Why We Chose Henry David

Baby Hank gets his name from my grandfather Dreher. Dr. Henry Dreher is a WWII vet, spent his career serving others as a internist, and is the owner of the fairy tale home in Salina, KS where I created many childhood memories. We recently celebrated his 90th birthday. He is very well-read, pursues intellect, has triumphed in some personal struggles, and is open-minded about religion and politics. He also always let me take home all the quarters in his change dish each time we visited him and taught me how to play poker.

The middle name is David and his dad's middle name (David is actually John David, Jr.) and my dad's first name. We also liked the idea of sticking with the author theme...Thomas is T.S. Lisenby as in T.S. Elliot and Hank is Henry David as in Henry David Thoreau. I'm planning to frame a quote from both authors in the room they will share one day.

Cowboy Post

Scroll down to see a new post called, "A Tale of Two Cowboys." Title of the post is in honor of Cristy.

3 Random Pictures

1. Sweet Baby Hank
2. Labor photo
3. Gotta love the gauze boy short panties

My Baby Story

Here's how the whole thing went down last weekend including a few graphic details:

1. 5am Saturday morning: bloody show. I woke David up because I was so excited that something was finally happening.
2. All day Saturday: light cramping, contractions while at Deanna Rose with Tommy
3. 9pm Saturday night: water breaks...more of a trickle then a gush this time instead of a huge gush. Less than 10% of women have their water break to officially start labor, and mine has broken both times.
4. 10pm Saturday night: drop Tommy off at my parents' even though he says HE is going to the HOP-SIT-AL to have his baby
5. 11pm: arrive at hospital and find out I'm 3cm.
6. 12am Sunday morning: check again after some pretty strong contractions. Only 4cm. TONS of mucous in the bathroom.
7. 3am: Check again---still only 4cm. Start to freak out a little and say things to David like, "YOU got me into this."
8. 4:30am: can't take the pain anymore and order the epidural. Ahhh. Some relief for awhile.
9. 9am Sunday morning: still at 4cm. Dr. orders some pitocin to get things moving. Tommy and my parents come to visit.
10. 10am: Start to feel the contractions again, especially in my lower right back. Wonder if the epidural is wearing off.
10. 11:30 am: check...9.5 cm! So I went from a 4 to a 9.5 in 2.5 hours.
11. 11:45 am: Ask the nurse for a top off of the epidural before pushing and she says no. I decide Nurse Teri does not deserve to have a breast named after her.
12. 12:20pm: pushing, which felt to me like the ultimate crunch workout
13. 12:37pm: HENRY DAVID IS HERE! Since there were no complications during delivery he got to come straight on my chest. He was crying just a little bit and didn't have that much stuff on him. Everyone says he looks big. David cuts the chord.
14. Weigh in: 9 pounds! I knew it.
15. David goes out to tell everyone. My mom comes in to meet him. Tommy, Paul, and my dad come in after I'm stitched up.
16. Tommy is more excited about getting new cars from me as his big brother gift than he is about his brother.
17. 1pm: First breastfeeding. Hank can latch! And he has a strong suck!
18. 2pm: Time to move out of the delivery room and into the recovery room.

A few other things I want to document here so I remember include: Tommy bringing me a carnation the day after delivery with the proudest smile I've ever seen on his face, calling my grandfather to tell him we named our son after him and having him clear his throat and say, "Well there aren't many Henrys in the world," one particularly strange nurse telling me in the middle of the night she needed to check my "weenie," and Tommy telling everyone that Hank was HIS baby after holding him for the first time.

So there you have it. That is my baby story.

A Tale of Two Cowboys

The best description I can think of for what the past two weeks have been like is a wrangler from the wild west. I feel like I'm trying to lasso two little cowboys plus take care of the horse (Norman) and my Roy Rodgers (David). Here are some thoughts and comments in no particular order. Hopefully my randomness can help those who have never been wranglers before (i.e, Julie and Krista who just told me they are pregnant with babies #1!). Oh and my wrangler name is Adie Mae (short for Adrienne Marie, of course).

