Going Home with Austin

Typical hospital stay for a normal delivery is two nights. That's how long I stayed at the hospital with Cooper and how long we assumed I'd have to stay with Austin. However, as of Wednesday morning (the morning after Austin was born), I was feeling pretty good, Austin was doing great, and I was ready to go home. I didn't have any questions from the nurses who came in every 10 minutes; I didn't have any nursing needs or problems; Austin received an A+ on every test they did on him; my pain level was low to nonexistent...I was ready to go home. Plus, I thought it would be better for Cooper for us all to be home, too. I started asking around if leaving "early" was possible and to my surprise, actually, by late afternoon, I had the clearance from my doctor to leave and Austin had clearance from his pediatrician to leave. We were going home!
When Cooper woke up from his nap, Philip told him it was time to go to the hospital to get Mommy and Austin and bring us home! Coop was super excited and ready to rush out of the door to get us. Austin and I were packed and ready when Philip and Cooper arrived, so Cooper helped me get Austin dressed, but first Cooper insisted that he needed to be "Dr. Cooper" and check Austin out.

Luckily, according to Dr. Cooper, Austin was a-ok and ready to go home!

Leaving the hospital was super chaotic. I don't even remember why, now, it was crazy. But it was. I'm sure it had to do with juggling lots of people and bags and getting the car down to where the nurse wheeled me out. I do remember that when we got down to the garage, where we were supposed to meet Philip, Philip was nowhere in sight. We had taken different elevators and somehow missed each other, so there I was sitting in the wheelchair in the garage with the nurse, Mom, Cooper, and Ann, with no car to get into. The picture below makes me laugh because it's me smiling, gritting my teeth and telling Philip I was ready to get out of crazy town.
Unlike when we brought Cooper home from the hospital, there was absolutely no need to get out the instruction manual for the car seat this time! We are pros at this point. :)
Our first family-of-four photo. (I had been trying since the minute Austin was born to get a picture of the four of us and it just never happened. So, here it is....it was the best we could get at the time.) Cooper was really excited to ride next to "Baby Austin." In fact, as soon as Cooper got in the car, he tried to share his Pirate's Booty snack with Austin. Once we got home, Coop wanted to show Baby Austin his room and the little monkeys from Austin's bookshelves. I have two of those little monkeys that have been sitting on Austin's bookshelves for a couple months and every couple of days, Cooper would go into Baby Brother's room, take the monkeys off the shelves, and put them in Baby Brother's crib because "that make Baby Brother happy." It was fun to see Cooper actually give Austin one of the monkeys.

I was bound and determined to get a good family photo of us on the day we came home together. I attempted again with our small camera on self-timer. This is the best I got. Oh well. At least you can see the THREE guys who have my heart.

Comparison

Everyone keeps asking me if Austin looks like Cooper. And, honestly, I can see some similarities, but really I see two different boys. Before Austin was born, I could only picture Cooper and just assumed Austin would look like Cooper. But, really, he looks more different than the same, I think. He has a lot of hair, but not as much as Coop, and it doesn't seem quite as dark. He has a different nose and a different mouth. And I can already see differences in his newborn personality--Cooper loved being swaddled; Austin not so much. Cooper took awhile to catch on to nursing; Austin has been a pro since day one. Austin is his own little person, just as he should be. A unique and amazing creation from God.

On the left is Cooper and on the right is Austin. Both taken with my phone, in the middle of the night, when each boy was just a few hours old.

Cooper, four days old
Austin, two days old

Austin's First 24 Hours

My sweet Austin. He is tiny and wrinkly and wide-eyed and perfect. Totally and completely perfect.

Austin and I spent most of our time like this during our short hospital stay. Pure heaven.

First kiss from Poppi.

Meeting his family--Gammi, Poppi, Nana, Annie, and Auntie Boo.

Soon after we got into our room, Nana brought Cooper up to meet Austin. When they got there, Austin was in the nursery getting a bath, so I had a few good minutes to hear about Coop's fun day with Nana. He was really excited to see Baby Brother and kept saying, "I big brother! I big brother!"

After they wheeled Austin in, Philip picked up Coop so he could see his brand new baby brother. I love in the picture below, it looks like the boys are reaching out to each other. Coop was so interested in Austin, pointing out all of his tiny little features and saying, "Aww, he so cute. Hi Austin." He was also super interested in the nurse, saying, "She being doctor to baby brother. What she doing?" So we talked about how she had to listen to his heart, where Coop replied, "It go 'beep beep beep'."
My first picture with both of my boys. Philip took Cooper home that night, but when Cooper realized that Baby Austin wasn't going home just yet, Cooper got really sad and, with a pouting little lip, kept telling us he needed "Baby Austin go home with me." So sweet.
The next day...

The next morning, Philip brought Cooper up to see Austin and me. Cooper once again was so excited to see Baby Austin, and we had some good family time before people started coming in. Cooper made sure Austin had a little toy in his "bed" and helped put his hat back on and covered him with a blanket. (He was already showing me how much he wanted to help with his new brother.) Coop didn't last long in the crammed little hospital room, so as soon as Gammi got up there, she and Cooper headed out to have a fun afternoon together.

I love every newborn aspect about this picture. The wrinkly skin, puffy eyes and face, trying to figure out how to open both eyes at the same time. The hospital blanket and little hat. Love, love.
I look at this picture and can't believe I have two boys. Me. Catherine. I have two boys. Two children. TWO. Crazy. And so totally in love with them both.
Sweet kiss from Big Brother.

When Three Became Four

Welcome to the world my sweet son.

Austin Buddy Lamb

Austin joined our team at 3:34 p.m. on October 18, weighing 6 lb 9 oz, and 19 1/2 inches long. He is totally perfect and I am totally in love. Austin is after our favorite city and Buddy is after Philip's grandfather, Odell B Lamb, and my mom's late brother, George Ferris Clements Jr. However, both men were known to all as "Buddy."

I was scheduled for an induction for Tuesday, October 18 and we were to check in at the hospital at 6:00 a.m. to begin the induction process. I didn't want to be induced, but because of the umbilical cord situation I couldn't go any longer. The day before the induction I was having a lot of strong contractions, but nothing regular. They did, however, pick up in the evening, but I still didn't time anything because they just weren't feeling regular to me. Then around 2:00 a.m. I woke up to lot of stronger and more frequent contractions. I thought maybe something was happening, but still didn't time it because, heck, we were supposed to be at the hospital in four hours anyway! By the time we checked in at the hospital and they had me hooked up to the monitor, my contractions were about 2-3 minutes apart! My doctor came down to check my progress, told me I was looking good and that I "got my wish" and started labor on my own! Yea!!

This was the night before heading to the hospital. My last pregnant belly picture with Austin (39 weeks, 5 days).
We are now home and trying to get settled. Cooper is doing great so far and loves, loves, loves his Baby Brother Austin! Lots of pictures and stories to come (hopefully soon!).