Well Visits x2!

I have yet to be by myself for more than a couple hours with all 3 boys (tomorrow will be my first FULL day) but today I braved something that can be stressful with even one child! There is something about hot, enclosed exam rooms at the pediatrician's office that makes my kids bonkers. Today I took Ian for his 4 year well visit and Emmett for his 2 week well visit. First though, we had to get out the door and get Sean to the farm.

I thought I had it all planned out. I was up with the bigger boys earlier while Emmett was still sleeping. They ate breakfast while I got ready and got all their clothes laid out. I had them fed, dressed, bags packed and ready to go 30 minutes before we had to leave. Then I woke up Emmett and had planned to feed him, then get him changed and dressed. Unfortunately, he wasn't hungry yet, so I changed and dressed him first. Mistake #1. With 5 minutes before we had to walk out the door, I was almost done nursing Emmett and it looked like we'd make a flawless exit. Then Sean walked over to me and I realized he took a duke and needed his diaper changed before we left. Mistake #2... never get a kid fully dressed in pants, shoes, sock who hasn't taken a #2. Emmett finished nursing, I sat him up to burp him and he proceeded to unload his entire meal all over myself and him. PANIC! Got everybody changed and we were out the door only 10 minutes late. This led to me pulling up to Raymonds, getting Sean out of his seat and taking him in and running out in order to get to their appointment on time, but we made it!

Now, for the stats! Ian is 39 pounds and 40 inches tall at 4 years. That puts him at about 70% for weight and45% for height. Emmett is 9 pounds 8 ounces and 20.5 inches tall. That puts him at almost the exact percentages. Emmett has gained more than 2 pounds since his discharge for the hospital on 11/24 (he was 7 pounds 4 ounces). Both boys are perfectly healthy! 

Below are pictures of Sean and Emmett at just about the same age. Sean is on the left and Emmett is on the right. I think they look very similar! You can tell Emmett is still a bit jaundice, but other than that, they share a receding hairline, round nose and pouty lips! I wonder if he'll look more like Ian or Sean as he gets bigger?

And Emmett makes FIVE! Warning.. birth story!

On Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011, we welcomed baby boy #3 to our family! At 1:48pm, Emmett McIntyre Raymond made his way into the world weighing in at 7 pounds 12 ounces and measuring 19 1/2 inches long!

Monday evening after Charles came home from work, I told him I thought I had food poisoning and it was causing contractions. Several hours later, I will still have consistent contractions (although not incredibly painful). We decided that since Sean's birth was so quick and we had an hour drive to the hospital (not including dropping the boys off at the farm), we should make our way in. Actually, I did not want to go in because I didn't believe it was the real deal and didn't want to be sent home. Charles was of the "better safe than sorry" mind.

We arrived at the hospital around 9pm and were put into triage. At that point, I was about 1 1/2 cm dilated and the contractions were 4-7 minutes apart. We walked the halls and watched the remainder of the Monday Night Football game. At 11pm, I was 2 1/2 cm dilated, but they still wanted me to stay in triage. More walking, Charles took a nap on an awfully uncomfortable sofa. At about 1am, they checked and I was just over 3cm dilated. Finally, they decided to admit me.

We got into our room close to 2am. At this point we hadn't slept since the night prior. I was too anxious to sleep so I watched Harry Potter 7.2 and Charles took a nap on a slightly less uncomfortable couch. The OB on call was the same OB who was on when I had Sean. Neither of us are big fans of her. She's pretty grouchy and not really into the whole natural childbirth thing. She came into my room for all of a minute and I'm not entirely sure what she even had to say.

Luckily there was a shift change not long after and the OB and resident who came on were very nice. I was 5cm dilated at this point and they broke my water at about 10am. In order to keep things interesting, just after the OB left the room, I got incredibly nauseous and threw up and passed out. We had warned my nurse about it possibly happening when we were admitted, but she still freaked out. Charles of course has seen it quite a few times and just made sure I didn't choke. Our nurse however was frantically pushing the call button for help. I was only out for 15 or so seconds and afterwards felt much better. She really wanted to give me an IV at this point, but we refused. Initially she wanted us to sign a waiver, but the OB said it wasn't a problem.

