Do they come any cuter than this?

Really, I know every mother thinks this, but I think this baby is SO beautiful. I could just gaze at him all day, except I can hardly keep my lips off him. I have always dreamed of a brown haired boy, not that I don't love my little toe-head Daws, but I really wanted brown hair. Henry certainly doesn't have a ton of hair, and it isn't super dark, but it is brown, and it is visible. I couldn't be happier. He also has a perfectly round little head. My other boys had traumatized heads from birth, so I don't know how Henry got so lucky. We are having so much fun with him, I just love having a newborn in the house. The boys love it too, they wish they could spend more time holding "bubba" (Dawson still can't say baby correctly) and they surprisingly haven't shown any sibling rivalry. At this point, the transition to 3 kids seems really easy for us. We actually took the whole family to the Aggie game last night. I think the real struggle will be me trying to take all 3 of them out ALONE! I may not go anywhere for awhile.

Henry has been SO easy. I was telling Dave last night that it can only get worse from here, because there is no way a kid could be easier than this.

I think he hasn't quite figured out that he isn't in the womb anymore. He thinks he is still gestating, where eating and breathing shouldn't burden him He really, truly has less than 2 minutes of awake time a day. I'm not exaggerating. We see those eyes open up for a minute before he eats, and that is all. And after he eats, I put him back on the bili-lights until it's time to eat again (I have to wake him up for EVERY feeding). I remember sitting and rocking the bassinette (with the lights on it) with the other boys until they fell asleep, but Henry is always asleep, so I just lay him down and walk away. The other night I assumed he would wake me up to feed him, but he ended up sleeping 7 hours straight until I woke him to eat. Now I am very careful to wake him up more frequently in the night, and not wait for him. (I wish I could just let him sleep through the night, but he has to eat to get rid of the jaundice)

Henry's biggest problem is he is too lazy to breathe sometimes. While he is eating, he'll forget to breathe, and he turns purple. He doesn't care to cough it up, he just sits there and lets the color drain from his face while I frantically turn him, pat him, and pinch his feet. It takes a few minutes for the color to come back in his face and for him to fully start breathing again, and by then he's too tired to eat anymore. It's quite an ordeal to wake him again to finish eating, so I'm hoping the breathing thing will start to come more naturally soon.

Yesterday was our last blood draw and weight check for Henry, we've been doing them daily. He's back up to 6 lbs 4 oz, which was his discharge weight, so he's doing well. His bilirubin dropped a point yesterday, so we only have 3 more days on the lights. The dr. says that neurologically he is very healthy, he is strong, we just need to keep him eating, pooping, and breathing and he'll be fine.

We are so happy with our 3 little boys. Each one of them bring us so much joy. We really are blessed!

An answer to the due date question

Jocee asked if my due date was off, and I'm sure there are a lot of people who will think that. I was actually talking to my mom about it yesterday and telling her I would think that too if I didn't know better. But.... I with all 3 pregnancies have been 100% sure on my due date (of course give or take a day). Unfortunately I am obsessive when it comes to pregnancy, so here is how I know: I take 3.... yes 3 ovulation tests a day. Morning, noon, and night. Take temperatures every morning. Chart all other fertility signs. And my dates always match up with all of my ultrasounds and fundal measurements (Actually this time at 34 weeks I only measured 33 cm, but I think that's because he dropped). So for some odd reason my body is just very efficient at making babies (I always do try to find shortcuts in life :) I do however, consider myself dang lucky that these babies can breathe when they are born. They say that lung development is related to fetal stress. Fetal stress is caused by contractions, and since I have so many contractions all the time, I think it forces their lungs to develop early. How they are so big for their gestational age? I have no idea! But it sure gives us a good laugh when we see that scale!

There are also signs after birth that show their prematurity, unfortunately. Jaundice is one of them, and my babies are jaundice poster children! Also, Henry's gastro-whatever it's called sphincter isn't fully developed, in other words he has really bad reflux. Last night, every time I laid him down, stuff came up. It's probably going to make him REALLY grumpy in a few weeks, so we'll enjoy these sleepy weeks while they last. Oh, one more thing, Dawson was born almost completely white. Early babies have more vernix on them, but Dawson definitely had the most of our 3.

I'll be back on later for more pictures and stories- I'm being kicked off my computer by Buzz Lightyear.

Henry George Low

We're home and doing great! He hasn't hardly made a peep, and we can't really wake him up to eat. He is on the bililights for jaundice, but that's typical for our boys, we expected it. We are loving our new little boy, and will post more about the story and more pictures tomorrow.

Mission Accomplished!

5:30 a.m The water broke
7:00 a.m. Arrive at the Women's Center
9:00 a.m. Epidural
11:00 a.m. Pit received
12:00 p.m. David eats lunch at Cafeteria
2:00 p.m. Erica's patience is being tested
3:00 p.m. Dave googles top ten things never to say to a woman in labor
4:00 p.m. The jokes aren't funny any more
5:00 p.m. Erica pushes and cries
5:21 p.m. The baby cries
5:30 p.m The baby weighs 6 pounds 11 ounces, brown hair and blue eyes, pink skin, good lungs
6:00 p.m. Erica smiles
6:30 p.m. Erica says "I feel great!"
6:35 p.m. Dave writes this post

My water broke

I guess I'm off.

Open for delivery

The new women's center opens tonight at midnight. I made it, I get to deliver in the new one! Hopefully not too soon....

Mommy's good little sleeper

Isaac has always been a good sleeper. Here are some funny pictures of him sleeping this week.


Being a space ranger will wear you right out. We gave Isaac his Buzz Lightyear costume yesterday. He had no idea we were getting it for him, I was worried it would be worn out before Halloween ever came. He wore it from morning until 10:00 at night. He was so excited, he ran around the house saying , "To infinity and beyond!" and jumping off the couches. The best was when I caught him posing in front of the mirror, making tough faces and nodding his head, pushing his lasers, and other buttons. By 2:00 in the afternoon he was so worn out from all the flying and saving the galaxy, he fell asleep on the floor. Honestly, what could be better in the life of a 3-year old than getting your favorite costume? I had no idea this started so early!
I had to wake Isaac up to go to school the other day, but he wasn't in his bed. He had fallen out of bed that night, but we had helped him get back in bed. He never falls out of bed, so this was really weird. When I walked in to his room I could hear him snoring, but I couldn't see him anywhere. I finally bent down, pulled up the bedskirt, and looked under the bed (Which for a pregnant person isn't a very comfortable thing to do, but especially isn't good for a person trying to prevent contractions.), and I found him fast asleep. Even harder than finding him down there was getting him out. What a sound sleeper!