Home Sweet Home

After 3 nights in the hospital, we finally got to come home on Wednesday morning. I was so ready for my own bed. Randy and I actually switched beds on Tuesday night- I slept on the couch and he slept in the hospital bed! When Dr. C came in Wednesday morning, he saw Randy in the bed and asked me if I'd like for him to check Randy's cervix..I just had to laugh...

Anna Kate in her car seat! If you are wondering, Grandma Kia made her carseat cover

Here she is ready to go home

Rody welcoming his sister home

Randy's parents were caring for Rody the last two days we were in the hospital, so they were also there when we came home

We took Anna Kate for her first pediatrician visit Thursday morning...

It was definitely a challenge going out with 2 little ones

Dr. Crabtree said she is looking great! She weighed 8lbs. 2oz which is up from her discharge weight of 7lbs. 14 oz...hence, my milk had started to come in on Thursday...and today (Saturday) it is in FULL force...yes, full force...

She is opening her eyes more and more each day

Grandma Kia has spent the last 3 days with us

Anna Kate has slept amazing well the last two nights...on Thursday night, I had a 5 hour stretch of sleep and last night was even more...I had to wake her up at 8:30 to feed her...not sure if that will last, but it has been a nice treat!

We took these photos this morning when she woke up...she is just adorable!

My mom got all these headbands from briar.claire (an etsy sight)

And Rody has been having a lot of fun with Grandma Kia..they've colored pictures, made some brownie pops, and have had many tea parties...

He loves to put the cold milk in the hot tea, then add sugar...

Anna Kate's birth story...unedited....

Let me start off by saying I really didn't want to go 41 weeks with this baby like I did with Rody. My pregnancy was thankful free of complications and very routine. At my 38 week appointment, my doctor gave me the option of inducing a little earlier than my due date. This was finally our decision to induce at 39 weeks 2 days--an induction of convenience really. We were scheduled to be at the hospital Sunday night at 10pm for a Monday baby.

Leading up to this induction, I had a lot of varying emotions. I am sure it nothing new for moms. I was scared of how this new baby would change the dynamics of our family--namely Rody. I also knew that this newborn stage would be entirely different since I also had a toddler to care for...

Both our parents came up on Sunday afternoon and we went to eat at Olive Garden. It was a lot of fun for Rody to have both sets of grandparents in town! We enjoyed a delicious meal, loaded Rody in my parents van, and Randy and I headed to Starbucks! My parents stayed with Rody on Sunday night while Randy's parents stayed in a hotel near the hospital. Randy and I got some coffee knowing it was going to be a long night...it was actually a sweet time for me..just Randy and I together the night before our lives were going to gloriously change again!

We got to the hopsital and "checked in"...like a hotel...funny...and the pitocin started at 11:30 pm. I was 3 cm and 70% effaced when I got to the hospital. I knew I wanted an epidural since I've experienced pitocin contractions before and I knew I wanted to get it before I was in so much pain like with Rody. So, I labored for about 3.5 hours before I asked for the epidural. I was still only 3 cm dilated at that point, but my cervix had softened up some more. So, I got the epidural and it was nice...I could relax, sleep (I don't think I really did though) and wait for things to happen. And nothing really did...I dilated to 4cm at 6am...when the nurse checked me, my water ended up breaking, and then things took off...

From 6am-9am, I dilated from 4-9cm very quickly. My doctor came in for his morning rounds at 9am and I told him I was having some intense pressure. So he checked me and said "well, it's because you are 9cm"....Randy and I knew it was go time. It is crazy though. Jenny my nurse at the time came in to get things set up. Dr. C got back in around 9:20 and they got me ready to push. I wanted to really remember this experience. I was out of it with Rody's birth at this time and don't recall a lot of this part of labor. Everything about this birth was just calm and relaxing...hard to explain....but just beautiful.

Dr. Childs had me push through one contraction, looked at Jenny and told her to call the delivery team since this baby was coming on the next contraction. So, the delivery team came in and I pushed 2 more times...then Dr. C told me just to stop...her head was almost through. I remember looking at Randy as her head came out. I wish I could have had a picture of his face...it was just priceless...such joy and amazment at the miracle of birth...then, her shoulders slid out and I was done! I couldn't believe it was that easy. I am so thankful...it was just a blessed delivery.

She started to cry....not as loudly as Rody did...she seems much more calm and laid back at this point than Rody. And she was just about the same size as Rody...just 1 ounce less and 1/4 inch shorter! After they checked her, Randy brought her to me...and my heart's capacity to love just doubled!

We are thankful, blessed, and overwhlemed all at the same time.

Welcome to the world, Anna Katherine! We love you more than you know!

Friends

We've been enjoying our time with Anna Kate in the hospital...she is a sweet baby and is sleeping a lot right now...

Mama and Anna Kate

Daddy and his girl

Yes, my husband does look this smashingly young all the time.....

Yeah! Laurin and Peyton came today for some hang time...we always love to get to see eachother any time we can...and wish it was more often!

I cannot say enough about my doctor...he is just amazing and we are so thankful that he delivered our first two babies!

