Meet the newest addition to our family, Huxley Beau!

He was born on a Monday afternoon in February. 2.21.22 at 3:40 PM. He was 8 lbs 7 oz and 21.5 inches. He came one day early.

I was scheduled for an induction on Sunday night at 10 PM. They gave me two doses of Cytotec, and was then dilated to 2cm. This was going into Monday morning, ate breakfast and then they started Pitocin. After about an hour, I was already to 5-6 cm. At this point, the contractions weren’t too bad, they hurt but bearable. This is when I ordered the epidural, because with my daughter I waited until I was 8 cm for the epidural, and it wasn’t fun. The epidural was at 2:10pm, I felt the urge to push around 3:00pm. They held me off to push because my doctor was tied up in a surgery, so the resident doctor had to deliver me. I swear, it felt like there were a million people in the room but I could’ve cared less. The urge to push was the most intense wonderful feeling I’ve ever felt. To try and describe it, was almost like when you have to pee really bad, and you hold it in but it feels like it’s going to come out any second. Felt just like that, but multiplied by a hundred! I managed to wait to push until 3:36pm, little man was born at 3:40pm. Literally pushed for four minutes and he was born.

It was amazing.

Huxley was the easiest birth compared to my daughter Hadley. I had no plans as far as a birth plan goes. I know some people like an idea of what they want, but I just want what’s best for the baby and myself. All I wanted was for myself and the baby to be healthy. With him being my second child, knowing what to expect made it so much easier. I know every delivery is different, but the general gist is the same. Labor, contractions, etc.

This man right here has been THE best. Let me start off by saying I feel extremely lucky to have him by my side. He has truly been there for us as a family since Huxley was born. Checking on him at the hospital right after delivery, watching the nurses weigh him, measure him, and to make sure they don’t give him any vaccinations we weren’t aware of. Never know nowadays! The first and only night at the hospital, we were super lucky and Huxley slept the entire night! I think it was the amazing sleep sack they put on him, and sadly didn’t let us take it home.

My husband is lucky in the sense he gets so much time off from work for this birth. We take turns at night, which has been a godsend. Since I am breastfeeding, I’ll feed him for the late after dinner feeding like 10/11pm whenever the time comes. I’ll go upstairs and sleep in our bed, while the hubby will stay downstairs and sleep on the couch while Huxley sleeps. When he wakes up, Kevin will either text me or come upstairs and get me and then I’ll feed him and stay downstairs with him while Kevin sleeps in our bed. It has worked so much better this way! We both are getting decent sleep, versus having the baby in our room and both of us get woken up during the night. I can’t wait for Huxley to be in his crib, which we will introduce soon.

Kevin has been cooking lunch and dinner almost everyday. I’ve been so spoiled, I don’t want him to go back to work! He’s just been amazing throughout this entire time. Hadley and Huxley are lucky to have him home this long too. He takes and picks up Hadley for school, helps with homework, while managing to cook and sometimes clean! When I’m able to, I’ll take or pick up Hadley for school, and do the homework, and all the things. When I am able to do those things, Hadley gets so excited. It’s been a little tough for her to get used to having a new baby in the house. She’s adjusting just like any other kid, who’s used to having Mom and Dad’s undivided attention.

First bath at the hospital. It amazes me how they whip these little newborns around like they are baby dolls. They are so fragile to me in those first few weeks. He loved the bath, didn’t cry just looked super relaxed. He smelled so good after he finally got all the “birth” smell off him.

Huxley laying on Daddy’s firefighter hoodie.

The hospital had a team of nursing students that asked to take Huxley for a few minutes. They did a few assessments on him, and was so good. He was gone for more than a few minutes, so me being the Mama bear that I am, had to go check on him. He was loving life, with all these nurses giving him so much attention and stimulation.

Recovery this time around was absolutely…amazing! I truly believe it was all the exercise I was doing prior to getting pregnant, and then continuing the exercise throughout the pregnancy. Highly highly recommend exercising if you are pregnant, or plan to become pregnant!

Everything about this pregnancy and birth was seriously amazing. After he was born, I had such a small tear (down there), that wasn’t even big enough for a stitch so I had zero stitches! That alone was awesome! The hard part after birth was the delivery of the placenta, that wasn’t as fun. All the nurses tending to my lady bits, and pushing on my stomach every 15 minutes, ugh that sucked. The ice pads they give you in the hospital are the best, and once I got home I used the Tucks pads and cream they recommended which helped so much too. 4 weeks postpartum now and the bleeding has almost completely stopped! Also, I recommend taking ibuprofen around the clock the first few days to help with the random bursts of pain down there.

First trip to Daddy’s firehouse, first of many many more to come!

2 weeks / first bath at home. Big sister Hadley slowly started wanting more and more to do with her baby brother. Helping with baths was a huge stepping stone for her.

3 weeks / first walk.

3 weeks / Big sister finally held him! Hadley has always done everything on her own terms, when she is ready. We followed her lead, and kept asking if she wanted to help with little things here and there and eventually she did!

Our little lucky charm.

All the kiddos together! Brady, Natalie, Hadley, and Huxley. They loved taking this picture, I had them all lay on the carpet in the family room as I stood on the couch.

4 weeks / Introduced a pacifier. With my daughter Hadley, she wanted nothing to do with a pacifier because she was a thumb sucker. Still is at night too. Huxley has not found his thumb yet, and some days he gets extra cranky with either having trouble passing gas or burp after a feeding. So one random night this week, we whipped out the paci they give you at the hospital and he took it and immediately calmed down! I might be jinxing myself, but he’s had very good sleeping nights since this photo was taken which has been almost a week.

Huxley Beau, you are a dream. We are so glad you are here.