Kendall Ashway Cowser

Kendall Ashway Cowser was born on November 6, 2012 at 18:23.  She weighed in at 6 lbs. 13.6 oz. and was 18.5 inches long.

This might be boring for the 4 people that read my blog, but I want to remember so here's a recap of the day.  I got up at 4:00 to get ready to be at the hospital at 6.  I called at 5:00 to make sure that they had bed space for me and....they didn't!  So, a small set back.  I still left home and went to my mom and dad's and hung out with my mom for a bit.  The L & D nurse called me at 6:30 and told me to go ahead and come in, they were ready now.  My mom and I got there around 7 and we finally (slowly) got things going.  Alan got to the hospital around 8:30 after dropping Alyvia off at school.  We were still waiting on doctors orders to start the induction.  Finally around 10:30, the pitocin was started.  My contractions actually started right away!  Dr. B came in to check on me around noon.  I was only 3 cm, but she was able to break my water.  I got my epidural close to 1 pm and then we waited for things to pick up.  I was contracting every 3 minutes and on the monitor the contractions looked strong, but I couldn't feel a thing from my stomach down!  At 4 pm, my new nurse came into check me and I was still only 3 cm dilated :(  We were disappointed and assumed we were in for another long labor (like Colson!).  Kristin came up for a visit and my epidural started to wear off while she was there.  We had my parents bring the kids up for a visit too since we assumed baby girl wasn't going to make her appearance until late in the night.  Alan walked the kids out with my parents around 5:15 and Dr. L stopped by to see if we were making any progress.  I was 8 cm and he thought things were probably going to move fast!!!  I called Alan and told him to get back upstairs quickly :)  I started pushing a little after 6 pm, pushed through 3 contractions and Miss Kendall made her appearance at 18:23.  She came out crying, declaring herself healthy and mad at being born! 

After spending a little time with Mommy and Daddy, Alan's parents were the first to meet our Kendall.

Next Chris, Anne, Finnegan & Lindsey came to meet her.  It was time for Kendall to go to the nursery though.  Nana and Papa brought Alyvia & Colson back to the hospital to meet baby sister too.  Alyvia apparently was almost demanding to be brought up!

Colson sees Kendall for the first time...he was really hollering for Daddy :)

Alyvia "meets" Kendall

Daddy feeds Kendall her 1st bottle

Unfortunately, Kendall had to stay in the nursery to warm up and it got late so everyone left before they got a chance to actually meet her. 

Big Sis and Big Bro hanging out in Mom's room.  Colson pretty much only cared about Daddy at this point!

After the crowd left, Alan went and got us some food (McDonald's for me!) and then we hung out with little Kendall for a bit. 

I sent Alan home for the night.  I was in a double room and I was afraid that I would get a roommate (I didn't though!) and he would have to leave anyway.  He planned to take Alyvia to school the next morning and then come hang out with us girls at the hospital.

We are so excited that Kendall is here!  I can't wait to see how she fits into our family.  I love having this little girl already!

Twas The Night Before....Induction

November 6, 2012-hopefully our new baby girl's birthday.  If she follows in her brother's footsteps, it will be November 8th....I'd like to avoid that :)  I am so excited to meet this baby!  In some ways, this pregnancy has gone sooo fast.  So cliche, but I am so busy with Alyvia and Colson that I haven't had a ton of time to focus on the wait for our newest little girl.  But then I think about how we've known this baby was coming since early March and it feels like FOREVER!  It seems crazy that it could be "over" in 24 hours, or just beginning depending on how you look at it :)  Our bags are packed, her big sister and big brother are set, we have as many "plans" as we could have for the possibilities-yet it still seems surreal.  I want so badly to meet her, see who she is........and then I want time to stop, just stand still so we can soak it all in.  I want these 12 weeks off with my babies to crawl by ever so slowly.  I know they won't, but it's what I want.  It won't be perfect, don't get me wrong I have no delusions of grandeur.  But, I want to be home with my little family and all of our imperfectness :)
Baby girl, we love you so much already.  When you make your appearance I just want you to be healthy, so take your time if you must.  Just know that your mommy, daddy, big sister and even your big brother are super excited to meet you and we might seem a little impatient tomorrow :)

Weekend in recap

We had a very busy weekend!  Saturday morning Alyvia and I went to the NICU Small Wonders Walk.  It's a walk to celebrate all the miracle babies from the NICU and a fundraiser sponsored by the parent committee.  It was the 6th annual walk, but the first time I was able to attend.  What a fun event to be a part of though!  It was great to see some of the families that I took care of and how amazing their kids are doing!  The event is really geared towards the kids and Alyvia had fun too!  Face painting, glitter tattoos, balloon animals and Julie K music-oh my!

