May 2013 Photo Dump

 

Ethan: 4 months old (April 2013)

Last day of Preschool 2012-2013

3 months old- Ethan

Ethan turned 3 mos old on 3/7/2013. He now weighs just over 17 lbs, is in size 3 diapers and 6-9 mos clothes. His personality has really blossomed this past month. He smiles and giggles at anything that Avery does. Ethan is already Avery's #1 fan! Avery is SO good with Ethan. He is always gentle with him and if he ever cries, Avery is the first one to jump up and help make him smile. It is so awesome to see the bond between these two already. My heart swells a million times a day from watch these sweet brothers. When Ethan does even the littlest thing, Avery cheers for him so loud and tells me "Get your camera Mom, we doubly (aka definitely) need pictures of this!" Avery also thanks God for baby Ethan in his prayers everynight. He sometimes even bust out into prayer in the car to thank God for baby brother. It is so sweet!

 

 Oh and we have decided that there WILL be a 3rd Baby Whitfield. Not right now of course but we definitely won't wait 4 years between the 2nd and the 3rd.

 

Life with 2 kids

The first 3 weeks were really tough on me as I adjusted to our new life with two kids. Breastfeeding was stressful and so rough in the beginning. I cried alot because of the pain but I knew it was what Ethan needed so I pushed through. Now, I am SO glad that I did. Breastfeeding has been a challege but is so worth it. Once I got over the pain of it during the first few weeks, it has been so nice to have warm milk on tap for Ethan whenever needed. I never thought I would say this but I enjoy it... alot! Its so awesome to feel so connected to your child through breastfeeding. Ethan is a great eater as you can see from his pictures. He was over his birth weight at his 2 week visit and had grown an inch. No wonder I lost all of the baby weight plus 10 lbs by my 2 week check up. Weightloss is another awesome thing about breastfeeding. =)

 

Here are his 2 month stats:

 

Weight: 14 lbs, 15 oz (97%)

Length: 24 3/4 ins (97%)

Head: 16 3/4 ins (95%)

 

I thought that Avery was the biggest baby ever but Ethan is way bigger. I love these big boys so much! But I will admit, we want a 3rd child eventually but the thought of carrying another huge baby is not something I'm looking forward too.

Anyone want to be my surrogate?? ;)

 

 

Look how much he has grown! He is very strong and started holding his head up very early. He tries to sit up all of the time too. The first time he rolled over was at his 2 month dr's visit. He actually rolled over on the table. Ha!

Ethan's Birth Story: 12. 7. 2012

On December 6th Avery and I spent the day getting last minute things ready for Ethan's arrival the next day. We woke up early and washed the car, grocery shopped at Walmart, installed the carseat, did tons of laundry and cleaned house. Avery was such a big helper to me and we seriously did not sit down all day. By about 8pm when Michael got home from work I was having lots of pelvic pressure. I would usually get this pressure on the days that I worked or over did it at home so nothing I thought twice about. I had Michael vacuuming the house while I was cleaning the bathrooms. When he finished vacuuming I about lost it because he sat down on the couch with Avery. I felt like there was so much to do because we were leaving early in the morning for the c-section and I wanted the house clean when we came home. I was in total bitch mode because of the pain I was having and it was slowing me down. Finally I decided to take a bath. I could see my stomach tightening up while in the bath but I didnt have pain on my actual stomach. The pain would come after and it was severe pelvic pressure. After my bath I put Avery to bed and continued cleaning. Then the pain felt even worse so I took another bath. That is when I noticed that during that pressure I would feel the urge to pee but it would hurt to sit down on the toilet. I told Michael that I thought maybe these were contractions but I wasnt sure. I made a call to the dr and tried taking a shower to see if that would help. I was in such bad pain during the shower that I just hurried up and got out. By this time I had finally started watching the clock. My contractions were coming every 4 mins. By the time I spoke with the dr they were every 3 mins. I still wasnt totally sure these were contractions since I never had them with Avery.

Finally at about 12:30am, I called my Mom and said we would be dropping Avery by soon because I needed to go to the hospital to get checked out. Luckily, my Mom was wide awake and answered the phone. The ride to my Mom's and then to the hospital was pretty horrible. Michael was speeding, I was trying not to cry or scream with each contraction because I didnt want to scare or worry Avery. Avery could definitely tell that I was in pain though. He even started singing Christmas carols to us while we sped to my Mom's.

 

 We arrived to the hospital a little after 1:00am. They had my chart ready and put me right in a room. I continued having pretty strong contractions that were now about 2 mins apart. I felt like my pelvis was cracking. With each contraction I felt like I needed to pee, poo and throw up. It was awful. I was finally ready for my epidural at around 2:00am. I will say that it is MUCH different when you get an epidural during contractions. With Avery's birth I wasnt in pain and it was much easier. Since my c-section was scheduled for noon on December 7th, they just called Dr. Clark in to do the surgery at 7:00am. We were supposed to try to get some sleep but I definitely could not. I was texting my sisters like crazy so that they wouldnt miss Ethan's arrival. Juli was able to be in the operating room with us to take pics and that was so awesome. Dr. Clark and the rest of the hospital staff did a wonderful job making me feel comfortable and not freak out during the c-section. I was overwhelmed with emotion once I heard Ethan's sweet little cry. God has blessed us with another healthy boy!

Ethan Pierce Whitfield was born on December 7th @ 7:44am.

He is BIG and healthy. 9lbs, 9oz and 21 ins.