Today is one of my grandparent’s 59th wedding anniversary.  Our sweet Mama Cece answered heavens call just a little over a month ago now.  We have many stories of God’s grace and so many things to thank Him for.

Hug your loved ones just a little tighter today. As my heart hurts for my famil  I found this reminder:

Look what we found prowling around the kitchen sink…
(insert suspenseful music here)

That’s right folks, it’s a baby shark.  He was hard to wrangle but well worth it, don’t you think?  He seemed friendly so we decided not to throw him back in the water.

Here are a few more pictures of his first bath at home: 

Grams kept him cozy and warm while Michael got the water just right

A little massage with the shampoo is always nice

Proud Daddy with his son.
I love these fellas!!

A sweet friend from choir offered to take pictures of Wes.  We think she did a great job – thanks again Amanda!

While big sister Stella was making her way to the hospital, Wes wanted to get all cleaned up for his big meeting with his new best friend…

He got dressed up, accessorized, and surely his heart was beating fast as he anticipated their first meeting

Stella was sitting on the bed with me when the nurse wheeled him in.  She was thrilled to see him, and Michael had to hold her tight so she wouldn’t crawl on top of him to smother him with hugs and kisses!

She couldnt wait to give baby brother a big kiss

This is Tom and Linda, Stella and Wes’ local “grandparents”.  They watched Stella while we were in the hospital, and gave Amy and Grams a much needed break.  While she was with them, they made sure Stella looked cute for her brother and took her to get her first mani/pedi complete with pink and white polka dots!  We are so thankful for them and the way they love our babies!

Grams loving on Wes.  They both look so content.

Proud Grams and Mimi.  Aren’t they so lovely in their blue outfits?  They were so thrilled to finally hold him, and he was thrilled too!

Beautiful Aunt Amy stole a few cuddles before she had to leave.  She stayed with us for over a week, but we had to give her back to her sweet family.

I get so excited when I see this picture of three generations of Fosters.  Wes, you are so blessed to have these two men walk before you.  They are living a great example for you.  Thank you God for such a blessing!

This is Leanna, our wonderful midwife.  She is so kind and we couldn’t imagine a better person to work with.  She was the one that delivered Stella too.  It was so special to work with her again.

Do you see Stella with her gloves?  After going to the pre-natal visits with me, she wanted to do what Leanna did, so she was allowed to help monitor Wes’ heart beat at our appointments, and soon she starting asking to wear gloves too.  The first thing she did when Leanna came to check on us was ask for gloves.  Maybe we have a future health professional on our hands…

The gloves came off and she got serious because Wes started crying.  While everyone else was talking and taking pictures, Stella only saw Wes and kept saying “shush, shush, it’s okay.”

 Taylor and Andy came by to celebrate.  So thankful for great friends!

Kristi stopped by to visit and even brought gifts for Wes and Stella.  She loved her new kitty and baby doll.

Stella gets to see Kristi every Sunday morning, and we are so thankful for another friend that loves our daughter so much!  Can you tell they have a little bit of fun together??

A few more hugs and cuddles

This big sister stuff is exhausting!  I stroked her hair for a few seconds before she was out.  Thanks again to all of our sweet friends and family for making this transition so great for Stella.  She felt so loved and excited to be in the middle of all the love. 

Speaking of being in the middle of all the love, she is spending the week with her cousins, aunt pat and uncle ryan and mimi and pops.  I know they are all loving the time together.  We sure do miss her, but am so thankful for this time with Wes too.

A quick photo before we checked into the hospital on Wednesday morning
 

We started pitocin around 8:30, enjoyed a nice breakfast, and watched HGTV (the only channel I miss not having cable!)  Around noon we increased the pitocin dosage for the third time and I finally started to really feel the contractions.  They were much stronger and I needed to stop what I was doing and concentrate on them around this time.  The most comfortable spot I found was sitting on the birth ball leaning over this chair.  Check out all those wires I had following me around! (the pitocin, penicillin, blood pressure cuff, contraction monitor and baby’s heart rate monitor)  It was quite a challenge not to get tangled every time I changed positions!