Saturday night we went over to Caroline's house to meet up with my friends from college.  It tends to be a different kind of crazy when we all get together now....our kids are the wild ones!  The girls and boys are all about the same age and it tends to get a bit rowdy at times :)

Colson, Nolan & Austen....sometimes sharing is hard!

It was too crazy for Cole to be a part of!

We did manage to get a picture of the BU girls...but not without tears from the little boys that they couldn't be a part of it too!

Maybe next time we get together, we can have just a big girls night.......maybe in 10-15 years!

Today Anne hosted a "sprinkle" for new baby girl!  She decorated so cute with the "sprinkle" theme everywhere :)  Sprinkle donuts, sprinkle cookies, ice cream with sprinkles, sprinkle favors-loved it!

Alyvia dressed up and ready for baby sister's shower!

Look at all the diapers and wipes we got!

It is so exciting to celebrate baby girls impending arrival, she is coming very soon!  We can't wait!

Manic Monday

This is what Colson and I are going to be up to every Monday for the next 4 weeks...

We have Non-Stress Tests (NST) scheduled twice weekly until the end of October.  Colson was such a good boy.  We took lots of books and tractors for him to play with.  Baby girl so kindly cooperated and we didn't have to stay quite the whole hour :)  Hopefully big brother is as good every time as he was today!

After my doctors appointment, we picked up sister from school early to take her to a doctors appointment.  Livi has always had a very sensitive stomach, but it's been bothering her a lot lately.  So we went to see her doctor today.  He isn't too worried, but he did order some lab work and an abdominal x-ray-mostly to pacify this crazy mom probably!  After the pediatrician appointment, we headed over to the hospital to get the labs and x-ray done. 

Cole & Alyvia playing while we wait for lab work

Alyvia was a super star for her labs!  They took 4 tubes of blood and she barely flinched.  She was very proud of herself :)  Her x-ray was no big deal to her either-such a brave 5 year old!  Little brother was so so so good through all of the doctors appointments and waiting too, so proud of both my kids today! 
We left the hospital and hurried over to dance class for Livi.  It was a big day and we were tired when we got home.  The next few weeks are really busy before baby girl gets here...but hopefully not as crazy as today!

UPDATE:  Alyvia's doctor called and all of her results came back normal, so relieved!

32 weeks!

I am 31 6/7 weeks pregnant today :)  Baby girl should be joining us in less than 7 weeks!  We are beyond excited to meet our newest baby girl.  I had a sonogram today, but she wasn't into giving us much of a sneak peak. 

2D shot of her face

The ONLY 3D shot we could get...she had her arm and her knee up in front of her face

She is about 3 lbs. 14 oz. and looking very healthy!  She looks so good, Maternal-Fetal medicine signed off and we don't have to go there anymore-yay!  We have A LOT to do in the next couple of weeks and we can't wait to meet you baby girl :)

Isn't she lovely :)

Today I had a doctors appointment with Maternal-Fetal Medicine to check on baby girl.  Everything looks great and we got some really good 3D pictures too!

I don't think she looks like either of our kids!  I can't wait to meet her and see "for real" :)  She is 2lbs. 8 oz. and her measurements are right on for 28 weeks.  She should be here within 11 weeks and that is sooo exciting!!  See you pretty soon baby girl!

23 weeks

Baby girl is 23 weeks gestation today-viability!

We don't want to meet her quite yet, but we are so excited to see her little face in a couple of months :)  Alyvia has been saying multiple times a day how happy she is to have a baby sister.  We love you new baby girl, keep growing!

Baby C #3

Today we got to find out the gender of baby #3...FINALLY!  Baby was so good and cooperated right off the bat :) 

Alyvia and Colson announced it to everyone...

We are all super excited to meet you baby girl, especially your big sister Alyvia!  November can't come soon enough :)

A little announcement

Alyvia and Colson would like to announce that they will be a BIG SISTER and BIG BROTHER in November!  We are all very excited to welcome Baby Cowser #3 :)