1 Month Old

Asher turned 1 month on November 12.  At this point, he was pretty chill most of the time and liked to just look around and take everything in.  He never slept longer than 3 hours at night unless in my arms, then maybe we could push it to 4.  He took a ton of naps.  He started smiling at 3 weeks old, mostly for his mom.

Halloween Activities

I'm sure this blog seems all Asher right now, so here's a little break.

Halloween seems to be a two-week, never-ending event.  This year Matty was Michael Phelps, Jossy was a teacher, Lacey a mermaid, Alice a skunk, and Asher a pea pod.

The ward trunk-or-treat

Carving Pumpkins

The school costume parade

And the main event

Asher's Newborn Photos

His newborn pics were taken on different days.  (And there are a TON!)  These first couple were my first attempt and things did not go well, so I walked away from it to try another day.

The next day he was a lot more cooperative.  An extra pair of hands would have been helpful.  I normally use the baby's mom to assist.  I'm not good at being mom and photographer.

Finally, my friend at Lou la Belle Photography took these with Dan and I in her studio.  I LOVE them so much!

First Bath(s)

There's a spot in my kids' baby books for their "first bath."  Which bath would that be???  Is it the one in the hospital?  The first sponge bath at home?  Or first one in a baby tub after the cord falls off?  I have NO CLUE!  

Whatever the answer to that question is, he wasn't a big fan of it.  

He dealt the best he could with his first sponge bath at home.  It definitely went better than at the hospital.  

  But his first bath in a tub?  Good night, nurse!

Heading Home with #5

Sometimes just the #5 still throws me off, but I'm getting more accustomed to it.

Asher was born on a Wednesday (making him the ONLY person in our entire family NOT born on a Monday!)  So that meant Friday afternoon we were heading home.  I had to keep reminding myself that I would have help at home, I wasn't doing this all alone.  Going home to so many kids and feeling rotten from recovery was overwhelming.

 The kids were anxiously awaiting our arrival.  They could hardly contain themselves.  They had bought balloons and made welcome home signs for Asher.  

Setting him in his crib for the first time was a beautiful moment for me.  I had spent several weeks preparing everything, and every time I'd pass his crib I'd think about how surreal it seemed that we'd soon meet our last baby and he'd be laying right there for me to stare at.  

And here he was.  The moment that our crib met it's final occupant had come.  He was so beautiful and perfect, and I felt at peace. 

We had chosen a boy name years and years ago for if we ever had another son.  For a long time he was going to be Andrew Davis, then years passed and we'd settled on Henry Davis.  (Davis is my maternal grandfather's middle name.)  But after the ultrasound when we found out Asher was a boy, Henry just didn't feel right anymore.  I searched so many hours for the right name.  I ran across the name Asher on a website and knew pretty quickly that was it.  I fought it though (like I always do) trying to come up with something I liked better.  But it was Asher.  His name means "happy."  Dan and I decided to choose a Hawaiian middle name since we both love it so much there.  We finally chose Kekoa which means "brave one."  

Asher's 2nd Day

Asher was a major crier at first.  I thought there was no way I was taking that baby home with me.  Someone needed to switch with me!  But in the early morning hours he changed.  He seemed to choke up a lot of amniotic fluid and once that was out, he was pretty content!  Thank goodness we didn't have to switch him with someone else's baby because I was gonna. . .

Seriously, the hospital is like a mini vacation when you have other kids at home.  Someone watched your kids at home, nurses take your baby so you can nap if you want, they bring you any supplies or snacks you ask for, and you get the order yummy room service!  The only downside is being in pain of course and constant interruptions to check vitals, doc visits, etc.

We had lots of visitors that day and into the evening, but my favorite were the kids after they were done with school and activities.  We'd all waited so long for Matty to finally have a brother, it seemed fitting that he should get to hold Asher first.

