Breckin George Lamb

I can't even believe it's already been 8 days since little Breckin has arrived! It's amazing how slow time passes when you're waiting on a baby, and how fast it passes once the baby arrives.

His arrival story in a nutshell:
7:00am: My mom arrived to watch Reagan
7:30am: Arrived at hospital
8:00am: In my hospital room with monitors
8:30am: Started Pitocin
10:30am: Doctor arrives; breaks water, orders epidural
12:25pm: Jim goes for lunch...I said, "It's now or never, and you better hurry!"
12:45pm: I'm ready to push; Jim calls from the parking lot. I said, "We're waiting on you...so hurry please!"
1:05pm: Breckin is born!!

It was really that fast! I couldn't believe it.

And of course, the million dollar question is, "What does Reagan think of him?" While the jury is still out, she certainly seems to be warming up to the idea of a baby brother. 2 days ago, I had to bribe her with M&M's to get her to hold him...5 M&M's to be exact. We said we'd never tell anyone that, but when I got home from running some errands with Breckin today and asked, "Who wants to hold the baby?" and Reagan said, "Me", I decided it was safe. She held him twice, and I'm not sure if it was because she wanted to, or because she realized it would stave off nap time for a bit. Either way, it was cute!

Here is the m&m picture:



Here are some of today's pictures:





Reagan's favorite things are to give Breckin a pacifier and kissing him goodnight (out of her own mouth).

As an end note, I've decided that I will, at some point, make a book (or several) out of this blog for Reagan and Breckin. So, if you would be so kind as to leave a comment for Breckin welcoming him to the world, and/or a comment for Reagan encouraging her "sister qualities", I know it would mean a lot to them when they are older!

Just thinking about, Tomorrow...

As Jim was leaving for work today, I realized something. Since our son will, by nature or by force, arrive sometime tomorrow, today would be my last day as a mother of just one child.

I meet this realization with mixed emotions. On one hand, I know a sibling will be good for Reagan. She's great at sharing, but rarely has the need to do so. A sibling will help her perfect the skill. While she's not selfish, because she is the only child, she is the center of our world. I always knew I wanted more than one child because, don't tell anyone, and if you do I'll deny it, I loved growing up with my brothers. They were much older, and it was lonely when they left, but I have some cherished memories with each of them. Things like Ghost runners in pasture baseball with Austin, lightning bugs in Kansas with Quentin (that he collected for his now-wife, Jody), dancing to the radio (even the commercials) with Jon while he packed for the Army, and helping Glenn paint doors in the new house when I was in 7th grade are all some of my favorites, but I'm sure I could make an entire blog with more. I always knew I wanted my kids to have a chance at memories like that.

On the other hand, Reagan is really a special kid. I know every mother thinks this about her child, but I know I'm not the only one who thinks so about mine. Everywhere we go people stare at her. She stops traffic at the grocery store, and I've literally seen people pause mid-bite in restaurants when she walks by. She rarely gets in trouble, and when she does it's usually because her bone-head parents have kept her up too late a few nights too many, or tried to pack too many activities into a weekend. Lately when we've been walking she'll run to catch up to me, grab my hand, rub it on her cheek and say, "Ooh, I love you, Mommy!" Jim and I have said to one another several times in the last few weeks, "I hope our next kid is as good as our first one". It's hard not to wonder how Reagan will change once her little brother is around.

So, with all these thoughts running through my head, I knew that despite the bittersweet feeling in my gut, I wanted this to be a special day for Reagan. The problem: I'm 40 weeks and 2 days pregnant, with no desire to have labor, or labor like activities start too far from home. So, I did the simplest things I could think of. I took her to Starbucks and got her a cookie before we went to the playground. After that we stopped at the grocery store for pie crust and headed home to make Reagan's first pie. Blueberries and helping are two of Reagan's favorite things, so I was excited about my idea. She was thrilled. She got to dump in ingredients, stir the mixture, and make pie-crust hearts for the top of the pie. When I told her I wanted to take pictures, she was even more excited. (I think there may be some modeling in her future.)









