Russell Bradley

We had a wonderful Christmas. Kevin was off of work and his sister Amy was in town. As wonderful as Christmas was I was so excited to meet our baby! The night before Kev, Amy and I went out to see Catching Fire. It was sold out so we bought tickets for a later show and went to Sears to check out some refrigerators to kill time. We decided if we could find one for a reasonable price we would get it. The reasonably priced fridges were nice, but we fell in love with some of the bigger ones, and there was a sale, and as long as we were upgrading we may as well really upgrade... So we ended up ordering a wonderfully beautiful fridge that I will post later because I don't want it to seem like I love the fridge more than my baby, cause I don't... but I do love it so much!

After picking a fridge waiting for Kev and Amy to work out a price with the sales man, we headed to Pasha's for a super delicious Mediterranean dinner. At dinner Kevin admitted to me that he thought he saw boy parts on the ultra sound when they measured his torso. It has been fun for me not knowing the gender, but it has been funny to see others reaction to us not knowing.

After dinner we had a fun time at the movie and we got home around ten. I cuddled the kids while Kev and Amy took the babysitter home and then we put our kids down for bed and Kev gave me a blessing. It was a short night, I thought I would be too excited to sleep but I was able to get enough rest to feel pretty good. We checked in at the hospital, and everything was going smoothly and according to schedule. One of the OB interns came in and said "so you're having a baby girl!" I said I didn't know but asked her if that is what my chart said. She tried to cover her tracks by saying she just thought she overheard us say that but it must have been someone else. It was kind of fun to have that thrown in to have us question our baby boy expectations. They wheeled me back to the OR just after 7:00 am. The anesthesia resident struggled quite a bit with the spinal block. It was super uncomfortable and finally and thankfully the attending stepped in to help out. I think that is my least favorite part because it makes me nervous so when you hear him saying wait, and ahh, and sorry it just makes me more nervous and tense which in turn makes it harder for him. After I was all numbed and strapped down they let Kevin in and started to get that baby out. It was so fun to hear the doctor say "Its a Boy!!" and then I heard him cry, he sounded like a duck at first but then his throat cleared and he just sounded super angry. They said 8:11, I thought that was the weight and was a little surprised my other babies were about half a pound smaller. but then they said that was the time and they showed him to me. I had never seen my other babies all white and slimy so I was  a little surprised and the first thing I said when I saw him was Ew. Sorry baby. 

 

 Then they went and weighed him, he really did weigh 8 lbs 11 oz! and he was 20 inches.

 Kevin and I went to the recovery room and talked about names. We had talked a lot about Bradley, after Kev's best friend Brad Herbert. But we also just got a brother in law named Brad. We also liked the name Russell. I had thought Bradley Russell would be his name. Kev surprised me when he said he thought he wanted to go with Russell Bradley. I love it. Russell is my dad's middle name and I have always liked that name and the nicknames of Russ and Rusty. Kev calls him Russ Bus.
After we decided on a name Kevin went to go check on him in the nursery. I remember with Maggie I was so anxious to get her back but I this time I was so tired and I was okay to just relax and think. They actually brought Russ to me in the recovery room, it had still been almost 3 hours since his birth but it seemed to go faster.

 Holding him for the first time!

 He was so squishy and swollen at first, it didn't last long. We struggled getting him back to his birth weight. We went back for 7 weight checks in the first four weeks.

 I just love the first few days as you marvel at all their perfect little baby parts. Even his little stork bite is precious.

 Here is Maggie trying to hold him for the first time. She grabbed his little arms and shoulders and just squeezed and tried to pull him completely out of my arms. It was cute but mostly scary and funny.

My three boys. Cooper was so excited to kiss him and share his blankies. For the most part both kids have been very gentle and great with him. They always ask if they can kiss him. Cooper is a wonderful helper and Maggie has been pretty good about sharing me, as long as we can all sit in the rocking chair together.

I can't believe that today he is a month old!! Here is how he has been growing, I think he is about 9 1/2 lbs now. Still in new born sized clothes but starting to fit some of the 0-3 month. The size 1 diapers are still huge but the newborns are a tad to small. He sleeps a lot during the day, at night he is off and on. when he was one week old the hospital called because some of his blood work indicated he may have a genetic disorder called MCAD. We had to take him in for more blood draws and a urine sample. if he did have it his body would not be able to break down fats and turn them into energy. We needed to be sure he was eating every 3-4 hours. We were concerned but he had a blessing and we felt peace. It took almost two weeks to get the results that his levels were still slightly elevated. I felt relieved by that word slightly. At 4 weeks I took him in for a weight check, as we walked back to the scale I accidently took a corner too soon and bumped his head into the wall leaving a pretty big red line across the side of his head! I felt terrible and the nurse wanted the doctor to check him out before leaving. I was glad to see the doctor, not only was his head fine but she told me the fat levels in his test results were not high enough to indicate MCAD and it would no be something that would affect him. Yay!! What a relief.

In the mean time we have been loving this little guy. He loves to eat and sleep and have his back patted and rubbed. He has enjoyed time at Chuck E Cheese, IHOP, several trips to the Zoo and even a train ride around the park. He hates baths and being naked and hungry, who can blame him.