Brotherly Love

Everyone keeps asking how Everett's reacting to having a new sibling in the house. We've only been home from the hospital since Thursday afternoon, but so far, so good. Actually, he doesn't pay too much attention to her. He usually notices her once or twice a day, wants to give her a kiss and then he's off playing with trains and cars.

But the other day he was absolutely precious. Completely unprovoked by me, he came up to Juliana and starting loving on her. As you can see from the pictures, he appeared to be in absolute heaven. It was the first time since her birth that I thought, "Alright, this is going to work and they're going to be friends!"

(I especially love Juliana's crazy-eyed expression in the above photo. Newborns are so funny about focusing on people and things.)

Our sweet little angel sleeping, which is just about all she does. We're keeping our fingers crossed that she's as good of a sleeper as her older brother!

And Three Becomes Four

We are now officially a family of four! We can't believe it, but are thrilled to announce that Juliana Brooks Giddens made her speedy (and early) appearance into the world on Monday, September 10th at 6:31 am. She weighed 8 pounds even and measured 18 inches long.The entire birth story is one for the record books of course. I began having contractions around 8:30 Sunday evening. Also around this time, I began to have some stomachaches from the spaghetti I had eaten earlier in the day. Around 11 pm the contractions began to get more intense and more regular. We left for the hospital around 2 am, but not before I had the chance to throw up about five times. Lovely, just lovely. So not only was I feeling labor pains, but I was also dealing with stomach and now, nausea pains.

Once we arrived at the hospital, the nurse hooked me up to check out my vitals, as well as the baby's. She discovered almost immediately that Juliana's heart rate was in the 180's and 190's. A normal baby heart rate is between 120 and 160. A high heart rate usually indicates some sort of fetal distress, which is never good. They continued to monitor me and told me that I really needed to go ahead and get an epidural (strike one for my labor goals) in case things went south quickly. If I didn't get the epidural, and then needed an emergency C-section, they would have to put me completely under with general anesthesia (no thank you!). After a few hours of no progression (I was only dilated to a 4) and Juliana's heart rate still running incredibly high, the doctor delivered the bad news: I would need another C-section (stike two and three for all my labor goals). They were really concerned about the baby and worried that with her heart rate being this high now, that the trauma of labor and delivery would make things even worse.

The surgery went fine and recovery has been a MILLION times better than with Everett. Thank goodness for modern medicine and competent doctors! And now, what you've all been waiting for: PICTURES!!!

Just cleaned up

Just barely clothed

Everett's first time in the hospital

He had a blast and didn't seem to mind that he hadn't seen his sister yet.

And now just general Giddens Family cuteness:

Oh, and the winners from the last post are:

Date: Heidi

Weight: Shanna

Time: Emily

Congrats to you three and you'll be receiving your prizes in the mail shortly.

Let the Guessing Game Begin!

Alright folks, the time has come to see which one of you is the best guesser. That's right, I'm conducting my very own (VERY scientific, of course) poll to see who guesses correctly the time, date and weight of Miss Juliana's birth. Here are a few facts to help you in your choices:

1) Everett was born on his due date - I was exactly 40 weeks pregnant.

2) I am now 37 weeks pregnant.

3) At my doctor's appt. yesterday I measured 3 centimeters dilated and 70% effaced.

4) I personally feel like there's no way I'm going to my due date (Sept. 24th).

5) Since I'm trying for a VBAC, I will not be induced. They also won't let me go more than a week past my due date. (If it gets to that point, I'll have to have another C-section).

Can't wait to see who wins! Yes, there WILL be a prize.