Hospital Time

Mom got to hold her sweet baby boy for the first time. (Remember, that was his name: Baby Boy) When we did our skin to skin time, he opened his mouth and looked up at me with one eye. He looked very confused. Dad looked so proud as he had been helping throughout the whole labor process and finally got to see his boy. He told me what we had and said it with such shock, "it's a boy!" Shock because we had not decided on a boy name yet.

Baby boy let out a tiny squeak at first, but found his lungs when they took him to the nursery. Sterling sent this email to our friends and family after we had him.

Baby Smith is a....

solid, little fella. That's right, Baby Smith has decided to come out of the womb as a BOY! We couldn't be more thrilled to see what kind of man he will turn out to be. What is know about him currently?

• He was born 8lbs 14oz
• He is 20.5 inches long (I'm told they're not "tall" until they can actually stand on their own accord)
• He entered the world at 12:55pm
• He made a couple squeaks as he came out, but was otherwise completely silent for the first 75 minutes that we spent with him.
• He has blonde hair (that will eventually be light brown, we assume), not just fuzz
• Seeing his head poke out for the first time was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen

What is unknown about Baby Smith?

• His name.

We hope to finalize something by the end of the week, if not before we leave.
We came into this with some ideas, but we're not yet sold on one.
We're going to spend a couple days with him and see if he can give us any hints to what he thinks his name should be. We've spent today staring at him through the nursery windows with my family members. We're happy to accommodate friends who want to visit us tomorrow, but I think tonight we're going to take it a little easy and limit our visitors. If you do intend to visit tomorrow, please call ahead and I'll let you know if it's a good time or not. Mother and son are doing great and we really appreciate your concern and friendship.

love,sterling & shannon 

Uncle Brandon was so faithful to his nephew. He dropped by for a 5am visit before Aaron was born. Then he came back, brought Nanna and gave Sterling a new dad hat. He also brought a sweet baby boy bear for Aaron. 

Nanna holding her sweet grandbaby for the first time. She made it 7 hours at the hospital. What a trooper! They had him forever just to give him a bath and warm him up. We wanted to cuddle and Nanna waited them out. Happy Birthday to Nanna! We told her last year that we would give her a birthday present. What a blessing it worked out that way. Happy Birthday to Jeanette and Baby Boy Smith!

This is Dr. Ruk. He was the second Dr. on call. Although he was not our regular Dr. Ryder, we still really liked him. He would be there for a contraction and then slowly turn his head to watch ESPN golf. It was funny.

This is Baby Boy sitting in his toasty little warmer.

This is the offical weighing.

Day 2 at the hospital. I was feeling much better! So thankful for my nurse Mary that got me through the middle of the night. I do not know what I would have done without her. I was also very thankful for Baby Boy Smith's nurse Gracie. She nicknamed him Little Smitty. When he spit up the first day, she told us Little Smitty, kind of Spitty.

Our sweet alert little baby was loving all his visitors. He sported his A&M hat and his monkey blanket.

Yoda Face

 Dad feeding him his first bottle.

 Aunt Meri looked at him and said, "I love him". She also thought I had a girl still in my belly because she was convinced that I was having a girl. Elizabeth Newton said that Meri gave her a death look when she was holding her baby.

 Another family photo. Sterling and I did not plan on matching, but it worked out that way. I was looking and feeling much more normal than the original family photo.

Cousin Jacob holding him.

Cousin Kathy holding him.

Cousin Jarrett holding him.

We love John and Myra! They came for a visit to hold him. John only visits a few people at the hospital, so we felt pretty special.

Julie and Annie loving on him.

Heather and Read taking time to love on him.

I have never seen Read hold a baby, so that was pretty cool.

Tyler and Annie practicing for their new little one.

Barb's sister, Pat, was in town for a visit. I think the baby boy stole some of her visit away.

Lambda Gamma's newest mini sweetheart.

Grandma loves her new little grandson.

Grandpa is pretty excited too!

Finally, Gran gets to meet him. We had been waiting for her. She had to work the first night we were in the hospital.

Aunt Megan loving on her new little nephew.

Melanie came by to love on him too! What a blessing to have so much love fot our baby in just two days of life.

One of the great parts of delivering at Medical City was this delicious meal. I had the Lobster Ravioli and Sterling had Prime Rib. Starbucks coffee and this amazing cake for dessert. Sterling got the lady fingers, but I wish we had gotten two pieces of that cake. Baby Smith sat in his little bed for most of the meal, but we picked him up toward the end when he asked us to. My kids from school saw this photo as one of the first pictures of the baby, but all they noticed from it was that piece of cake on the table. They told their sub, "cake!".

Day 3 at the hospital.

Matt Brennan came for a visit. Then the naming lady calledd us at noon and said she was leaving at 2pm. We needed a name. 2 of the original 3 boy names had already been taken off the list. He did not fit those names. Sterling said, no more calls or visitors, we need to get serious and focus. After a while we both decided we liked Aaron. Avery had already been chosen.

Introducing, from the fightin' Texas Aggie class of 2033,

Aaron Avery Smith.

He gave us a little Gig 'Em on the way home.

Video of him at the hospital.

He looks so tiny in his seat, but he is very big for most babies. 8lbs 14oz. 20 1/2 inches.

I thought Sterling should strap him in. It seemed a little nerve racking.