I bounced on the exercise ball for quite a long time and slowly but surely, contractions started picking up. At about 1pm, things started to get crazy. I was in the worst possible pain, my  nurse was hard to come by (she was admitting another patient) and the OB and resident were in surgery! I was checked somewhere close to 1:30 and I was 6cm. So frustrating considering how much pain I was in! After the next contraction, I told Charles to call the nurse. She came in, I was 8cm. She left again and said to call her if we needed her. After the next contraction I told Charles I felt like I had to push so he called her back. At that point, I couldn't even get on the bed I was in so much pain. Another doctor came in and said he would likely be delivering me since the on-call doctor was in surgery. I told him I was pushing NOW! Lots of people were flying around the room getting set-up and just a few minutes later, Emmett was born!



Immediately, Charles and I both said he looked so much like Sean as a newborn! We actually kept accidentally calling him Sean! It didn't help that we didn't have a name for him till several hours later. The big brothers came and visited us that evening at the hospital and we announced him name by whispering to Ian and having him announce it.

Emmett is a name that Charles and I both like, and let me tell you, that was not easy to find one we agreed on! I initially liked Elliot slightly more, but now that we named him Emmett, it really fits him! McIntyre is my paternal grandmother's maiden name. She passed away when I was in high school, but she was just about the coolest lady you could ever meet.

We look forward to seeing how Emmett adds another dynamic to our family!

Freezer Meals

Goal: Make and Freeze these before Baby #3 arrives!

• Sweet Corn from the farm (Betch's recipe)
• Spagetti Sauce
• Taco Meat
• Zucchini Bread
• Soft Pretzels
• Cookie Dough
• Beef Stroganoff

Raymond Family 2011 Bucket List (to be cont.)

Visit Milwaukee Zoo

Visit Madison Children's Museum

Build a sand box

Go to Green Bay Packer Training Camp

-at least 1 full pads practice

-Curly's Pub

-Hall of Fame

-Family Night

Enroll both boys in swim lessons

Get fishing licenses

Go to Rock River Thresheree

Attend 4th of July Fireworks

Attend Rock County Fair

Attend Edgerton Tobacco Days
Teach Sean uppercase letter recognition
Teach Ian lowercase letter recognition
Attend Moos & Blues
Visit Madison Zoo
Spend a day at Devil's Lake State Park

My Son, the Future Doctor!

Ever since Ian's preschool class talked about skeletons at Halloween, his interest in the human body has continued to grow. He found two of my childhood books, The Magic School Bus Goes Into the Human Body, and The Skeleton Inside You, and asks us to read at least one of them almost every night.

He is so interested in it that we put this Beleduc 5 Layer Puzzle on his Christmas List and his Tita Elizabeth (the physical therapist, go figure! :)) got it for him!

He knows all about bones, cartilage and joints from The Skeleton Inside You, and has a pretty good grip on the concepts of digestion thanks to The Magic School Busy Goes Into The Human Body. I mean, the kid knows what villi are. Seriously? A three year old? I'm pretty sure I learned that word in Medical Terminology my senior year in COLLEGE! Ok, maybe it was Anat & Phys my sophomore year, but I was no A&P whiz and things seemed to fly out on my brain as fast as they went in.

I had the boys at the pediatrician today to check on Ian's ears (he's been battling an EI for who knows how long) and he had his Magic School Bus book with him. He started talking to the nurse about, you're never believe this... BLOOD VESSELS. She was floored, as was I, I haven't heard him talk about them before!

So now here is my wondering... do I encourage this and keep searching for new (age appropriate) books to expand his knowledge? I don't want him to be some super weird Dugie Howser when he's 10, but it's probably just a passing phase, don't you think? He's doing very well with knowing all his letters and we're now working on writing letters. He's great at counting and just starting to graps the concept of adding really small numbers together when we're counting objects. So I think if I just make sure he's not falling behind on normal stuff like that, it should be ok. Or maybe I should really push it and then I can retire early and he can support his parents! HAHA, I can dream, ;-)