I can't wait to meet Reagan's little brother tomorrow (or for the poor kid to finally have a name!), and I know that Reagan's sweet, loving side will help her rise to the occasion of being a big sister.

In Case I Missed You...

Here is the email I sent out last night...I want to be sure everyone who wants to has the chance to vote! I wasn't sure how it would impact our choice, but it is actually helping a lot!!

Subject: It's come to this!

Hello everyone,
Well, as you probably know, it's July 19 and, despite this being my "due date", our son has still not arrived. I'm wondering if it's because he knows that if he came out now he wouldn't have a name. So, we've resorted to asking for your help. Mind you, we really wanted to keep the baby's name a surprise...but, that requires actually having a name to keep secret, and we do not. Please keep in mind, especially when giving suggestions, that this is a serious matter! :)
Also, we absolutely reserve the right to not pick the most popular suggestion.
So, please visit this link, and offer your input: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=sT9f_2fTs0DpTMIGs2O_2bxdgw_3d_3d

We love you and appreciate your help in this time sensitive matter!

Love,
Jim, Amanda, Reagan, and Nameless.

Still....

I really love my girlfriends. I feel so blessed, especially at a time like this, to have such good ones!

Despite my foul mood, despite hormones raging out of control, they still call or text (some every day!) and risk whatever mood I may be in just to see how I'm doing. And, I really love that! It means a lot to me!

Of course, my mom and my mother in law are amazing women, and they do the same thing...but I kind of expect them to! I mean, after all, if they don't, who will!? Plus, my mom survived me being a hormonal pre-teen and teen, so I would hope that this is pie in comparison. And, not to mention, they get a grandson out of the deal.

Anyway, low and behold, it's Friday, July 17th, (Happy Birthday, Julie!) and I'm still pregnant. I'm really trying very hard not to think about the fact that had I gone ahead and been induced, I could be holding the little guy right now... after all, grumpy is one thing, but no one wants to be bitter!

Today's Appointment

So, I thought about it all week.

Do I want to be induced again? Do I want the night-before anxiety? Do I want to stay up nearly all night doing all the last minute things I want to do because I'm too excited to sleep? Do I want the endless anticipation of when something will happen? Do I want the fast and hard Pitocin contractions? Do I want this to maybe be our last baby (relax, I said maybe) and never know what it's like to experience spontaneous labor?

No.

No, I don't.

So, when I saw my doctor today, I said, you know, I think I'd like to at least give the little guy a fair shot at making his own way out. And I think to do that, we need to wait until his due date. So, my wonderful, understanding, mother-of-5 doctor, nodded, chuckled when I told her she could, and said, "Of course. I'll have it changed to my next on-call date of July 21." I said something about that being great and whistling Dixie by the time my due date came and went.

I remember my mom telling me that all 3 of her kids were 2 days late. Maybe the boy's destiny is to be born on the 21st. But, I really hope his destiny is more like the 15th. Fingers crossed, right?

(Are your fingers crossed? Go ahead... it can't hurt!)

Baby news...but no, he's not here yet!

We don't have much to report... Reagan and I are just spending our days waiting for her baby brother to arrive. Between the weather and the hot flashes, it's about all I can do to stay comfortable. I really wish I had more energy to soak up these last few days of it just being me and little Reagan, but I know we'll have lots of fun once the baby comes.

The news is that I'm more dilated than I've ever been without labor inducing drugs, which I'm quite excited about. Still, if he doesn't come by the 17th, I'll be induced. After being induced with Reagan, I'm excited about the idea of going into labor on my own. So, fingers crossed and Lord willing, he'll make his own grand entrance! Julie is being very gracious about the prospect of having to share her birthday, but as I told her...it'd be really nice to be able to go have a beer and celebrate her birthday with her instead of making her come to the hospital to visit the newest addition.

Last night I had about 2.5 hours worth of contractions that never got any closer together than 7 minutes, and then they stopped...of course!

Come on out, baby boy!

Of course, I'll keep everyone posted! Hope all is well.