Our Adventure: Welcome to the World Theodore Jack!

Our sweet little Teddy is finally here and we could not be happier or more in love! It is seriously so amazing how much you can instantly love someone that you didn't even know a few minutes earlier. And how amazing it is that our hearts just doubled in size to love BOTH of our boys with our whole heart. I can't even type this without crying because my heart is just so full and so happy! We love our little Theodore Jack and our family is complete! I don't know how we ever survived without him!!!!

Teddy has the sweetest little temperament and just loves to be snuggled up tight and loves to be held, which is a huge difference between him and his big brother. If Teddy is sad or upset at all, he calms down the MOMENT you swaddle him up tight. Charlie would bust out of his swaddle every single time, even at this age! I had been saying my whole pregnancy that this baby felt super calm and cuddly and he really is! I can't tell you how happy I am to have a snuggler!!!! It seriously hurts me to put him down so I try to hold him as much as I can. He's currently laying here on my chest while I type this in fact. :)

Theodore's birth story was so smooth and easy compared to Charlie's scary entrance into this world and I wanted to document it while it's all still fresh in my mind because it was just such a special, beautiful, peaceful day.

As I mentioned in my pregnancy updates, I was hoping for a VBAC but this little stinker was snuggled in and not going anywhere so we scheduled my c-section for November 29. It was kind of unreal to KNOW the date our baby was coming, but also super convenient because I was able to do laundry, stock up our fridge, clean the house, etc. and just be completely prepared and ready for the big day.

The day before he was born was Thanksgiving and it was such a happy day building a snowman with Charlie, eating Thanksgiving dinner with Landon's family, and then somehow going to sleep with all the anticipation and anxiety of knowing what tomorrow was. I was actually able to fall asleep pretty easily, but woke up around 4 and couldn't go back to bed for an hour or so because my mind was just racing. I was excited but also starting to feel really nervous about the surgery itself.

That morning we loaded up the car and dropped Charlie off at Nini and Papa's. I was surprised at how well I was able to hold it together but it was really emotional dropping off our little boy and knowing that the next time we saw him, he would be a big brother. He was SOOO excited that it was finally the day!

After we dropped Charlie off, we drove to Alta View and it still didn't feel real. We were meeting our baby today?! When we got to Labor and Delivery at 10 a.m., Landon teased that it felt like we were pulling up to a hotel with a reservation for Richins. "Checking in, please!" :) It was just so calm and again very surreal! They took us back to our room and got me set up with the IV, asked me a million questions, and then we just waited. There was an emergency c-section so ours got pushed back to 12:30 instead of noon, so we really had a lot of time to just wait. I was surprisingly calm and we watched Survivor. Now that I'm thinking about it, I can't remember anything that happened or who got voted off haha. But it was nice to have a distraction and help the time go by. As we were waiting, it started to snow which was pretty magical too.

When it was finally our time, they wheeled us back to the operating room and I just kept thinking that the prep was taking SO long. The only thing I had to compare it to was my emergency c-section and everyone was just so frantic and it all happened VERY fast. But this time everyone in there was just super chill, talking about football or Thanksgiving and just taking their time getting set up. At this point I started to get super anxious and shaky so the nurse brought me a warm blanket and that helped a lot. Getting my spinal didn't feel super great but it wasn't too bad. It's weird how instantly I started to feel tingly and then couldn't move my legs. Then it was time for the actual surgery!

I kept looking at Landon and making a gagging face because it really is disgusting how you can feel them pulling and tugging around in your body. I got a little nauseous but didn't throw up this time which I'm thankful for! The weirdest part of the surgery was how low my blood pressure got, which is totally normal and expected with a spinal. At one point it was like 78/34 or something and I felt sooooo weird. I can't even explain the feeling other than I kind of felt like I was dying haha. I also didn't realize that the effects of the spinal would travel up to my arms and chest too, because I was laying flat. That was not a fun feeling!

Dr. Smith told me he had to push the baby's bum to help get him out and it was seriously the most intense pressure on my chest--I couldn't even breathe. Mr. Teddy was just so high up (he seriously was SO snug in there and hadn't started descending at all!) Then out of nowhere (seriously no warning or the doctor saying, "here he comes!") we heard the sweetest little cry! I think the reason they didn't tell us he was coming yet was because they hadn't even finished pulling him out and he was already crying! And he kept crying the whole time they were checking him out. The nurses were all laughing because he was just very vocal about how he felt about us kicking him out of his cozy home! Landon said that the second he heard that little cry he instantly teared up. Melt my heart into a puddle--he's just the sweetest daddy ever.

Theodore Jack was born at exactly 1pm weighing 7lbs 2oz (which is exactly what I guessed--seriously read my previous post!) and 20 inches tall.

