Official Due Date

Today (well it was when I first started this post) was my official due date (February 19th) with Mr. Landon. I now have a three week old little boy. He such a good baby, and we all love having him around. We enjoyed a week with Ben home and then a week with my mom around. And I've survived my first week home alone with three little boys!... All in the time I could have still been carrying that little boy around inside. Crazy.

Here's how Landon made his entrance into this world:

I had been having contractions and some back pain off and on (One time the contractions had even lasted for about three hours until I got up out of bed and they quit.) for at least the last week, so I figured my body was doing something. My other two boys were two weeks and two and half weeks early, so Ben and I both were guessing Landon would probably be here some time before his due date. On Friday the 28th I had an OB appointment, and I had the doctor check me to see where I was at. I was told I was a four and maybe even a five and that the doctor on call would be given my name because he would probably see me that weekend. My doctor also told me not to wait around if contractions started because I would probably go fast. So off I went back home to wait and see when the kiddo would decide to make an appearance. I packed a hospital bag and a bag for the boys just to be ready.


I took a nap, and when I woke up I was feeling nauseous. I thought maybe my blood sugar was low because it was a little past time to eat again, so I found a snack (well, Ben found it for me) and it helped some with the nausea. I was having lower back pain, cramping, and a few contractions, so we decided to gather up our things and head to Ben's parents' house. After being there a little while, I decided I wanted to try squeeze back in to the doctor's and see if anything was happening. We arrived a little after 5pm and met with the doctor on call. By the end of the visit, he was asking me if I wanted to go up to the hospital and have a baby.

Ben and I drove over the hospital and checked in. The doctor was going to break my water, but come to find out that the hospital has a rule that if a baby is not 37 weeks aka full term (and he wasn't until the next day) the baby automatically had to go to NICU for 6 hours of observation... no matter what. So Ben and I decided not have the doctor break my water and try to wait until after midnight to have the baby. I got an epidural (which was stronger on the left side... made for some weird and funny things to half my body dead to the world) and started the six or seven hour wait. Better for me to have to wait to deliver than to have Landon have to go to NICU if it might possibly be avoided.

About 11:45pm the doctor came in and broke my water. After pushing 4 times through one contraction Landon Graham arrived in this world at 1:09am. The doctor had to unwrap the cord from his neck and he started crying before he was even all the way out. He came out nice and red with a good pair of lungs and a head full of light hair (his roots are blonde). He was perfectly healthy even though he was three weeks early, so we were able to avoid the NICU... yea! Because of my gestational diabetes and the fact I hadn't eaten since 3 or 3:30pm that afternoon, his blood sugar levels were really low. We had to supplement with a bottle to get them up, but after that first time his blood sugar levels leveled out, and we didn't have to worry anymore about them.

We are so grateful that we didn't have to send him to the NICU. It was truly a blessing from God that we could wait until he was technically full term to have him be born and that he was healthy. We both came home from the hospital on Monday to a house full of boys. Ben took the week off, and we all spent it together.