Easton is here!

On Thursday, June 19th, Mike, Grayson and I posed for our final picture as a family of three. Of course Mike and Grayson look like they could be models on a magazine cover, and then there was me. Huge, tired, swollen and ready to have the baby already! :)

On Friday, June 20th, we had to be at the hospital at 6:00 am. Of course we were up a lot earlier than that, and Mike was hungry so we ran out to McDonalds. As we passed my parents neighborhood, I blew kisses because Grayson had spent the night there and I was missing him something fierce! Right before we got to McDonalds, a black cat ran out in front of us and I said, "Well if I was the superstitious type, I think I would probably be freaking out about that."

It reminded me of being in a golf cart with my aunt and uncle, my sister-in-law at the wheel the night before Mike's and my wedding at Lakeside, and a black cat ran out in front of us then, and my uncle said, "Oh no, Erin! Don't look!" We laughed it off, but if only we had known the events that would take place the next day! Haha! :)

Same goes for this time the black cat ran out in front of us. Maybe I should have been a little more concerned given the events of the next couple days. ;)

This is right before they wheeled me down to the operating room. I look a heck of a lot calmer than how I actually felt. I was a MESS.

Pre-operating room selfie. While Mike was taking pictures of himself, I was having a full-fledged panic attack in the operating room. I thought I was going to die. No joke. As my heart began to race (spiking to 188) and my blood pressure bottomed out, I was seeing stars and praying praying praying the entire time as the hospital staff hovered over me and worked around me. I know I scared the anesthesiologist.

Then Mike came in and made me laugh, and I felt 100 times better. It was amazing how much better I felt, but the anesthesiologist told me that I need to see a specialist about my racing heart. :(

Here he is! Still pretty fresh. Just moments after he was born.

First laying eyes on my second born. Love at first sight! I kept saying how cute he was!

Mike's first time holding Easton :)

Mike made everyone in the operating room laugh by announcing that June 20th was also Lionel Richie's birthday. My OB asked if we would be changing the baby's name to Lionel, and we suggested maybe his middle name would be Lionel. And then I said that was probably the weirdest conversation to ever have in an operating room...



My first time holding Easton.

Because of my dumb gestational diabetes, Easton had a really hard time regulating his glucose levels. They checked his blood sugar so often over those first 24 hours, and there was talk of getting him hooked up to an IV or sending him to Children's. Finally his body regulated the levels before those decisions were made. It was scary and nerve-wracking.

I also had a really hard time coming down off of the spinal block. Last time I was up and out of bed in just a few hours, but this time it was a full 24 hours before I was able to get out of bed. I felt absolutely terrible. :( I thought maybe - just maybe - this surgery would be better than my last C-section, but I think it was worse. All worth it of course.

Side by side comparison of Grayson and Easton in their first moments.

Easton at about a day old.

Funny story: Mike and I chose the "memory meal" option at the hospital. We didn't really know what that would entail. We set it up so it was our last meal in the hospital before I was discharged. Since I was the only one in the maternity unit, the kitchen staff set up a table in one of the bigger rooms (which is where I was when we had Grayson.)  It was fancy, and very nice of them but really super weird to be in that room again as a patient again but eating a big meal like that. Mike kept saying that we had come full circle since the last time we were there.

Easton at HOME! We were so very glad to get home and back into our new normal schedule.

And here we are - as a family of four. Plus Daisy.