Bringing Gavin home

Today is the day we bring Gavin home! So excited to be going home and to see my Ethan! Before going to the hospital, we had talked about how to introduce Ethan to Gavin. I wasn't sure how he would want to meet him or if he would want to come to the hospital. I did feel like when Ethan did come to the hospital, I wanted it to be just us and I wanted Nick to bring Ethan. I waited until I was ready to be discharged before sending Nick home to get Ethan. I didn't want him to come while I was staying and then have Ethan go home without us. So Nick went home to spend some time with Ethan. That allowed my mom to leave Ethan and come spend some time at the hospital with me and the new baby. My mom came to visit and brought a bottle of wine, a balloon and a BirthDay cake for Gavin! So cute. When it was time to leave, I packed up the rest of the stuff that Nick didn't take with him and my mom left. Nick and Ethan were on there way to come see us and to all go home as a family. I made sure that when Ethan came in the room, that I was all his. Gavin was fed and asleep in the cradle and I was sitting on the bench with a gift for Ethan. He came in the door and I was so happy to see him I started crying. I just held him and told him how much I missed him and how happy I was to see him. It was so crazy to see how big he was at that moment. For the past 2 days I had my eyes only on a tiny peanut. It really put it into perspective how big our Ethan was when I saw him next to Gavin. He saw his gift and was happy to get his Big Brother present from Gavin. Then he asked where the baby was. I waited until he was ready to see the baby before I made any kind of production about the new baby. So we walked over to Gavin and Ethan was very happy to finally meet his little brother! He didn't want to hold him, which was ok, he just wanted us to go home. I was so ready for that!

Proud Big Brother!

Ready to go home

Home at last!

Lexi meeting her other little brother!

Birth of Gavin Ryan McCully

Here is the story of the birth of Gavin...

My water broke on 11/10/10 @ 8:00 p.m.

I called my mom to come over and watch Ethan for us. We got ready and got to the hospital at 9:22 pm. We live literally streets away from Scottsdale Shea Hospital which is where we were going to deliver.

We walked into triage and got checked in. She had me change and of course I brought my own cute hospital gown.

After I changed and got settled in, the nurse came to get me hooked up and start blood work. Once she got my blood work done, she checked me and I was still 2 centimeters dilated and 70% effaced. That was at 10:15. I asked if they would start pitocin and she asked if that's what I wanted. I was like, "yes, lets get the show on the road." I didn't want to prolong labor if I didn't have to. They started fluids and I had crazy heartburn. I asked for something to help and she gave me some nasty syrup to take that really helped.

Daddy hanging out watching TV

Once I was starting to feel the contractions they moved us into the delivery room. The contractions were, at this point bearable, so I asked for the epidural now before things got out of control. I got the epidural at 12 a.m. and was feeling much better. I was super tired and was hoping to get some rest before having to push. It was late and we were tired. Nick was resting on the bench and I was trying to sleep. The machines that I was hooked up too were making so much noise I couldn't sleep. Every few minutes the drip would make noise and then the blood pressure thing would turn on every 15 minutes or so. No sleep.

2:15 a.m. My Dr. came by to check me and see how things were going. She said I was 7 cm and probably had a couple hours to go. She was going to go get some rest in one of the rooms and see me in a bit. I thought I would get some rest. The nurses recommended me to lay on my side and maybe that would get things going a little bit sooner. She said if I had the urge to push to let her know. So they put me on my side and it was almost instant that I felt like I need to push. It was crazy because I felt so much pressure below. It felt like the baby was almost out already. So I told the nurse immediately that I needed to push and she came over to check me. She said "Yep, your ready, he's right there!!" I went from 7 cm to ready to push just by turning on my side. So it was 2:35 and I was ready to go.

The nurse went and got my Dr. The got everything ready and it was show time! Nick got the cameras all set up and made sure this time we were capturing this moment. I pushed 3 times and our son was born! Gavin Ryan McCully was finally here!

2:58 a.m.

11-11-10

Gavin Ryan McCully

11-11-2010

7 lbs 5 oz

19 3/4 in

2:58 a.m.

