Hugh Halvorson Pierse

was born on November 17th at 8:47pm.

hugh weighed in at 8lbs, 13oz and measured 22in tall.

contrary to 'our plan' (He laughed), sweet baby hugh made his own path into this world and did indeed come out through a hole in mama's belly. on his way out he took a big gulp of amniotic fluid or blood, and came out a frightening dusky blue. the x-rays of his lungs were very white, which apparently is bad as they are supposed to be black. that said, the nicu pedi told us he was one in a million because despite those lungs being full of fluid he was doing an amazing job of using them & quickly transitioned to room only air. after two nights in the nicu he was declared a 'well baby' despite the continued presence of fluid because he was doing so well breathing & eating.

sweet amanda took these photos on friday night (11.18). i was still pretty out of it, and by the looks of it, so was baby hugh. that's a feeding tube he has in his nose - he wasn't allowed to eat until they were certain his lungs were working. never fear, they were good to go by saturday morning. we came home around noon on monday to a very eager big sister & brother!

a family of four...

we are no more!!

lusi

lu: dad, i don't think there is supposed to be a 'c' in my name. cause there isn't a 'k' sound, there is a 'sss, s' sound.

clay: well sometimes letters make different sounds. the letter c can make the 'k' sound, or the 's' sound. like nice, and mice.

lu: no, i don't think that is right.

so the lu has declared her name improperly spelled. and she wants to change the spelling. like now.

the swagger wagon

and just to document our journey - cause that is what this blog is really all about - we have joined the legions of suburbanites and are now owners of the ubiquitous silver honda odyssey. our friends moved to australia & we took the opportunity to snatch up their mini-van. i now have no angst about hauling around 3 kids + grandparents + luggage!

thanks turns family...although we miss you & would much rather have you than your minivan!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql-N3F1FhW4&feature=list_related&playnext=1&list=SP30DA2DAB5702C7D1

halloween

was a bit of a let down for me this year. i missed our old 'hood. not that our new 'hood isn't great; it is. just missing my old neighbors who became friends. new neighbors are still just that...very, very nice neighbors.

that said, luci had a blast trick or treating with her lil friend from next door. we started off in a group but it became quite clear that said lil friend & lu were going to be much, much faster than gus. so clay went off with the girls and g & i took our time. i missed the lu. again, part of the let down. next year we'll be trick-or-treating as a family. yep...i'm going to be one of those annoying moms.

here is how happy g was to be in his adorable spider costume.

don't worry, we took it off & he transformed into a skeleton for the second year in a row.
and this is the only photo i got of the lu, and the two of them. after dressing up as belle for her school festival she changed her mind for the actual night of trick or treating & decided to be a 'purple butterfly'. which really meant that she put on some purple fairy wings with a purple skirt on over top of what she was already wearing that day.

as i write this i have to remind myself that the day is about them. and they had a good time (once the spider costume was off). and that is what really matters.

and here are a few photos from their little fall festival at school. the photos are terrible, but we all had a great time.

and here is g...hugging ms. l. as soon as he saw me he lost it & ms. l had to bring him over to me. i held him & we watched each class do the parade so we wouldn't miss the lu's class.

after the parade each class was on a rotating schedule of trick or treating, craft & snacking & playing games. both kiddos had a great time playing games.

have i mentioned how much i love their preschool? cause i do.

in a week or less

we'll get to meet our baby hugh. i was wrong. sweet boy has decided maybe he does want to come play after all. as of this afternoon i was 1.5 cm dilated and 60% effaced. as far as fetal descent goes he's moved down to the -1 station.

i don't think i've ever been at anything other than a -3 or at a 'not yet numbered' when i've gone to be induced before. in fact my ob described luci as having been in my throat when i started pushing. pretty excited about the progress baby hugh is making all.by.himself.

of course this information is all just that - information. i could theoretically walk around for weeks like this without labor starting. but i won't. cause given that i'm already dilated, we can induce as early as 39w...which means monday since they don't induce on sunday. i suggested tuesday or wednesday but the hospital is booked until thursday. so thursday it is. or before if he's ready to come on his own :) which would be kind of super awesome. most awesome if he waited until sunday night when my ob is back in town and clay is home (he flies most of the day sunday, but is back home that night).