Such cute cheeks! We were so excited to take Aaron home, but sad we had to leave all the wonderful Medical City help. Sterling accidentally called it a hotel instead of hospital. He was going to miss the yummy cafeteria breakfast. Same food but two different prices on both days. Random. 

Aaron Avery is Here!

I said 4 days when I made my last post, but Baby Smith decided to come two days later on April 9, 2011. This day was pretty special because it was Nanna's 65th birthday. I had decided that April 8th would be my last day of work, so that I could rest over the weekend. God had different plans. I was able to get everything done before maternity leave, which was a huge relief. Peggy would take over on Monday, Aprill 11th my due date. Here is a copy of the email that Sterling sent as went into labor. There were no last belly photos taken as I was in an intense amount of pain. I even forgot my cell phone at home. For those that know me, this is a huge deal. It was slightly annoying as everyone had to call Sterling. This was the most I had ever see him talk on the phone. The phone that I begged him to get when we got married. "It appears that we've transitioned from a Baby Smith Watch to a Baby Smith Warning. All should be on alert that Shannon has been officially admitted and epidural-ed into Medical City Hospital's L&D wing without a wink's sleep since yesterday. "Weird" feelings started between 9:30-9:45pm and contractions kicked off at 10:35pm. Unfortunately for me, the water never broke so I was never able to cuss-and-run like I'd hoped. It did take me by surprise, though, as I didn't really believe that our baby would actually share a birthday with my mom (4/9).

By 12:45am the contractions were coming more frequently (every 4-8 minutes), so Shannon took a shower and called the doctor. They said it sounded like labor and to come on in, so we grabbed a few loose items (other bags were in the car) and got out of there about 15 minutes later (after Shannon dried her hair, got dressed and had me make the bed). I tried to take Shannon's mind off what was going on, we looked for a McDonald's (for me) and took in the soothing sounds of November Rain.

Once here they got her into a room, hooked her up to a bunch of medical crap, informed her that she's 6cm dilated (the nurse's eyes got huge at this point... kinda cool) and started admitting us. The Epidural guy came about 10-15 minutes later. It's apparently time to sleep now - according to the nurses and doctor - but we'll let you all know how this thing shakes out. A rough estimate might be that we start pushing around 7am and deliver between 8-10am. Obviously this is not an exact science, but they said it's a decent ballpark.

I did not faint during the epidural and the greatest emotional swings I've experienced were the happy, anticipatory feeling between 10:30-11pm and the excitement when I realized that we have free ESPN in the L&D room. This feeling was closely followed by heartbreak when I realized that it's golf and baseball season.

Good night, friends.

sterling

I also wanted to add a few details he forgot. Friday night we were invited to an FC Dallas game by Sterling's dad and step-mom. They had two extra tickets, so we invited Adrienne and Jordan. We had a yummy last dinner at Rudy's BBQ before the game. Shockingly I have no photos.

He also forgot to mention that we drove through two McDonalds (for him) and there was nothing taking my mind off the pains of childbirth. I was pretty excited when we finally starting pushing. You can tell I was on drugs with that smile

Well, we had an amazingly healthy, sweet baby boy on April 9, 2011. (Nanna's Birthday) Forgive my swollen face from 3 hours of pushing our 8lb 14 oz. big baby, Aaron Avery Smith. Focus on his cute little yawn in our first family photo. Wanted to jot down some things I love about him. Cuddling. When I burped him on my chest, he rubs my arm. He grabs onto his ear while he is eating. He puts his fingers in his mouth when he is upset to calm himself down. He makes the cutest little squeaks. His sweet eyes remind me of my baby pictures as he darts them back and forth. I love his smiles while he sleeps. Seeing Sterling love on him seems so precious and natural. He loves sleeping while cuddled up in his Aden & Anasis blankets. More photos to come in the next post.

4 More Days!

We had a blast taking maternity photos when we were 36 weeks.

Thanks so much to Scott Booth and his incredible photography skills for such fun pictures.

http://lone-starphotography.com/blog/?p=1259

It is crazy to think that we have 4 days left of being pregnant.

(Or 11 depending on when Baby Smith decides to come.) It has been quite an exciting journey. We are very grateful that I have felt so great the whole time and the baby has been good to me. I am going to miss all the little and big kicks. That is by far the coolest and my favorite part of being pregnant. We have also felt so blessed and grateful for all the love and the support from family and friends. Baby Smith is already so loved and he/she is not even born yet!!! What a huge blessing! Sterling and I are so excited about raising our baby together in a family that exhibits love and receives love constantly.

Here are a few pictures of our neutral nursery. We still want to hang the baby's name above the bed and hang curtains. You can gather the overall look. Pretty simple, not too cluttered with a few special touches from us. The monkey in the shelf is wearing a small shirt that has a picture of the two of us. Next post will probably be the gender and name of our baby!!! .

Progression of Pregnancy

So I thought I would post the big belly growing since I have only made 2 posts this entire time. Some of the highlights of doctor visits include: Sterling asking the doctor if they would know if our kid was a hermaphrodite and can he safely take the remainder of my prenatal gummy vitamins? It has been a pretty easy pregnancy. We are supposed to have 3 weeks to go until the due date. Our last sonogram at 36 weeks estimated the baby at 8 lbs. I really hope I am not making a post in 3 weeks about a 10 pound baby. I would prefer it to be an 8 pound baby, but we shall see what we are granted with. The pictures are posted largest to smallest if you could not tell. The top picture is 35 weeks and the bottom picture is 16 weeks.