The nurses showed him to me quickly and then did their thing before bringing him back to Landon to hold for a minute and then I got to hold him!!!! I was soooooo happy I got to hold him in the operating room! I just about DIED and went to heaven the minute they put him onto my chest. I couldn't really hold him because my hands were so numb but I just couldn't stop kissing his little face. He was so close to me that I didn't get a good look at him, but I was just instantly in love with my sweet little boy. Hands down one of the most special moments of my life!!! I wish I could go back and relive it again and again.

They wheeled us back to our recovery room, which was actually the same room that we were in before. I was finally getting some more feelings back in my arms so I was able to nurse him and he did so awesome! It's incredible that babies know just what to do. It was so relaxing and heaven to have some skin to skin time with him and get a good look at his perfect little face. I was actually so surprised at how different he looked from Charlie. I thought for sure they'd be like twins, and they do have similarities, but Teddy has a completely different look to him.

Landon asked me what his name was and we both agreed he was most definitely Theodore. It was on the top of our list of favorite names, but definitely not something we were for sure about until we could actually meet him. Charlie had been calling him "Feodore" for MONTHS and every time we suggested another name he'd say, "no, not William! His name is Feodore!" so I just think it's really cute that Charlie helped pick his name too. :)

The next few hours were just pure heaven of snuggling our tiny love. We decided that Charlie would get to be the first one to meet Theodore, so we had hours of time just the three of us while we waited for Charlie to finish his nap.

When Charlie finally got to the hospital, Landon went to the waiting room to get him. As I heard his little voice coming down the hallway, I started crying. I had been anticipating this moment since I found out I was pregnant and was so excited for my boys to meet. When Charlie came in, he was a little shy and then had the biggest smile on his face once he saw the baby. He climbed on the chair to get a good look and was just beaming at his little brother. Then Landon helped Charlie hold Teddy for the first time and it really was just magical. I can't even handle how sweet the moment was. Teddy was wide awake just staring at his big brother and Charlie was so happy and SO proud. He sang him a song and I seriously could've passed out from the sweetness of it all.

After Charlie had some time with the baby, all six of the grandparents and Emma, Tanya, and Elliott came in to meet Theodore. It's so emotional for me to watch everyone hold my baby and just see how much he is LOVED. There is nothing better!

The first night I literally did not sleep. It was rough because they are just constantly coming in to change the IV, check on me or Theodore, draw my blood, etc. etc. It was also scary with Teddy because he was choking a little bit (which is super common for c-section babies because they get fluid in their lungs that doesn't get worked out through labor/delivery). I had to call the nurse in to help me once when he was choking because I was so scared and wasn't sure how to suction out his spit up. Anyway, I finally slept from 6-7am and then woke up to Teddy crying. I got up to change his diaper and somehow it had slid off his little bum and poop was everywhere! I woke Landon up so he could help me since I was still attached to the IV/catheter and just wasn't super mobile. While he was changing his bum, Teddy started to do the choking thing so he had to pick him up so he could cough it out (which is tricky with a bum covered in poop!) and then Teddy started peeing across the room as Landon was holding him up. We were just in panic mode trying to take care of all of the bodily fluid haha! I called the nurses so we could get his bed all cleaned up and they told us it is called "code brown" haha. It was pretty funny!

Also, it was sooooo nice to have Landon at the hospital with me the whole time! With Charlie, he didn't spend the night because he had to work while I was at the hospital and we wanted to make sure he was getting good sleep. It was awful to be alone at night, so I was just really grateful to have Landon there with me. It felt way less panicky/claustrophobic.

Anyway, on Theodore's first day he was having a little bit of trouble with his body temperature so we decided to skip his bath and waited until the next day when his temperature was up where they wanted it. Plus, he really did need a good cleaning after the "code brown" incident. He was a little upset during the sponge bath part but LOVED getting his hair washed in the warm water. It makes me so sad when he cries but isn't it also the sweetest, cutest sound in the world?!

The rest of our hospital stay flew by because I only had to stay for two days, instead of four like with Charlie. I just made sure I was doing everything the nurses wanted me to do like walking the halls, filling out the paperwork, watching their educational videos... we were just on the ball! It was really weird though because they didn't give me any narcotics. Not one. The first day I definitely wanted some but they were just being really weird about it and would say things like, "well in an hour you can have your tylenol so why don't we wait and see how you're feeling after that." Anyway, I was so happy that everything went so smoothly with my surgery so that I was doing well and that Teddy was eating well and passed all of his other checks so that we could go home!

We are all just so happy and so in love with little Teddy! Our family is complete and we are just so grateful to have him. He is soooo snuggly and loves to be swaddled, has the funniest little whimpers and whines (he's very squeaky), has the softest skin and "monkey hair" on his back and shoulders, and the softest, dark hair on his head. He is just the sweetest little guy and we all fight over who gets to hold him. Theodore Jack, we love you soooooooo much!!!!