Our midwife was doing clinics on Thursday so she sent her student Terena to watch us all day and keep her updated.  She was so sweet and kind, and we felt so blessed to have her there the whole day just to keep an eye on us.

After the contractions began to get even stronger, our doula arrived and she was a huge help.  She and Michael used a few different methods to help adjust Wes so that he would be better positioned to ease the back labor I was having.  Once Wes finally moved the and the back labor eased we moved to the bathtub for quite some time.  It was amazing the relief that the hot water provided.  Michael was so sweet and even sat in there with me in his swim suit so I could lean against him and get some rest.

Before we knew it I was heading towards transition.  I don’t know how many times I tossed my cookies, but I knew it was a good sign and that Wes would be arriving soon.  By this time word got to our midwife Leanna that we were close.  Terena checked me and all signs pointed to baby arriving but my water had not broken yet.  We all decided to get this boy here so she broke my water and that’s when things got scary.  Leanna came in just in time and I saw her sweet face get really concerned.  She calmly said she didn’t like the way the baby looked on the monitor so I need to change positions.  Between the next four contractions I moved (not very willingly) from one side to another, and then all fours on the bed.  None of the positions changed his heart rate.  They leaned me back into bed, put an oxygen mask on my face, and everyone was staring at the monitors with very concerned expressions.  I tried to take the mask off and kept saying “take the baby, just take him!” trying to let them know that if he was in danger I wanted them to cut me open, do anything to save him.  Well, I just got in trouble for taking the oxygen off and they told me “you’re going to have to push him out now.”  So I pushed with and without contractions because I wanted to do everything possible for him to be here with me, safe and sound.  I don’t remember how long it took, felt like forever, but maybe just four or five contractions.  Then they stopped me to check for his cord around his neck.  Leanna didn’t see it and still looked concerned.  I just kept doing as told and slowly pushed.  Then his shoulders appeared and that’s when they discovered he had lassoed his cord around and over his shoulder.  What a cowboy!  Apparently when my water broke it shimmied him down so quickly that the cord was compressed until he arrived. 

Leanna told me to grab my son and I did while sobbing.  Michael, who had been at my side from the start, finally appeared again over my shoulder.  We were both so tearful and thankful that our little one was safe!  It took me about thirty minutes to finally believe that he was okay and I was okay.  Now we were a healthy family of four.  While I was slowly getting back into reality, Wes laid on my chest.  He cried a little, looked into my eyes, lunged around a bit, and finally latched on to nurse by himself.  It was so amazing to see him connect with us in the first hour.  I’ll never forget that special time. 

After spending an hour together with just the three of us, we knew it was time to name this boy!  I told Michael I thought I knew what his name should be, and Michael said he did too.  We had a short list of four or five possibilities that we couldn’t narrow down until this moment.  We agreed to both say his name at the count of three.  I was so nervous we’d both say something different.  We counted down “one, two, three…Wes!”  It was so exciting and we were thrilled to finally have a name for our little one. 

Since we kept him to ourselves for at least an hour after he was born, we wanted our family and friends to also be a part of these special first moments.  So we held off the nurses to weigh and measure him until everyone could come into the room.

He was not excited about getting undressed to be weighed.  He was 7 lbs 2 oz and 20 1/2 inches long.  Perfect.

Wesley, still objecting to the disrobing is raised so all can get a look. It is really not all that bad because he is under a warming light.

A few little abrasions on his left cheek. He already has long fingernails!

Aunt Amy finally meets Wes

We are so in love!

Up next: big sister meets her new best friend

Isn’t he beautiful???

More pictures coming soon…

He is here!

Wesley Preston Foster.

Born June 30th at 6:27pm. Everyone is perfect!

Thanks so much for your prayers.

More details to coming soon.