Our friends Jermaine and Veryll stopped by to see us last night too...

Veryll took our newborn pics of Rody and hopefully she can get some of AK too!

Our elders at our church, Joe and Diana Hancher, stopped by too...they are expecting their first grandbaby any day now!

We are so ready to go home tomorrow as we desperately miss Rody! It is so weired being away from him for 3 nights and 2 days and are anxious to transition into our life as a family of 4!

Grandparents

Our two children (wow, two) are so blessed to have 4 wonderful grandparents...all of whom were on site for Anna Kate's arrival...

Papa (I added this pic at the end since the one I had orignally in the post was not the best)...

Here...the pink ladies...

You can't get everyone looking at the same camera, can you?

The Barnett's

Grandma Debbie

Grandpa

Papa (sorry dad...I didn't have a good one with my camera)

Grandma Kia

The McCoy's

Thank you for all your love and support!

Anna Katherine Barnett

Anna Katherine Barnett

Anna Kate

8lbs. 10 oz. 21 1/4 inches long

Delivery was a breeze...if I was guaranteed all my deliveries were like that, I would have 10 kids..ha ha...

Rody meeting his little sister...he did so well!

Family of 4!

Our first look at her!

She seems to favor Rody a lot, but definitely has her own look

Healthy! She received a 9/10 on her apgar scores!

We are thrilled, trying to rest (she is sleeping a lot right now), and enjoying our time with her while Rody is cared for by his grandparents!

Internet is sketchy at the hospital, so we will post more when we can!

We had a surprise snow day starting early this afternoon. My school called off the school day at 11:30am, so I was able to come home early....We enjoyed playing in the snow today!

Rody taking his first sledding ride down a little hill

Out of order picture...but here he is standing by his first poopoo in the toilet!

Building a snowman!

All bundled up!

Randy making a snow angel

Rody kissing the snowman

trying to make a snow angel

They are calling for it to continue snowing tonight and into tomorrow...so we'll see how much we get!

Random

I've had the best intentions of blogging lately, but it just hasn't happened yet. And this really isn't what I intended my next post to be...but here are blog posts in my mind that I have yet to really post...

1) Rody poo-pooed in the potty for the first time on his 22month birthday! He has been pee-peeing for a couple months now (nothing consistent), but we got a picture of his first poop with him standing by it and I will post that soon. He is probably ready for the all-out potty training, but to be honest, we're not yet! I figured with a new baby coming that we would just wait and maybe start sometime in March...
Oh, and his face is priceless anytime he pees just a little bit...I need to capture that on camera...then he shouts "em em" (for m&m)

2) I pulled some sort of muscle in my back earlier this week while playing Randy in ping pong. Yes, I know, smart move on my part. I'm wanting an epidural right now just to alleviate that pain. But, don't worry, I beat him 1 game out of 2.

3) I'm a big girl now because I signed up for my first ever Blockbuster card! Whoo hoo...and guess what...when it is your first time with a card in your name, then you get 30 days of free rentals...do you hear my people? 30 days..unlimited...wow...just in time for those hours of breastfeeding I will be doing. So far we've rented "My sister's keeper", "Transformers" ( I did not watch this one) and Madden 2010...you can guess who that is for. I have on my list to rent some TV series that I have not watched yet.. like the rent of Band of Brothers on my list and start 24 from the beginning...what a deal.

4) Rody's nightly routine. He is just precious. We give him a bath with bubbles...he loves it...then we give him some milk and read some books. He is getting choosey on his books lately and will just say "no" if I pull out a book he doesn't like. This week, he is hooked on "The three little bears" and a book my mom got him with real pictures of deer and animals. He loves to say "papa bear and mama bear" when I read the bears book...I get a kick out of watching his face. Then, we'll say prayers all together and I usually rock him for about 10 minutes. When I stop rocking him, he will say "rock, mama, jesus, please"...which means he wants me to keep rocking him and sing "Jesus loves me"....I can't really sing any other song these days without getting through it halfway before he says "jesus" which means he wants me to sing JLM again...and he is repeating it after me now- I need to get that on film as well

5) In his ever expanding vocabulary, some of Rody's word sounds a little vulgar. Not sure what to do about it...for example, "truck" sound like truck with an "F" in front of it...do I need to explain more? The other day, Randy took him to walmart and when they got out of the car, Rody starting shouting "truck, truck, truck" which sounded like you know what...and randy said all these older people started giving him looks, etc. And when randy tried to correct his speech, with emphasizing "no, rody, tttt truck"...then rody would say "ttt..truck (but still use the f sound for truck)...and if you know Rody, then you know the boy has some pipes. When he gets excited about something, he will let you know with the gradual rise of his voice volume until you repeat the word and acknowledge it. We are just hoping that his "truck" word didnt' come out in the church nursery on sunday... ha ha right. So, last night as we drove to blockbuster to pick out another free movie, when rody said "truck" we just said "yes, baby, that's a truck"...and we'll just hope that his t's start to sound like t's instead of f's....

Y'all have a good day.