3 Weeks Ago.......

How can this be?! How can it be that my little tiny baby is already 3 weeks old?!

I am baffled at how fast the time goes by.

3 weeks ago today (well actually, tonight) our little Dawson was born and placed into my arms for the first time.

I thought I would jot down some of the things that happened on his birthday for my own sake. I really don't want to forget this , which means I need to record it.

Saturday, the 26th of February, was no ordinary day. You see, it was my sister Alyssa's birthday and since she lives right across the street from us, our little family was able to go over and eat breakfast with her and my mom that morning. It was a wonderful way to start the day!

After visiting there for a couple of hours, we took the kids back home and pretty much just laid around. My 39 week pregnant body was already past the whole nesting thing and just wanted to lounge around for the next 10 days. My contractions would be 2-5 minutes apart for an hour, but would stop as soon as I took on the thought of going to the hospital.

I had given up.

Then the phone rang, and my awesome OB doctor who had the day off, called me just to check up on things. He suggested I come to his office so he could check to see how my labor was progressing.

Did I mention my doctor is AWESOME?

So the whole family piled into the minivan to go to his office.

I was now at a 4 and 70% effaced.

Woo hoo!

But no, I couldn't believe that things just might be progressing. My body was playing tricks on me the whole week before and I didn't want to actually believe that I just might have the baby soon.

Apparently, however, our doctor knew better than me because we left his office with him saying, " Alright, we will see you guys tonight!"

We then headed off to the grocery store where Jim turned into my drill sargeant and had me doing laps around the isles.

Still, nothing.

What a joke.

Then we headed over to Jim's parents' house where my husband became a Nazi and was having me do the XBox Kinect Dance Central.

Still, nothing.

Then my sister Alyssa headed over to take part in all of the fun. She even brought us all Bajio on her own birthday! After a couple hours of dancing, the contractions became consistent and Jim and I headed to the hospital.

They monitored my contractions for about 45 minutes, which were constantly at 2 minutes apart. Then our doctor arrived and broke my water.

This is when the contractions became extremely intense and I began wondering where in the heck my epideral was. After about 10 minutes of hard-core pain, the anesthesiologist came to my rescue!

Yes, I am lame. I endured a whole 10 minutes of natural labor.

Epiderals are our friend.

Once the epideral was given, I felt like a new woman and was happily enjoying my rest on the hospital bed. My doctor even came in and visited with us for a long while. We talked about labor and running and half marathons...and I don't remember what else. I think I was in and out of

la-la land.

Still at 4 cm, I decided I would take a snooze while Jim, Alyssa, and my mom watched tv.

But no sooner had I made this decision, did I begin to feel a lot of pressure and discomfort. Jim decided to get a nurse to make sure the epideral was working properly.

The nurse came in, checked me, and was surprised to find out I was already at 10 cm!

She ran out of the room to call the doctor, came back shortly after with another nurse to get everything prepped, and then it was time to push.

I think I pushed for about 2 minutes before little Dawson arrived.

His little cry was the sweetest little sound I had ever heard.

Look at his thick little body!

He looks really angry here and I don't blame him.
This was the first time we had delivered at this hospital (weird, considering it is right across the street from my house), but if we ever have any more babies, I will make sure we have them here!
They kept Dawson in the room with us for 3 hours before they took him to the nursery. I loved having him stick around for so long!

The whole 3 hrs he was with us he did not close his eyes nor did he cry. I loved every minute of it!

Dawson and his Nanna.
I'm so glad my mom was there to see her grandson be born. She held my hand through all of it and helped make our experience that much more enjoyable!

The birthday boy and girl!

I love that they share this day together and that Alyssa got to be a part of it all!

Braddock & Emma came to meet their baby brother for the first time the very next morning.

I don't even know what to say about this next picture except that I am in love with it.

Emma with her baby brother.

Can you feel the love?

This next picture I love so much.

This is what he looked like after every feeding. I loved how he would rest his fat lil' cheeks in my hand and crash.

Can I just say I feel so blessed to add this little boy to our family! I can't believe that 3 weeks has come and gone.

Still, I am grateful for the memories that we have been able to create. I will always look back on this moment as a wonderful and amazing experience.

Thanks to all of our family and friends who came to visit us, tended our children, brought us food, and showed their love.

I recently read a post on my friend's blog that says "There is hope smiling brightly before you. That hope is in the faces of our children."

I don't know of a more true statement.

I am so grateful for the gifts that Heavenly Father has given to me, my three little children. I love them all so much and look forward to creating many memories with them!