HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Brothers

On the day the babies were born Stacey and Wyatt were on the way to the hospital to meet Coyt and Crew when Aunt Cassie called to say that Wyatt had thrown up in the car on the way there. :( Apparently two boys in his preschool class had gone home sick with strep that day. So they turned around and were quarantined for the next few days. Turned out both Wyatt and Stacey had strep throat. We were SO sad that they couldn't be with us and hated that we couldn't be there to help take care of them. THANKFULLY Debbie, Shelley and Cassie all sacrificed their time with the babies to take care of the sickies for us.

We face timed the boys the day before we came home and showed them Coyt and Crew and talked them through everything in our room, what the nurses were doing etc. Wyatt kept asking "Are they borned??" and Stacey would ask, "How are the babies feeling?" As the nurse was swaddling one of the boys and we were explaining Wyatt asked in a rather alarmed tone "Why are they swallowing the baby?" They couldn't get enough and we couldn't wait to introduce them to their brothers.

Obviously things didn't go the way we had planned them but it just made the first time our six pack was together that much sweeter.

Getting ready to meet The Bigs.

The boys were precious as they saw The Littles for the first time.

They couldn't wait to hold them.






All six of us. :)

I could not have felt more joyful or blessed having all the family together and soaking in Stacey and Wyatt as they took in Coyt and Crew.

They both suddenly seemed HUGE!! And so far from their days as my tini tiny babies. :)

Coming Home

This picture just makes me laugh, as we were getting ready to leave the hospital we got the boys all dressed in their little coming home outfits and were all ready to take some pictures when they both just lost their minds and started screaming crying. OK no photo shoot. I am holding them both here as they cry, a vision of things to come perhaps. ;) Thankfully they both calmed down once we got them buckled in.

Locked and loaded
This is it boys, welcome home.

A few hospital pictures of our snuggle bugs

First of a lifetime of pictures together.

C & C on day two of their little lives

"The Fog" Dr. Fogwell our beloved doctor who has delivered all four of our boys beautifully :)
Just taking them in...sigh...so sweet.
The boys love to be together and are usually face to face.

Birth Day

We'll they're here! And we are loving every minute with our precious babies!! Unfortunately not very minute of those minutes are left available for editing and posting on the blog. :) I've been trying to get this post done all week, but wouldn't you know it I keep getting distracted. Finally mission accomplished. I am recording a lot of minutia details for my own personal memory so bear with me.

Along with the countdown to Christmas Day, we'd been counting down the days until Coyt and Crew's arrival on our advent calendar. Stacey III would tell me every morning how many days were left until the babies would be here.

We were scheduled to be induced on December 16th. The big boys spent the night at Big and Nannie's and Stacey and I got up bright and early to check into the hospital at 6:00. It is so surreal driving t the hospital knowing that your whole world is about to change. The first few hours were spent filling out paper work, answering questions, getting set up in our room, getting an IV and fluids etc.

We're ready to role.
We were planning to have both babies naturally (as in without a C-section not without drugs) but I would deliver in an OR just in case a C-section was necessary. Stacey modeling his new scrubs.

Dr. Fogwell came in to break my water and see if that would get things started. I simply mentioned that I hadn't ever had that done without an epidural. So in the name of all things pain free he said, let's get you an epidural first. Seriously? Um OK, sounds good to me. :) I got my epidural and he broke my water. Nothing much was happening so about 10:00 he put me on pitocin. Things were moving pretty slow. Over the course if two hours I went from a 3 to a 4. Two hours later when he checked me I was still at a 4. My contractions were "failing to impress" thus far. Slow and steady was OK but no progress wasn't the greatest news. Thankfully I was comfortable and had lots of visitors to keep me company.

About an hour later I was feeling lots of pressure. I wasn't sure if the epidural was wearing off or the contractions were just getting more intense so Mom went and got the nurse and she came and checked me. She said, "you're complete." As in, let's get you to the OR STAT and don't push!!! Whoo Hooo it was really time now. Funny little side note, a friend from Watermark was actually in the operating room delivering her twin girls so we had to wait a few minutes for them to clear the room.

On our way!

The OR was very intimidating, eight people wearing masks swirling around me hooking me up to all sorts of contraptions and prepping me simultaneously was a lot to take in. Lots of deep breathes and "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" personal pep talks to myself. :) Thankfully, just a few minutes later at 3:54 Crew jumped out. Seriously I didn't even get through one 10 count of pushing and he was here. We heard him cry and cried ourselves. But then it was back to business, we had to do this again. That was also strange, to have a baby but instead of taking a deep breath we still had work to do. Coyt was a little tougher but 11 minutes later at 4:05 Coyt came into the world and we heard that amazing first cry for a second time (Coyt was transverse but Dr. Fogwell was able to turn him before we got started with hardly any effort at all). There really is no sweeter sound in the whole world then hearing your baby, or in this case babies cry for the first time.

Holding Crew for the first time.

They were taking Coyt to the nursery to watch his breathing but I was able to hold him and snap a quick picture before they left.
Stacey sharing the news with the anxious waiting room.

While Coyt was in the nursery being observed, poor little guy,
we got to love on Crew.







Coyt made it back to the room a few hours later with a healthy report, but by then they had taken Crew for his screenings and bath etc.
So then we got to love on Coyt.
FINALLY after what seemed like forever we had BOTH our precious babies together and we could not have been more excited.

Crew Anderson Smith - 5 pounds 14 ounces - 19 1/4 inches

Coyt Austin Smith - 6 pounds 5 ounces - 18 3/4 inches

We all went a little nuts over them. :)


We are completely in love.
Things really could not have gone better and we are praising God for the boys complication free arrival and health.

More to come soon...hopefully.