

 Rebekah was our photographer and took some pictures for us.  They plopped him down on me with warm blankets while they completed my surgery.  Very awkward to be laying completely flat on your back with a baby up your neck.  I had Josh go out in the waiting room to share the news with our family.

 When Josh came back, he took back over for the next 15 minutes or so until they wheeled me back to recovery.  I felt like we were in recovery for forever.  We had the "magic hour"--a time where they want you to bond with your newborn (since the next 18 years won't be enough time!) and I was able to nurse for the first time.  Dr Dukes came in from Parkside Peds to look Thomas over really well--he said he looked fantastic and told us Dr Dobson was the attending over the weekend.  Worked out perfectly.

The delivery truly could not have gone any better.  We are blessed beyond measure to have our sweet boy here and have our family complete.  I still can't quite believe that I am a BOY mom now!  We will slowly be immersing blue into our very pink house!

It's taken me a bit longer to get a post up due to the differences in our hospital stay.  Thomas stayed in the room the entire time and so we got much less sleep and stayed much busier throughout the days.  Sadly we didn't take nearly as many pictures in the hospital as we did with Ellie (as we had plenty of resting time while she was in the NICU) but have the camera out and readily available so we can do a better job snapping pics as our days go by.

We made it!

Looks like we're going to make it the full 39 weeks this go round!  I had my last appointment this morning for final blood work before surgery tomorrow, I (still) need to pack our bags, I've finalized every appointment that I could think of prior to the baby's arrival...and if all goes as scheduled, we will have a baby by 7:45 tomorrow morning.
I, of course, am thrilled that we are at the end and while this pregnancy wasn't perfect--it definitely was in comparison to my pregnancy with Ellie and we are most thankful for less stress and more time to enjoy the ride.
I have tried not to spend a lot of time thinking about every last thing being the "last time" we do it with Ellie as her being an only child, but obviously those thoughts come to mind.
My sweet and tender hearted Ellie...I know she is going to be the best big sister and she is going to love this baby so much, yet I worry (as I think all parents do) about her transition and continuing to feel loved as much as she is now.  I worry about how she has never had to share anything in her life and how our time is going to be split in half with two children.  I worry that we stay on the constant go with her now and that she's going to become bored at home with a newborn.  I worry about carving out one on one time with her as we figure out life with two children.  Yet I know, that we are truly giving her the best gift that we as parents could ever give her and know that she is going to grow so much and have a buddy for life, starting tomorrow.  I hope that in time, she will never remember life without her brother or sister.
So yes...there will be lots of grace given to her over the next several months, I'm sure many tantrums, I'm sure many talks on patience and sharing...but tonight, we are going to treasure our last night of being just Ellie's mommy and daddy.  We're going to take her out to dinner and let her order whatever she wants to eat and probably get a McDonald's ice cream on the way home, and we're going to play as many games as hide and go seek as she wants, and we're going to chase her around the living room on her plasma car as many rounds as she wants, and we're going to throw extra bubbles in her tub at bath time, and read a couple extra books, and sing a couple of extra songs and spend a couple extra minutes tucking her in and giving kisses and hugs on the last night before she becomes a big sister!
Josh and I both truly covet your prayers tomorrow as we head to the hospital and welcome our last baby in the world!  We hope to be able to send out texts, if nothing else, by 8:30ish with news and details!

Easter 2014

Ellie was thrilled Easter morning to see that the Easter bunny had come and left her a few treasures!  She loves to sit down and flip through baskets of books at a time so we have set up a little reading nook in her big girl room and thought that the beanbag would be a sweet little place for her to read.

 He also brought her her first Jelly Cat bunny...the sweetest and softest thing ever.

 and Skittles and Jellybeans

 and let's be honest--she would have been happy as a clam with absolutely nothing as long as these gloves were left for her.  Gardening gloves (or "gwubs" as she refers to them as) are the only thing she wanted in her basket this year!

 We got a better reaction from Easter than we did Christmas!  Little rotten thing had seven baskets this year between grandparents, Mrs. Denise, Aunt Reenie, Janet, and the bunny himself.  Needless to say, we have enough candy to last us until Easter 2020.

 I am laying down my pride and posting a picture of us following our church service at John Knox.  Ellie was cranky, I am 38+ weeks pregnant (and this is the one and will be only picture documenting pregnancy since Christmas)...and Josh looks Easter perfect!  

 We managed to take a few pictures when we got home on the steps--Gracie always saves the day and gets Ellie to smile. She had to have some quiet time up in her room to re-group following a church and car meltdown but she had a great rest of the afternoon when we celebrated with my family at our home.  

 We are blessed beyond measure and thankful for a day with family remembering Christ's resurrection!

