OTIS JOHN SCHMUTZ

NOVEMBER 2, 2011

So, I have not blogged for almost a year! But, it is time for New Year's Resolutions! :) I really want to do better at documenting and journaling our lives...so here is a quick but very necessary catch up! The biggest event for our family in 2011 was our NEW ADDITION! We had OTIS JOHN SCHMUTZ on NOVEMBER 2, 2011! And what a great addition he is!

I had lots of contractions through all of October! THANKFULLY he did not come on Halloween! I was so worried, because his due date was November 3, that he would be a Halloween baby! I will have to post our Halloween costumes...I was a great big Jack-O-Lantern, and Brigham stole the show as mega mind! But even after all that trick-or-treating and walking hills, I didn't go into labor...just having lots of contractions! They wouldn't get stronger...just kept coming! :)
My doctor checked me on Nov. 1st, and I was dilated to 5 cm...which made my doctor a little nervous! So, he had me come in the next morning to break my water. Which I felt good about, because he was going to be on call through that following night.
It ended up being just like Brigham's delivery, only thankfully my doctor only had me push for

1 1/2 hours and not 4! It felt a lot the same, and so I thought it was going to be a similar outcome! The worst time is when they decide to do the C-section, and don't want me to push! My back gets a lot of pressure and there is a lot of pain...I am so grateful when that part of it is done!
Well, they rushed me in for an emergency C-section, and the experience could not have been more night and day! The anesthesiologist was AMAZING! She was so great to not only drug me and keep drugging until it was comfortable, but she was very good to talk me through it all too! And my doctor (Dr. Hernandez) was FABULOUS! It was so great to have that little boy out! The whole operating room was telling me how big he was! I couldn't see him, but they kept saying, "He is huge!" "What a big baby!" "I can't wait to find out how much he weighs!"
Well, they put him on the scale, and he was a big baby! In fact, he was the biggest Dr. Hernandez has ever delivered! 10 lbs. 10 oz., 22 1/2 inches long!!! I was a lot more relaxed, having been through it and knowing what was normal, so things went a lot better! Otis is also so much more of a relaxed baby than Brigham was...and that really helped in my recovery! He is so sweet! He doesn't hardly cry, and when he does, he is so easily soothed! How grateful I am for our new little man! I love being a mom! It is worth all that it takes to get these little miracles here!

The sad thing is that I am out of commission for the first few weeks of the baby's life, and miss out on taking the type of pictures I would like to! I got hardly any in the hospital, but here are a few! You can see that he hardly looks a few hours old! He looks like a 2 month old! On our way out of the hospital, there was a tiny baby girl in the wheel chair next to mine, and Lydia couldn't believe it! She was 1/2 the size of Otis, and you could see it! The nursing staff was great! I surprisingly left the hospital a day early. I usually love to be in the hospital, but I just couldn't sleep! Thankfully, my parents took my kids to their house, so that it was just Steve, me, and Otis the first couple of nights home! It made a big difference! We had so many blessings from family and friends! It was so wonderful to have dinners and babysitting and cute gifts! I was a total hermit for at least a week. I had gotten a weird hacking cough, and if I talked it would bug my throat and make me cough...so I avoided talking! It was really weird for me, because I love to "talk and tell" when I have a baby! It was nice to just really enjoy Otis! What a kind spirit he has and so sweet! I cross my fingers we got another one like Bobby! :) I just LOVE this little boy! :)

And another note: It was so fun to find out one of my best friends (Char), had her baby on the same day! Unbelievable! We had teased that we would have them on the same day, and they would be best friends! She was due a few weeks after me, but we thought that would be fun to have them together! And we did! So fun!