Brian Douglas Waldron

We were so excited to welcome Brian Douglas Waldron into our family on August 30, 2014! I went to the hospital to get induced Thursday, August 28th at midnight (I guess technically the 29th). 

Since I wasn't dilated at all, they wouldn't start me on pitocin, but instead used cervidil to get things going. It is supposed to soften and prepare the cervix but it has to sit for 12 hours before they even check you again! So we were disappointed to find out this was not going to be a speedy process. They kept saying that since this is my 4th baby, things will likely speed along, but after the 12 hours, I was barely dilated to a 1, so they started another round of cervidil. About 5 hours into that round, I was starting to feel somewhat regular contractions, and started to get pretty uncomfortable around 8 p.m. on Friday night.  Around 11 I was dilated to about a 2, so they finally agreed to start pitocin, and around 1 a.m. I finally got an epidural (at this point I was very grateful for that!!) But our sweet babe still took his sweet time and wasn't actually born until 8 a.m. (Like all my others, once I was fully dilated, it took less than 5 minutes of pushing- not too bad). So the whole process took over 30 hours from start of induction to birth, but he was totally worth the wait.  He weighed 7 lbs 12 oz and was 19 1/4 inches long. 

We have always liked the name Brian and considered it for all of our boys. My mom's maiden name is O'Brien, so it's cool to have a little family meaning in there, and Chris also had a mission companion with that name who is still a good friend. And Douglas is Chris' dad's name.

We loved a visit from Ryan, Nancy and Raglan (and the dinner they brought!)

My amazing sister, Chrissy, flew out Thursday night and was with the kids all weekend, for which I was SO grateful! It was so nice knowing they were totally taken care of, plus I came home to a few meals in the freezer, a totally clean house, and plenty of cookies in the freezer (of which I have eaten WAY too many!) I owe her bigtime!

Chrissy left on Monday morning, and my awesome mother-in-law flew out Tuesday afternoon and stayed till Saturday! I was SO grateful for her help that week. She was awesome to do dinners, clean up, help with dropping off and picking up Christopher from school, entertain the older kids, and hold Brian whenever I needed it. I was so well taken care of my first couple of weeks by them, my ward and, of course, Chris, and I have been SO grateful!

The kids have all done really well with Brian. They are so sweet and loving and constantly are wanting to hold and cuddle him. I often hear a struggle/fight over who gets to be closest to him when he's laying on the floor. They just adore him! This video was right after we came home from the hospital.

 

I love the way he says "Baby Brian", even though he didn't say it on his own like he usually does:

  We also loved an evening visit from Grandpa!

 For the most part, he has been a really easy baby. He is pretty calm and content. I wish I could just hold him all day, but fortunately he is pretty good about being set down and watching all the happenings around him or sleeping. We sure love our Baby Brian and are so grateful he's part of our family!