Welcome to the World, William!

Dear Friends and Family,

I can't even describe how happy I am right now.  I am so blessed to have two beautiful children and LOTS of great help.  I am being so well cared for my my sister, who is Claire's newest best friend, by my mother-in-law who is keeping us all very well fed, and by my husband, who has been tackling the messy diapers with me and comforting Will into naps after feedings so I can get some naps in too!  It's been a wonderful recovery. 

Claire's new best friend, Aunt Sara! They have coffee together in the morning and play LOTS of games together!

Ok, so now to the exciting part.  How did we get here?  As I mentioned last week, I had been holding my breath for my sister and Mother-in-love to arrive. I was really worried about going early with this baby.  Luckily they walked in the door on Tuesday night, and we had all day Wednesday as an almost vacation day!  Claire woke up to see MiMi and Aunt Sara and I don't think the smile left her face the entire day!  She was on Cloud 9!  Sara and I went and got pedicures in the morning and we all went to get Frozen Yogurt after Claire's nap.  It was so much fun!

Then, as if baby Supple knew he was allowed to make his big entrance, my contractions started at around midnight on Thursday, May 23rd.  I started recording them and felt them getting stronger and closer together so I called the doctor and was told to go to the hospital to get checked out.  Unfortunately, upon arrival to the hospital, my contractions lost steam!  They went from increasing intensity to very mild.  I was dilated to 3, almost 4 cms, but because my contractions were so mild, they had me walk for an hour to see if anything changed.  The only change was dilating to the full 4cms, but still, my contractions were very weak.  So they sent us home and by 4am, Chris, Sara, and I were all back to sleep.  Luckily, I had a doctor appointment at 9:45am, so we had breakfast with Claire and MiMi and then I got to give Claire a big hug and tell her that it was possible that I would be staying at the doctor to have her baby brother.

At the Doctor's office, my new checkup resulted in news of 5cms dilated.  The doctor was shocked that they told me to just go home at 4cms, but I told the doctor that even at 5cms I was in no pain from the contractions.  He told me that he didn't want any home or car births so he was sending me straight over to the hospital to be admitted. This was music to my ears, because it meant that baby Supple would be born that day! 

At the hospital, they broke my water to try to encourage labor...but still no painful contractions.  So now they suggested a Pitocin drip.  By 2:25pm the Pitocin started and was quickly increased. At 5:23pm, I told them to get me the epidural guy, and pronto!  By 6pm the epidural was in and I was pain free again! Whew!  Then the doctor came in at 6:30pm to check me and said, "Oh wow! I can already see his head!"  So she and the nurses quickly transformed the room and got suited up for me to start pushing! I started pushing at 7pm and just 3 to 4 pushes later, William Robert Supple kicked his way out at 7:12pm (seriously, I felt him give me one last jab to the ribs on his way)!

William Robert Supple, born at 7:12pm on May 23rd, 2013, 8lbs, 1.5 oz and 20 inches long!

It's amazing how that first moment of seeing your child entering the world can fill you with so much joy that it completely makes up for the 9 months you spent getting him there.  Will was in such good shape they handed him straight to me for a nice long cuddle and his first meal. I informed him that he was joining a very happy and loving family, and I congratulated him on being born an American! Our doctor thought I was being funny, but I am sincerely grateful to live in this country! (Happy Memorial Day weekend, everyone!)

Once we were finished with our cuddle, Chris did the honors with the umbilical cord, and at the warming bed, they let my sister make the second cut of the cord!  It was so wonderful to have both Chris and Sara with me for the delivery because with my long Pre-labor, they could take turns running for food, giving me massages, and making me laugh through the pitocin induced, really hard contractions (actually, that really hurt...FYI: no one wants to laugh through a contraction! But the doctors and nurses all said it was one of the most pleasant deliveries they have ever been a part of.)

A proud Daddy, visits with his new baby boy!

Sara with baby Supple!  My sister spent the nights at the hospital with me so Chris could be home with Claire to ease the separation.

We checked in through the day with MiMi and Claire.  They were having a great time together, and the next morning I got to talk to Claire on the phone and tell her she was a big sister.  

A glowing big sister!

Claire and MiMi came over to the hospital for a visit and Claire came through the door in a sort of slow motion as she took in all of these new sights and sounds.  Once we locked eyes though, she ran over to my bed and gave me a big hug! Then we sat together and looked at baby brother in his crib.  Baby brother got her a huge stuffed Mickey Mouse to say, "Thank you for taking on the important role of being my Big Sister!"  Claire then sang him the Happy Birthday song, which she had been practicing for the past two months.

Claire was so happy to get to hold baby brother!

MiMi's turn!

Having Claire was amazing, but with her being my first, I think I lived each day in a state of perpetual fear and exhaustion.  Now with Will, I feel so much more confident in my abilities as a Mom. Fear has been replaced with so much joy. 

Snuggling with my newest heartthrob!

However, that doesn't mean that I haven't gotten my share of the hormonal tears!  It's so embarrassing. The big trigger for tears with Claire was seeing her with her daddy snuggling.  Now with Will, I get all misty eyed (that's putting it lightly - avalanche of tears is more like it) every time I see Claire being sweet with Will, or just realizing what a beautiful grownup girl Claire has become in just 2 and a half years. Our bedtime snuggles that were once very short and sweet, now have her laying almost on top of me and begging for more hugs.  I want to tell her that it will all be ok, and it will, but I think we are both going to have to adjust to sharing our time now with a new baby.

So, everyone keeps asking me who baby Will looks like, and I keep telling them that he looks like Claire! 

Baby William napping!

Claire napping at 1 week old!

It's pretty funny how much alike they are, they both have the same scowl for starters, and both came out with some jaundice.  We've been sunbathing Will every day since coming home from the hospital!

My little snoozing angel!

Couldn't resist a picture of tiny feet!

It's funny that this kind of sunbathing is actually going to get rid of his tan look. I told the Doctor at the hospital that I was sure Will had jaundice because no Supple should be that tan!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week! I have so many more pictures and videos to share, but of course they are spread across different cameras, and my nap time is precious!  Hopefully next week I can share what I missed in this post!

Love,
Bethie