Beautiful Baby Boy!

Here we go......!

Here we go..... going to have a baby!

Today had been a blah day. I was tired when I woke up this morning. I think the high that I was on yesterday, wore me out. I was in such a good mood and feeling great yesterday. Then at dinner I was having contractions. I was hoping they would have led us to the hospital but they stopped right after dinner and I did not have any since. Well today was quite the opposite. I have been tired all day and worn out. After I had taken Ethan to school, I came home and rested. Normally I would kill the couple hours at the stores walking around. Today I just came home and ended up falling asleep for a little bit and laid around until it was time to get Ethan again. I was feeling down this evening thinking this baby was never going to come out. I was on the phone with my cousin for a bit telling her about the past few days and how I was feeling today. After the phone call I went upstairs and laid down on the bed with Nick and watched some TV. I was getting tired and decided to get up to get changed and get ready for bed. I got up and went to the bathroom and felt some fluid come out. Not thinking too much into it, I went downstairs and realized more fluid was coming out and MY WATER BROKE!!!!! Ha haaa!!! My adrenaline started going and I was already getting nervous. I ran upstairs and asked Nick if "he was ready to have a baby 'cause my water broke!" He's like "for real?" Yep! My water broke at 8 p.m. I sent a text to my cousin and told her since I just got off the phone with her. Then I called my mom and told her! She was so excited and said she was on her way over. So since I wasn't having contractions, I decided to take a shower and get ready. I knew I wouldn't shower for a couple days being at the hospital, so I wanted to be showered and ready to have this baby! So as I got ready, Nick called his folks and packed his bags. My bags were ready except for the toiletries. My mom came over to watch Ethan. He had just gone to sleep when my water broke so he didn't know what was going on. I felt horrible him having to wake up and us not be there to tell him. I tried to wake him to say goodbye but the kid was out! So we got bags, pillows, cameras, chargers, computers, baby bag, car seat, etc. loaded up. I was running around like crazy. My nerves were kicking in and I was making sure Ethan was good for the next day. My mom was taking pictures and laughing at me getting in the shower and getting ready! Hey, gotta look good for the pics right? lol

So we gave hugs and kisses and headed out. Next time we step in this house, we will have a new addition to the family. So crazy to think about. I kept asking Nick on the way, "are you ready?" We are about to have another baby! Ahh...

Making sure the baby bag is packed and we have everything

Making sure Ethan has milk for the morning time.

37 weeks

Made it another week! See the smiley face in the pic? Well I'm glad we are at 37 weeks but I am sooooo ready to be done! Today has been a great day. Every once in a while, I have really good days. I felt good today, had a lot of energy. Was ready to take on the world and was hoping my Dr. would tell me I was dilated more. I had my dr. appt today and she said I am at 2 cent. dilated now. I told her to move some things around and get this party started.

I didn't feel like making dinner tonight so we went out to dinner to Village Tavern. During dinner I was having contractions every 5 minutes. I was watching the timer on my phone and Nick and I were thinking we were going to be calling the grandparents to come watch Ethan. Well after dinner, the contractions stopped. A bit of a bummer. I was hoping to meet our little man. Ughh..... come on.

36 weeks

Still preggo! This is at the point that I had Ethan. The day of my 36 week appointment, my water broke and we had Ethan. I'm glad I made it this far. I was worried throughout my pregnancy that I would go earlier. I guess this baby boy is camping out! I am ready to see him and not be huge any more. My back hurts... my feet hurt... but all in all, this had been a great pregnancy. Let's see how much longer we go....

Halloween 2010

BE still my heart! I love my little fire fighter!

All in stripes. Even Lexi has on her bumble bee costume!

Our pumpkin family of 4! Ethan's is the face with the ears. Nick's is with the owl and I did the 2 on the left. One for the little peanut too!

Ethan's friend Nathan came with us this year and the boys had a blast! They ran from house to house and loved getting candy!

The next morning, the boys counted the candy and Ethan counted to 132! Good job buddy. Now we have snacks for the next month or two.