Strawberry Picking 2014

On the one warm day that we had over spring break, Ellie and I went to Lexington for our annual strawberry pick.  The strawberries were huge, ripe and super delicious!

 E was the taste tester, of course and she picked a couple for her basket too.

 Third year in a row sitting on this red bench!  One of our favorite spring traditions!

Egg Hunt

Ellie had yet another egg hunt Saturday afternoon at our church.  It is (very) small and (very) laid back, but she could have cared less and loved searching for the eggs.

 These eggs were actually hidden (as opposed to being thrown in an open field of grass) and she did a great job searching up and down and through the bushes to find them. 

 Her preschool did an egg hunt too--except the eggs were empty, symbolizing an empty tomb.  (you know, since that is a concept that a TWO year old would grasp).  I told her teacher she was more than likely not going to be happy about her empty eggs when she popped them open but she handled it quite gracefully, much to my surprise.  She took an egg and opened it and told me (quite loudly) that "our God is SOOOO BIG.  He is alive."  (except she says "awive for alive").  Even if it was scripted by her teacher, it was precious words coming from her little innocent mouth.

 These eggs at church, however, were NOT symbolizing empty tombs and she had the best time popping them open and dumping her candy out and watching it pile up!

 After four egg hunts, I would say she had the hunting down pat and that she loved it! 

Happy Easter! 

35, 36, 37 Week check up + Maternal Fetal Scan

I haven't really updated the past several weeks due to everything just rolling on along fine with nothing much to report.  I have had weekly BPPs and everything has looked great with the baby, the fluid level,  and my blood pressure.  I did make an additional appointment last Friday to make sure I wasn't developing pre-eclampisa, as my blood pressure was slightly elevated when I had it taken at school.  Everything checked out fine and it dropped back to my normal levels by Saturday.
I had my appointment with maternal fetal yesterday for a growth scan and to check the measurements.  The baby weighed 5 lbs, 8 oz which made it's overall percentage drop below the 3rd percentile.  Because of that overall measurement versus the abdomen measurement, the baby has officially been diagnosed with growth restriction (IUGR)--which is not a surprise and wasn't a shock yesterday.  I am absolutely thrilled that we held off on this diagnosis until now, as at this point they want to see me 2x/weekly.  (For comparison, I went 2x/weekly when I was pregnant with Ellie from 28 weeks until delivery).  Because I am 38 weeks today and 9 days away from delivering, this only means one additional appointment than I was already planning on anyway.  I saw a new doctor yesterday at MFM who said that the baby looks great and healthy and is showing absolutely no signs of distress due its size.  She agrees with Dr Dellenger that genetically we just have small babies, however wants to be "ultra conservative" and just ensure that the baby stays healthy the next 9 days.
I was elated when the u/s tech told me that the baby weighed 5 1/2 lbs--already over a pound heavier than what Ellie weighed at birth.  (granted, at this point in my pregnancy with her, we had already welcomed her into the world)  The tech said, "sweetie, it is pitiful you are so excited about that weight."  If she only knew!
In other fun facts...we saw wisps of hair during the ultrasound yesterday!  Very interested to see what that looks like when the baby arrives, as Ellie was completely bald her entire first year of life!  I am getting more excited by the day to meet this baby who will complete our family.

Bunny Brunch 2014

We spent Saturday morning attending the Children's Museum "Bunny Brunch"--it's our 2nd year in attendance and we always have lots of fun on these special mornings.  We live in a great city with so many opportunities for fun, family outings for us to take Ellie to.

 She was still very hesitant about being close to the "characters"--Grandma Betty and the Easter Bunny.  I must say, the bunny does look slightly creepy!  She stayed close to daddy for sure.

 After breakfast, she got to make some Easter crafts--below, she's making a picture frame with eggs.

 After crafts, we listened to Easter stories and songs by Grandma Betty and then she had an Easter egg hunt.  When she got over the fact that the grass was wet and tickling her feet (with her sandals on), she did a great job filling up her Easter basket with eggs.  (This was her third hunt this year, so she definitely had the idea down by then)

 We were so happy that the Tapps were there with us!  Ellie and Ivey have been sidekicks for almost 2 years now!

 Grandma Betty and the bunny made another appearance after the egg hunt--E wanted absolutely no part and had the brakes on when we were encouraging her to give them high five's until I promised a McDonalds ice cream cone.  She immediately ran over and gave them hugs, high fives, and posed for a picture.  I think Ellie could change the world for a "Donald's" ice cream!  

Clemson Basketball

We went to watch Clemson play in the NIT tournament a couple of Sundays ago.  Ellie actually really loved it, despite the look on her face below.  

 Uncle Bubba promised her some popcorn (that mommy and daddy ended up purchasing?!) and she INHALED it.  Couldn't get it in her mouth fast enough!

and we luckily left the game with a tiger WIN!