-Got to love the gauze underwear you get to wear post-partum for a few weeks. They are like the ultimate boy shorts and feel like air against your skin. Ahhhh. I was pretty excited when our nurse gave us a few extra packs of these babies to take home. Sexy.

-I forgot how much blood there is after giving birth. And since I only had a first degree tear this time there isn't even that much. Prepare yourself for the giant maxi pad, ladies.

-Tommy now only wants to be called Thomas. He has been correcting anyone who calls him Tommy. Baby Hank is Henry to him. He is also coping with the change by scratching his chin and biting little holes in his blankets at night. A sticker as a reward when he sits quietly and lets me read to him while I nurse seems to be the only thing that calms him down during feedings. Oh and he also has a new obsession with being naked all the time, wearing only a diaper and a belt with cap guns attached. (I fully admit to encouraging this new habit).

-Upon seeing me with my shirt off, Tommy (Thomas) told me that all the veins across my boobs look like train tracks. He then proceeded to go get Percy, his latest favorite, and try to drive him across my at that time engorged boobs. Ouch.

-Speaking of Marilyn and Louise, they are just as big as last time (36 E-F) but feel much better because Hank can actually drain them each time. He is such a good nurser. That part of things has been totally different than last time.

-Tommy (Thomas) has been really interested in Hank's umbilical chord. When it fell off the other day he couldn't believe it. It is now sitting on my dresser, and he tells everyone that comes over where it is.

-Tommy is also very interested in my "diapers." (See above re maxi pads). Since I am trying to get him excited to start using the potty in a few months, he is often with me when I go. When I reached down to change a pad the other day, he said to me, "Mommy, please no fingers in your poopy diaper." I've taught him well.

-Hank really likes to be held at all times. I'm pretty sure he thinks he still lives inside me. When David holds him he whimpers a little bit. T NEVER did this. Part of me likes this, part of me hopes it stops.

-Total weight gain for this pregnancy was 25 pounds. In the first two weeks with Tommy I lost over 20 pounds, which shows how swollen I was. This time in the first (almost) 2 weeks I've only lost 13 pounds. And Hank was 9, so that makes me a little mad. I'd like to be back within 5 lbs. of my pre-pregnancy weight by my 6 week check-up so I can then start working on the 10-15 pounds I had to lose before getting pregnant.

-Nursing makes you really hungry. I have WAY more cravings now than I ever did pregnant. It's really hard to eat well when you feel like all the calories, water, and energy are getting sucked out of you every 2.5 hours (day) or 4 hours (night).

-I HATE being pregnant. I'd do the first two weeks with a newborn for 80 weeks before choosing to be pregnant again for 40 weeks. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off me both physically and emotionally.

-Roy Rogers has been so helpful, and I am working on being nice in the middle of the night. I'm always short and grumpy at 3am and Roy gets the brunt of the agitation. Not fair to my cowboy.

That's all for now. This is wrangler Adie Mae signing off.

Welcome Hank

Henry David Lisenby was born on Mother's Day at 12:37pm. 9 pounds, 20 inches long.

May 15th

It is my prayer for all my friends that don't have kids yet that if one kid has to be late it is the first. Since Tommy was a week early I figured this baby would at least be 5 days early and set my above due date calculator for May 1st instead of the 5th. Now I don't know how to change it, so it's going to say that I'm 43 weeks pregnant when this is all said and done. In reality my doctor gave me the news today that she will induce me on the 15th, which would be 10 days late. I'm just not progressing at all and am at high risk for a c-section or re-tearing if we try to force him out. So May 15th it will be unless he comes before then. Oh and just in case you were thinking, "Man it seems like A has been pregnant for a year," well I have been. I got pregnant May 1st of 2008, had a miscarriage on July 4th, and got pregnant again August 1st. So except for those few weeks in July I could be on TLC for a marathon pregnancy. :)