Carter Grant: A Birth Story

Carter Grant Dunaway

May 30, 2017

12:41 pm

8 pounds, 4 ounces

20 inches

truth: this is boring (& long AND loaded with a million pictures). But in my opinion, birth story and boring together is a great thing. That means it all went well and we are proud owners of a new healthy baby boy.


My pregnancy was great, mostly uneventful outside of having polyhydramnios (an excessive amount of amniotic fluid, that is generally unexplained). I had to take it easy towards the end of my pregnancy to help prevent my water from prematurely breaking. Since Grayson was a cesarean, Carter was scheduled for May 30th, right at 39 weeks. Although I was paranoid about not making it to "the day", we made it without a problem!


If you know J, you know that he is a creature of habit/borderline OCD. So when we discussed what we were going to do on the last night as a family of three, it was a no brainer in his book. The hibachi dinner we had the night before G. No complaints here - hibachi is by far a favorite of mine and Gray loves it just as much as I do.


From 2 to 3:

Our family of 3 ready to meet Carter

Just like the night before Gray was born, I slept really well. We woke up early that morning, got G ready to head to school, and J dropped me off at DryBar to get my hair blown out. Gray knew it was the day he was going to meet "Baby Carter" and had been so excited about it! Until, I got out of the car... he cried the entire way to school (which he never does) then proceeded to have an epic meltdown while J tried to drop him off. Finally the teachers told J to just go... and not a half hour later they sent us a pic of a smiling boy, doing just fine. Thank goodness!


We arrived a bit early to our scheduled time so we sat and waited in the waiting room... nothing like having your nerves start to get to you!

The beauty of your first time to have a baby is that you have no idea what to expect (or at least for me it was) I just went with whatever they said. But this time, I knew the drill. I knew what it felt like to walk into the cold OR. I knew I was going to have to hop up on that table and hunch over for the spinal block. It made me much more nervous this time.


Thankfully my wedding photographer/super sweet friend, Brittany, agreed to photograph the day with us, just like she did for G. She makes both J&I laugh and helped to keep my mind off of everything. I love that lady -- BIG.

Although Britt wasn't allowed into the OR with us, my nurse was confident to use her gigantic camera and captured some really amazing photos for us (specifically of the birth, but I wont share the guts and glory of those)


This time the nerves got the best of me when I stepped foot into the OR. J isn't able to come in until I've had the block so its a lonely walk in. My nurse and the anesthesiologist were amazing and so sweet. But I was not relaxing enough to get the block in. Several sticks later (OWWWWWWW) it was finally in and I was getting prepped.


J came in and Dr Walsh was ready to go!

Before I knew it, I heard Dr Walsh saying "How many chins do you have?!" Another  chunk chunk baby.... yaaaaasss!

 The close up this time seemed longer than last, but you tend to not think about it since your sweet babe is there with you. Once he was cleaned up/weighed/etc. they immediately brought him over for skin to skin. There was a brief moment where J had to take Carter since I was getting nauseated but as soon as that was under control, he was back on me.

 Once we got back to the recovery room, Carter got to eating right away. Latched on without a problem, which is such a great feeling!

 The recovery room is probably some of my favorite time after Carter was born. its dark, its quiet, and you get to just look at that sweet babe from top to bottom. Once we finished up in there we were on our way upstairs for Big Bro to meet Carter, and for the grandparents to as well.

We had a smaller crowd than when G was born, but that was just fine for us. It was an overwhelming situation for Grayson as it was. Leading up to that day, Grayson was so excited. We had a countdown and he would repeat all day every day how many more days until we meet "Baby Carter" but then it was the day. Gray was not very interested in holding/touching/really anything about Carter.


"Grayson, do you want to hold Baby Carter?" "Nope."


Over the next few days in the hospital Gray warmed up by touching his hand, feet and then with a little bribery we finally got him to hold Carter. Since being home Grayson has changed his tune - he loves on Carter all the time and asks to hold him several times a day. phew

Its hard to remember life without you already, sweet boy. Our family of four is just perfect thanks to you.

Carter Grant: Maternity Shoot

Over time, I have come to realize that professional photos of my family is something that is super important to me. I cherish all of the pictures that we have - there are prints and canvases all over our house and my office. I guess, I would say just professional photos, but photos/videos in general. I am sure if you follow me on IG/Facebook you will agree.. I probably have too many, but you know what, its worth it to me. I LOVE flipping through old pics, or obsessively watching a too cute video of my sweet boy.


When it was time to capture this belly bump, I couldn't wait to get with the super talented Stephanie from Stephanie Rose Photography. And as always, she captured our family perfectly. The silliness, the crying and the love.


I am still in disbelief that there will be another baby here within the next 5 weeks. But sweet Carter, we cant wait to meet you!... well, I can wait... until May 30th. May 30th I cannot wait to meet your sweet face!

Things

Oh hey, just popping in with some randomness..


1. Disney Hangover. We did the quickest Orlando trip known to man, but it was awesome. So awesome. My super sweet uncle sent us fast pass tickets for Magic Kingdom - it was such a surprise and we were so very thankful!


At Gray's age, I knew he would enjoy the trip but had no idea how much. He loved the airplane, the ice cream, the rides, meeting Mickey so much that we decided to do a  second park on Sunday before heading to the airport. Where he got to meet his main crush... Minnie. Theres video, that he has watched no less than 1000x. he is obsessed.


It was the perfect last trip for just the three of us. I am so thankful that we took advantage of my work trip!

2. Third Trimester. Say what?! It doesn't feel like that long ago we found out that we were pregnant. I know that they say your subsequent pregnancies fly by faster, its so true. Life with a toddler, work, family, just really life in general has made time pass so quickly this time. Its hard to believe its been 28 weeks already, but here we are. A healthy babe still cookin' away. I have an appointment next week and then starting in April I will be seeing my doc weekly. And seeing baby boy weekly. I will take it!

3. Big Boy Bed. Get it bro. This kid is such a champ. He truly just goes with the flow. He gave up the paci without issue. He comes and goes wherever we need him to, And now we kicked him out of the crib and into the big boy bed and he loves it. We are almost a week in and haven't had any problems. He waits in the morning to get out of bed and sleeps great all night. Hopefully it sticks & the transition to being a big brother is just as easy

4. Supper Club We are soon to welcome another sweet babe to this crazy crew. & we are oh so excited!

5. Nursery Progress I have been all over J to get things done in the nursery. I keep seeing pictures on timehop of G's nursery 2 years ago and we were pretty much done at this point and had a month longer to go! Chop, chop, Mr Dunaway!

that's about all I've got at the moment.. maybe i'll be back sooner next time :)