but if he doesn't, the 17th will be just fine. thursday works well with clay's schedule, and since his presence is incredibly important for the actual labor & delivery part, i'll take the induction rather than risk not having my ducks in a row (and did i mention hugh is probably well on his way to 10lbs by now? piece of cake, right?!?! ;). then after hugh arrives safely dad will be able to get home & help grandma with luci & gus. i think having dad & grandma will make the days mom is in the hospital as easy as possible for them. and grammy will be here to stay overnight in the hospital with hugh & me. and God willing we'll all be home together with a 1 week old by Thanksgiving.

to quote my gusgus, "happy!!!!"

luci quote re: the birth of baby hugh

where is he going to land when he comes out?

mood swings

are for real my friends. the hormones? they are a-changing in this very pregnant body. combine them with the end of pregnancy sleep deprivation (no thanks to you time change...lu has been waking up at 5:20aish) and the last few days have brought familiar mood swings...my very least favorite...rage. i vividly remember the rage i felt when pregnant & post partum with gus. i really haven't had any rage to speak of this go-round...till this weekend. i had chalked it up to my healthy state of mind ;)...my constant prayers & focus on grateful peace...but i'm tellin ya, the swings are SO irrational & unpredictable that i now know i've just been lucky. cause there was no amount of healthy, rational emotional coaching in my head that i could do to calm that rage.

gus threw the remote. not cool, but certainly not deserving of the horned mama response that came out of my mouth. no 22 month old should be spoken to in such a way. as soon as the tone & words were out of my mouth i recognized how irrationally i was behaving. the great thing about this being my 5th pregnancy is that i now recognize the mood swings for what they are. luckily clay was just upstairs. i sent him a text..."pregnancy rage. need backup." he came right down, took the kids up to his sacred man cave, and let me be. i got in the car, cried, turned on the radio, heard lmfao i'm sexy & i know it, decided i needed some endorphins, made a mental note of how important post partum working out is going to be regarding my mental health, went & got a disgusting yet just what i needed filet-o-fish (cause working out in this body is not an option), and by the time i was back home i was fine.

so...future post partum self: when you feel that rage, cause i know you will, put your running shoes on, turn on your ipod and get movin. make that rage work for you. you know you'll feel better, and be a better (albeit still sleep deprived) mama for it.

halloween sneak peak

i had high hopes that'd he tolerate the spider costume i got for him. my plan was for him to wear his skeleton pjs inside out to provide the black arms & legs for the spider costume. but of course being the prepared mama i am, turning said skeleton pjs right side out was my back up plan.

so did he wear the spider costume?

not.a.chance.

skeleton pjs to the rescue, for the second year in a row.

however i hadn't turned them inside out (aka right side out) yet at this point...

but he's still awfully cute...at least according to his mama.

ps. happy birthday aunt brookie. love ya.

november 28th

so i'm putting it out there. my money is on november 28th for sweet baby hugh's birthday. that is 41w1d...doctor ordered eviction day. went to the ob this am & he's actually crawled back up higher than he was last week and there is absolutely no indication that he's ready to come play. apparently my sweetpeas know it's better inside than out. which works up to a point, then it's time to evict. i often wonder what would have happened 'back in the day' before inductions. staying in for too long can be just as dangerous as coming out too early. that said, i'm pretty proud of my body & feel nothing but love for it. it's a nice feeling after years of insecurity in my teens & twenties. it's done what i've asked of it, and done it well.

this pregnancy has been very different. with the other two i used to daydream about snuggling & holding that sweet newborn. this go-round i haven't thought much at all about lovin on sweet hugh. no visualizing holding him, sitting in the rocker thinking about him...i'm just too preoccupied trying to balance the physical needs of pregnancy with lovin on the two babies that are already here & need me pretty much every waking minute.

this morning i had coffee with some friends. one of them has a sweet newborn boy. i saw him in his car seat & seriously had heart palpitations. 'i'm not ready, i'm not ready' was all that went through my head. then his mama scooped him & handed him over to me. he snuggled right in & just like that i was ready. i can TOTALLY do this again. in fact i was overcome with an almost immediate GRATITUDE that i GET to do this again.

so whenever you're ready baby hugh. mama's waiting.