Meet Set... and our new family of five

We got to meet Set last week. What a joy to have this new sweet baby in our family. Three is much different than 2, but so far Set has made it relatively easy on us.

Below the photos you'll see the story of the week long adventure that brought him here... just in time for Christmas :)

 Charlie was instantly interested in holding Set, while Annette was much more unsure :) Now, at home, she is holding him, kissing him all the time. She for sure has a maternal, big sister type instinct that kicked in quickly.

And there should be a picture here with all 5 of us, but that just didn't happen. Maybe we will get one of those soon.

With my first two, I only had to push 5-15 minutes. This little guy took a full hour. I was pretty tired by this point. Especially since I hadn't had more than 3 hours of sleep in the last 3 days.

 And then came the NICU.

 While I would never want to have to visit the NICU again, I do have to say how impressed I was with this floor at UAMS. They went way out of their way to make our stay comfortable. We had amazing nurses and doctors all over the place watching our new baby's every move and vital sign. AND they let us stay right there in his private room the whole time. They loved on us so well with gifts.... framed pic with Santa, a precious hand knit hat, handmade knit booties, a bag full of goodies... and with their expertise and hospitality.

He didn't make a peep the whole 6 minute drive home. Our other two cried from the second they were strapped in until they got out. This baby is very laid back... so far :))

Very fun watching our two kids become siblings all over again. WE. ARE. SO. BLESSED.

So for those of you who care to hear the whole story, here it is below:)

The birth story....

Around 5:30 am on Tuesday morning, Isaac and I went into hospital. Was having moderate contractions according to the hospital monitors and was at 3 cm dilated. They had me stay for a few hours to see if labor would progress. I really thought they would keep me and Set would be here on Tuesday. That was the plan. Yet, since I wasn't 39 weeks, the docs were nervous to induce unless I showed real progression over the next couple hours. SOOO, for the next hour or so I got up and all but ran around the hospital. Went up and down the stairs, jumped around, did all types of yoga positions, everything I could think of to and try to bring on more contractions. I just got to about a 3 1/2, maybe 4 cm. They sent me home. I wasn't happy. I knew it was probably for the best, but I was not happy. Luckily, my sweet doc told me to come back early the next morning if I thought I'd made more progress. I told myself I could make some progress happen over the next 24 hrs.

My mom had the kids and Isaac and I spent  the day putting together a trampoline for the kids for Christmas, going to Wal-Mart, we wrapped presents, cleaned out and cleaned up.... we walked up and down the neighborhood, ran errands, and even went for hopefully our last dinner date as parents of 2. Isaac put up with my foul mood amazingly well. I had lots more contractions throughout day, so I was very hopeful that Wednesday would be D day.

Went to the hospital around 3:00am on Tuesday morning. I was feeling terrible. Achy and contracting, and very ready to get the show on the road. I was at a 4 when we arrived. Hallelujah. I noticed my baby's heart rate was hovering in the 200s. Google told me that was high. I mentioned it to nurse, but they didn't seem alarmed. As I waited rather impatiently in triage, my aches grew and I started to feel chilled and then feverish. My temp was 100.4. This meant baby boy would need to come out today. I got nervous that they would have to do an emergency section or that he would be very sick when he arrived. My impatience turned to worry. And I felt pretty darn sick.

They admitted me, got my epidural started, and started pitocin. Epidural worked well for the first couple hours, then they broke my water and that sent my pain over the top.  Epidural was providing no relief. They offered to redo it, and I'm glad I decided to take them up on that offer. I felt a thousand times better with the second epidural. Basically no pain. It was wonderful. Then, when I was about 8 or 9 cm at around 3:00pm, the baby's heart rate started acting up. I've never wanted to get my baby out so much. They said it was time to push him out. I knew that ideally, I'd wait longer and let him get further down into my pelvis, so pushing wouldn't take so long, but at this point I was willing to push and push and push until I saw him in my arms and out of harms way.

They had me laying on different sides, sitting in different positions when his rate would drop so low. I was terrrrrified. Terrible moments. As the doctor told me to to push, the baby's heart would go up and down. After an hour, I finally pushed him out. The cord had been around his neck and I'm oh-so grateful the doctor got him out safely.

HAPPY, elated, THRILLED to hear his sweet cry when he finally belted it out. Weighing 7.7.7 and 21 3/4  inches long he was our biggest baby. Annette was 6.9, Charlie 7.4.
Yet, he had a temp of 100.4. And mine was 101.4. They said they might need to take him to NICU because of our fevers. They'd observe him for a bit more and get some blood work and then decide.

In a couple of hours they decided he needed to get antibiotics and that his glucose counts were too low to stay in the room with me. Sad, sad moment for me. One  of my favorite things about UAMS is that they don't put babies in a nursery unless they are sick. They just stay in your room with you, which I truly love.

But, he had to spend his first 3 nights in the UAMS nicu. And let me tell you, it wasn't very fun. BUT, that place is amazing. Each baby gets their own private room. Each room has a little couch/bed for the parents to sleep on overnight. I was very very grateful that I got to be with him, hold him, and still nurse him while we were down there. And the last night I had been discharged as a patient myself, and could just stay with him the whole day and night. MANY of the babies around us were very sick, and I spent lots of the quiet time in prayer for our new baby and the ones around us.

Thankfully, his counts and cultures kept coming back with good results and we got to come home Saturday morning! Praising God all the time for this precious gift.

It took us up until the last few hours at the hospital to decide on a name. We picked quite an unusual one, but it is very meaningful to us. Wilson Setzler Smith, or "Set", was named after several people on Isaac's side of the family (Isaac's dad and brother's middle names are Wilson, Isaac's grandmother's maiden name was Wilson) and Setzler is of course in honor of my side of the family.Although unusual, I think he can pull it off quite well : )

WE LOVE YOU little Set. You make our family feel so much more full and your sweet, gentle personality makes this transition so much easier.

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Merry Christmas Eve, y'all :)

LOVE, 

the Smiths.... Family of Five.