Meet our little Preston Todd...

 I cannot miss documenting this important and amazing event in our lives, so hopefully 5 1/2 weeks after the fact, I can remember all the things I'd like to record about the day our 4th child came into our lives.  I wasn't due until December 5th, and while I'd hoped and prayed to have him come a little early, I was shocked when I went into labor on the 29th of November! 

It still boggles my mind that with each child my labor is so different.  I thought by now I would easily know when it was time to head to the hospital, but after having Ella so quickly, I decided to head over as soon as I knew it was "real".  We ran the kids out to Todd's parents after I called Dr. Nye to make sure I wasn't being overly anxious.  He said to head on over and we'd see what was up.  My contractions were (and had been) about 5 minutes apart, by the time we got to the hospital they were about 2 minutes apart but varied in intensity.  We checked in at the desk and when we walked into the L&D department we were greeted by my sister-in-law Becky who informed me she would be my nurse (as long as I was good with that, which I quickly decided I was!).  Soooo....I was dilated to a 3-4 so they decided to have me walk around to get things moving along.  As I was walking I found out my cousin Levi and his wife Dania were also there, Dania was being induced with their first.  All kinds of excitement in our family that night. :)

Things were progressing but pretty slowly so Becky suggested I rest for a bit before I got too far along.  I laid down and slept for a little while and woke up to Becky looking for the baby's heartbeat.  I didn't realize what was going on at first and next thing I know another nurse is in the room and they are putting an oxygen mask on me and making me get on my hands and knees. (Thank goodness for the two hospital gowns I had on :))  They told me that his heart rate had dropped and they were trying to get it back up.  Being on my hands and knees helped and after a while Becky had me changing positions to see if we could get my contractions to regulate and be more effective.  To monitor the baby better, Dr. Nye came in and broke my water so they could put a monitor directly on the baby.  They also gave me a little pitocin to make my contractions stronger.  Here's where I should have asked for an epidural, but epidurals had always slowed down my labor and I was worried about the baby if that happened.  So...I figured I'd wait until I was progressing a little further.  I laid down to rest again and woke up having some pretty strong contractions.  It's kind of a blur after that but I had started shaking from the meds I'd been given (I also tend to shake during labor anyway).  I finally decided it was time for the epidural, but before the anesthesiologist could get there I progressed pretty rapidly.  I felt like I needed to push but Becky was telling me I couldn't push yet.  That just put me over the edge, thank goodness Becky was there willing to get in my face and get me through it.  I am so grateful that she was my nurse that night, even if she swears she's never going to do it for a family member again!  Finally the anesthesiologist made it in and gave me my epidural.  Life got good for about 2 seconds before they laid me back down, got the table ready, and told me to push!  One good push later our little man came into the world.  All the sudden our really long night had turned into a whirlwind and he was here.

Preston Todd was born at 7:08 am on November 30th, weighing 8 lbs 5 oz, and was 20 1/4 inches long.  He has a reddish brown color to his hair, as compared to Garrett who had orange hair from the moment he was born. :)  I was instantly in love.  It's true your heart will always find room for more, not that I ever thought otherwise.  We spent that day just getting to know our little man and having visits from friends and family.  Preston's second cousin was born later in the day, a beautiful little girl, and I love that they will share a birthday.  Just another part about being from such a big extended family that I love.

We have been so blessed with visits, phone calls, dinners, and gifts.  Preston is already growing fast.  About a week after he was born, Todd's sister Chelsea came and took pictures for us.  It was a long day trying to keep him content enough to get some good ones, but she got some amazing pictures and we are so grateful for them!