The Big Brother

Tanner has adapted quite well to the role of big brother. He loves Spencer and is very concerned when Spencer is not in the room or is crying. When Spencer cries Tanner runs up and tries to help. Diaper changes have gotten interesting and now take place on my bed or else Spencer gets wiped down all over his body at the hands of his brother. I am excited to see the two interact as Spencer gets older and can play more. For now I will take the moments that melt my heart when Tanner runs to my bedroom and starts banging on the door because he knows Spencer is asleep in there and he HAS to see him right then. Good thing Spencer is a pretty sound sleeper. :)

Tanner is fascinated with Spencer's baths in the sink, so the other day we gave him one. He loved it and was too busy turning off and on the water to look at the camera.
This week Lowell's mom has been here. Unfortunately her plans of spending the week taking Tanner on walks and to the park did not quite pan out. The weather had different plans whereas we were hit with freezing cold, snow, and pouring rain. While typical for Idaho in January it wasn't quite what the California girl had in mind. So they spent a lot of time singing and playing inside.

On Wednesday, we got about six inches of snow and Tanner was excited to go outside when his dad got home. It was his first time really playing in the snow because he was too small last year. The night before the local weather man said it was going to be "Snowmaggeden" - yeah not so much. Sure it was a lot of snow, but it didn't shut everything down like this or this and the snow was mostly melted the next morning.


With Grandma S. here to visit this past week, Tanner got the chance to get out of the house once the roads cleared up. They headed to the local aquarium that just opened and then found an indoor tumbling gym for toddlers. Tanner had a blast!

First Days & First Visitors

Picture overload warning...

Grandpa D.Aunt Hannah

Aunt Elizabeth

Grandma D.

Brotherly Love: Tanner loves to hold Spencer and give him kisses. One of our first mornings home I got Tanner up and he ran to the bouncer and Spencer's car seat and was quite concerned Spencer wasn't there. To calm him down I had to show him Spencer sound asleep in his bed.

Tanner helping his Dad put together Spencer's bed.
(For new parents, I highly recommend the Rock 'n Play sleeper if you are low on space.)

First night home

Great- Grandma and Grandpa G.

Three Generations (if I were in the picture it would be four)

One Week

Two weeks - up to 10lb. 6oz. He is growing like a weed and looks bigger everyday!

Grandma S. and Aunt Allison have also come to visit. Unfortunately, I can't find my camera cord and didn't get a picture with Aunt Allison because the battery was dead. A picture with Grandma S. will be coming. And maybe, just maybe I will do a Christmas up date too. :)

Spencer Douglas

Spencer Douglas

January 3, 2012
6:05 pm
9 lbs. 13 ozs.
21 inches long

The Details:
December was a crazy month at our house. Because of blood pressure issues I was on modified bedrest and had a bunch of extra monitoring. At my 39 week appointment I asked when they would talk induction. Next thing I knew, an induction was scheduled for January 3rd.

The next week I attempted a few things to put me into labor such as walking/running a mile with my parents dog pulling me along (he is a powerful little Yorkie), playing Just Dance 3, bouncing on an exercise ball, walking the mall, running up and down stairs. Yeah, nothing was happening except for untimeable contractions that were getting old. I had been slowly dilating all month but it seemed my body just didn't want to go into labor.

January 3rd we reported to the hospital at 7:30 am for the induction. We thought we would have a baby by lunchtime, especially considering I was in labor with Tanner for about 8 hours and half of that was dilating to a 3. When the nurse checked me I was 4.5 cms and the baby was *apparently* engaged. The nurse was very nice, however things were going very slowly. During our conversation I learned she was a new labor and delivery nurse and I was her first "solo" delivery after two months of training. Yeah...to give you an idea of the slowness, I arrived at 7:30 and pitocin wasn't started until just before 9 (and I was the only person delivering that day).

Pitocin was started and things were moving along. For the duration of the morning, the nurse was very conservative in upping the pitocin...it seemed to take forever for her to increase the dose. Things did start getting mildly uncomfortable and at the prompting of the nurse I elected to get my epidural before the real pain started. The doctor came in to break my water, which based on my delivery with Tanner would be the key to a fast delivery. However, when the doctor checked me, Mr. Spencer was "ballotable" (or however you spell it) meaning he wasn't engaged and if she broke my water we risked cord prolapse (remember how the nurse told us early in the morning that he was engaged?...yeah not so much). Cord prolapse = Not good. So we just kept waiting. After all of this, the nurse had me lay down. I thought it had something to do with my blood pressure and the epidural so I laid down and didn't question. Silly me.

I laid in the bed for 2 1/2 hours and didn't make much progress. I finally asked if I could sit up hoping that gravity would help pull the guy down, because he still wasn't engaging. The nurse said yes.

I sat up. Shortly thereafter the doctor came and Mr. Spencer was finally engaged - go gravity! The doctor broke my water and said she wouldn't leave the hospital. (I think I was at a 6 or 7 at this point).

Within in the hour after my water was broken I fully dilated and was ready to push after "laboring down" to let Spencer descend a little further. At 5:50 pm the nurse came in and had me do a practice push. I was immediately told to stop pushing. They called the doctor and set everything up. I started pushing for real at 6:00 pm and after 4 pushes and 5 minutes, Spencer Douglas entered the world at 6:05pm.

Everyone is doing well. Tanner loves his little brother. Spencer is a pretty good little guy and doesn't make much fuss except when hungry or getting a diaper change. Because Spencer was so big he had to have blood sugars tested for a while and the doctor was a little concerned about jaundice. Luckily his numbers started going down before bili-lights were needed. I had some bleeding issues right after delivery which have left me pretty tired and weak - but am slowly getting back my strength.

We are so blessed everything went smoothly and are grateful to be a family of 4.

Tanner meeting his brother.

First Family of Four PictureGoing Home

***Funny side note. I woke up at about 4:30 am on the 3rd thinking I heard someone opening a wrapper in our living room/kitchen area. I woke up Lowell and asked him to check it out. He said he would. Next thing I know, I hear him unscrewing the top of one of the posts on our bed (we have a four-poster bed). I asked what he was doing and the reply was "For crying out loud stop talking." I was a little stunned because he never talks to me like that. Next thing I knew he was taking our bedpost to the living room as his "weapon" in case someone really was there. And for the record, there was no one in the living room. ;)