Asher's Birth Story

I was told the night before by the hospital that several women were in front of me so they didn't think I'd get called in til later morning for my induction. I went to bed thinking I'd get one more day of Zumba in at 8 AM before heading to the hospital. Instead, I heard my phone vibrate around 6:40 AM. Then I noticed I had several missed calls and messages. They had started calling me at 6 to come in as soon as possible. I told them I'd try to be there by 7:30. We weren't completely packed yet since I thought I'd have the morning. We quickly gathered everything and said goodbye to the kids who were being watched by my mom. 

We finally arrived, got checked in, and were in a room by around 8 AM.  I was given an IV immediately with a bag of fluid before starting pitocin and then the epidural at 8:20. I had wanted to wait for my midwife Erica to arrive but she was at another hospital at the moment. The epidural caused a lot of tears going in and felt like someone had punched me in the back, but the anesthesiologist was confident it was in the right place. I was given a very, very low dose of epidural meds. By 8:40 my first blood pressure dropped occurred and I was given ephedrine to bring it back up. I started recovering by 8:52 and was normal just after 9 AM. At around 10 AM my blood pressure went even lower this time to 74/43. I felt incredibly sick. Thankfully, a nurse was in there because I had let everyone know what was going to happen to my body with the epidural. They had meds always ready to go to help me, things already ordered. At 11:40 I was 3.5 cm and 80% effaced. 

Dan ran home at some point in here to get Erica the gift basket we had left at home on accident. My catheter was driving me crazy and the epidural didn't seem to be working evenly on both sides, so I kept trying to lay on the side it was working least on. At 12:30 pitocin was raised to 20.

At 12:35 PM they decided to buzz the baby. He wasn't moving much, but responded just fine to the buzz and was left alone after that. At 12:50, my water broke a small leak on it's own. That had never happened to me before and even with the epidural I could feel it. There wasn't much fluid so they thought the baby was blocking the rest. I was 5 cm and very soft at this point. I was getting some very strong contractions by 1:35. Erica went to check my progress at 1:55 and somehow barely touching me made the rest of the bag of waters pop. I was 5.5 cm. I bumped up my epi at 2. Because of this, my blood pressure tanked again to 90/52 at 2:45 and was given my last available dose of ephedrine. I had had pretty much the maximum allowed at this point within a 24 hour period. My blood pressure still was struggling. I was 11/58 at 2:55, and 106/62 at 3:05. 

The anesthesiologist was called back in at 3 to discuss things. I told her how my body was so hot on one side only, not the side I was laying on. The epidural was working more on my colder side. Also, my left eye felt like it couldn't open well. She noticed that pupil was dilated and the other wasn't. She diagnosed me with Horners Syndrome, nothing that was permanent and all symptoms would go away after the epidural was out of me. But she said we had to turn the epidural down and did it herself at 3:07. She said she was choosing me to be a little uncomfortable over the health risks to the baby with all my blood pressure drops. This scared me so much! I didn't want to feel more than I was already.

I was 8 cm at this point. Erica told me we'd just have to get me dilated quickly and started prepping the room in hopes that it would happen. She said if I was a 9 at all, we'd push through the rest. She checked me at 3:15 and I was a 9.5 but she quickly stretched me to a 10 without trying much. It was time to push! 

The baby seemed to get a little stuck as he was crowing but no one told me. They just stopped giving me breaks between contractions and continuously asked me to push for 10 seconds, rest for a couple. Erica worried his shoulders were too big but it turns out it was just his position. Dan was very surprised to watch Erica pull as hard as she was on the head! At 3:28 PM, Dan and Erica both helped catch Asher Kekoa. 

He was 19.5 inches and 8 lbs 5 oz, our biggest baby!

I was beyond worn out at this point but loved getting Asher places on my chest and seeing all of his super dark hair. He looked so much like Dan to me. Everyone also said he had a real “old man” appearance to him. He was happy to be held and had a really good suck. We were thrilled our last baby had arrived in safety for both him and I.   

 This was my 3rd baby that Erica delivered.  Asher was #500 for her!  We were trying to beat two other patients of hers there at the hospital that morning so that he could be that perfect number.  :)

He had his first bath in my room on the recover floor.  

After that, we were both feeling very DONE for the day!