Introducing...

Ian Eugene.

I really thought about how to go about a shared blog for Audrey and Ian, but since I use this as a baby book of sorts, with the plan to give them each a hard copy when the time is right, I thought it best to keep their blogs separate as well. No doubt there will be some necessary cross posts, but that is a simple copy and paste for me.

To introduce Ian, he is an extremely laid back little boy who we had the pleasure of meeting 3 weeks ago now, on a beautiful Thursday morning. He is similar to his sister in that he had no plan to enter the world on his own, needing some 'coaxing' to meet his family. Unlike his sister, pregnancy was easy from the beginning, with only a mild amount of nausea. Eric and I decided to not find out the gender this time around, and though it was hard to do so, I'm glad we did. We were thinking boy from the beginning given the difference in symptoms, though in the end we believed we were having a girl due to what we thought was a slip up by my OB at the 36 week ultrasound ("Wow, that's a big girl!"). I thought she either later covered herself well, or she didn't really know the gender either. But, we came up with 2 possible girl names, just in case our hunch of having a little boy was wrong.

I was admittedly disappointed but not surprised that another c-section was scheduled. My babies for some reason just prefer to hang out longer than the doctor thinks they should, primarily given their large size. I had felt this little one was larger than his/her sister from about the halfway point, but I also thought my memory was likely a little fuzzy since it had been 2 1/2 years since Audrey's birth. But, when the 36 week ultrasound estimated a current size of 8 lbs, 6 oz, we all agreed that a scheduled c-section was for the best.

Eric and I dropped Audrey at school in the morning - me not being allowed in the building as Eric thought I would be too emotional. How could Audrey possibly comprehend how life changing this day would be - for her? For each of us? So, I kissed and hugged her good-bye, and watched Eric walk her inside. She was so excited about her dance class for the day that getting to meet Baby P later in the day was exciting, but really not the highlight for her. :) Our drive to the hospital was spent discussing which name we would choose should we have a little girl that day. I NEVER thought we would not have made a decision by this time, but Audrey was campaigning hard for a little girl name I had fallen in love with and had brought up in conversation with Eric on more than one occasion when Audrey was within ear shot. But, I loved the other name which he and I had agreed on, and told him the decision was ultimately his should Dr. Klus give us the good news of another little girl.

We arrived at the hospital at 8 AM for a scheduled section of 10 AM. My doctor called around 9 to confirm that she was running on time. Eric and I had a private room and spent most of those 2 hours talking and watching the History channel - Eric had the remote. :) At a little before 10, I was walked to the OR where I got to experience the worst part of my 2 c-sections - the spinal. I don't know know what it is about my spinal cord but both anesthesiologists had a heck of a time locating the "right spot". This anesthesiologist was very apologetic that it took so long, but in the end, I didn't mind. Eric was allowed in the OR then, with camera in hand. My OB had taken the time while I was getting my spinal to give Eric a tutorial about our new camera as she had the same one. She called him "the tourist" and asked that they bring him in when I was prepped, and she was ready to begin.

I was much more emotional during this surgery than with Audrey, not sure why other than perhaps there being more unknowns, especially if we were about to meet a little boy or a little girl. When Dr. Klus announced it was a boy, I remember repeating her words, and looking over at Eric, who appeared in shock. When the NICU team asked him for our little boy's name, he had trouble remembering it and double checked with me. I was so glad that we had a healthy little boy. When they held up Ian, I was shocked that his hair was so dark. And it seemed forever before they announced his weight. The medical team took guesses of what his weight would be - with Dr. Klus saying he had to be 10 lbs. She whispered to me that we had definitely made the right decision to schedule a repeat c-section. She later congratulated Eric and I on our beautiful family and wished us a good weekend. I was so glad our little boy was here. And I couldn't believe how flat my belly appeared. :)

When Audrey arrived later in the day with grandma and grandpa P, she immediately asked if she could hold baby Ian. She offered him kisses without any prompting and started to show off her very compassionate, caring side. How lucky Ian is to have such a great big sister.

Ian's middle name had been decided generations ago by Eric's family. Eric and I had talked about the name Ian prior to finding out Audrey was to be a girl. We had little discussion about boy names this pregnancy (especially in comparison to the hours of discussion regarding girl names!). A few boy names were talked about, but we kept coming back to Ian. It is the Scottish variant of John (God is gracious). And, we thought it was a perfect name for our little boy.

Let his story begin.