Introducing the newest member of the Bolton family:
William Bennett Bolton
Born January 6, 2012 at 12:22am
39 weeks
Weighing 7lbs 9oz, 19.25 inches in length, 34cm head circumference
Birth Story:
The third pregnancy was the easiest - at least at the beginning. Not too much nausea, fatigue; Not too much weight gain, back pain, and blood pressure was normal. Little Will made sure that his last two weeks in utero more than made up for the boringness up until that point.
After coming back from Kentucky at the end of November, I came down with a pretty nasty cold - congestion, headaches, facial pressure. The cold lasted a few weeks then finally started to let up, but the headaches never went away. I have headaches pretty frequently anyways and my blood pressure was still normal, so other than taking some Tylenol and getting annoyed by them, I didn't think there was much I could do. I woke up with a headache. I went to bed with a headache. Most of the headaches were on the right side of my forehead and my right cheekbone. At 36 weeks, I was at work seeing a newborn patient when I felt my nose start dripping. I tried to subtly wipe my nose so that the new mother wouldn't be put off my my snotty self, but when I pulled my hand away I noted it was covered in blood. A nosebleed. I'd never had a nosebleed in my life. Luckily I was mostly done with that appointment, so I excused myself and apologized and went to take care of my nose. I mentioned the nosebleed at work and had my blood pressure taken - 150/100. Great, here we go again with my high blood pressure. I left work, went to the OB, and they again confirmed my bp was elevated and they were sending me over to L&D to be monitored and potentially induced. This was just a few days before Christmas and I was panicked - the house was a mess and my parents were coming in a few days and none of the presents were wrapped yet, not to mention that I wasn't ready to have a baby yet. At L&D, my blood pressures settled out and all my labs were normal, so I was sent home to monitor my blood pressure closely while still pregnant.
I took a few days off from work then returned to a lighter schedule. Christmas came and my headaches around my right eye worsened and I began developing pain in my right eye when I moved it. Over the next few days I started seeing an increase in floaters in my eye and around the 27th-28th of December, my eye pain worsened and I began getting blurry vision and darkened vision in that eye. I finished up work on the 28th and complained to my neurologist husband so much that we decided to head back to L&D for further evaluation that night. Knowing my history of high blood pressure and now my new complaints, the on call doctor's first thought was that I was developing preeclampsia. Labs were sent and she prepared us that we would likely be induced, now at 37 weeks. Mysteriously, my blood pressures were normal as was all my lab work. Next step, a neurology consultation for the wife of a neurologist. An MRI at 1am finally revealed optic neuritis as the cause of my troubles. I was admitted to the hospital that night for a few doses of IV steroids. I was in the hospital from the 28th-30th when I was finally discharged, still pregnant. I took this new illness, the second in two weeks as a sign that my body was rejecting work, so I decided to stay home until I delivered. Slowly, the pain in my eye started to improve but the vision was still blurry.
My follow up appointment, my 39 week appointment was scheduled for Jan 5th. All had been well. I was boring finally and improving. Gigi had come up after my parents left to help around the house and help us once the baby did come. At my appointment, despite feeling well, my blood pressure was 150/100 - time to get this baby out - so I was sent over for an induction.
We arrived at the hospital at 2pm Jan 5th and luckily I was already starting out the induction at 3cm. Pitocin started close to 4pm. The OB broke my water at 5pm. I got my epidural at 9pm but was still only about 4cm. I started to feel pressure around midnight and called the nurse shortly thereafter. My doctor was busy with a delivery, so she brought a midwife in to check me, but apparently little Will couldn't wait for the doctor to come. One look and she could see his head. Two pushes later, at 12:22am, William Bennett Bolton was born, at exactly 39 weeks. He was 7 lbs 9 oz and 19.25 inches, our smallest and shortest baby.
Will and Mommy's first meeting. The first thing I said after he was born was, "That was easy!"
7 lbs 9 oz
Daddy gets to meet Will
Our little guy
The proud parents
Cooper had asked for three things for his birthday on January 9th: A new brother, a birthday cake, and snow. New brother (check) and there were like two snowflakes on the day Will was born (check). Cooper got to go to school on Friday and tell everyone he had a new brother. After school, he got to meet the little guy. He looks like a old pro holding newborns!
The biggest brother and the littlest brother. We didn't let Reid, who turned 17 months on Will's birthday come visit in the hospital. He's a wild man.
Will was feeding like a champ but a little jaundiced and down to 7lbs even at discharge. Here he is in his going home clothes. We went home Jan 8th.
Back to the chaos at home. We weren't sure how Reid would react to the baby. He exclaimed right away, "Baby!" and wanted to hold him. He squeezed him and didn't want to let him go.
Our three sons. We were asking Reid to show us his teeth (so he'd smile) but he stuck his tongue out instead.
Me and my boys. Reid was one the excitement by this point and just wanted his true loves - his blanket and paci.
Dad and his boys
The Bolton Five (Reid and his baby)
The Bolton Five (now Cooper's turn to strangle his brother)
This picture was taken when Will was 3 days old. Will is by far the blondest of the three boys. It's amazing. Anyone who sees him comments on how white his hair is - his eye lashes are too. This isn't really an attractive picture but you can kind of see how light his hair is.
Will timed his birth perfectly. We were home in time for Cooper's birthday on January 9th. My first baby is 5 years old. He goes to pre-K. He's starting to read. Time is flying. He went to school on his birthday where he got to wear a crown and have all his friends sing to him.
He requested a blood cake - red velvet - so while he was at school his wish was granted.
He also requested to have a piñata - we had one for Reid's first birthday, so Cooper wanted one too. He and Reid took turns breaking the piñata.
He opened presents. Then he and Daddy went to the movies to see Tin Tin. He came home from the movies complaining of a belly ache. He refused to eat any birthday cake. A few ours later, my special birthday boy was hovering over the toilet with a nice case of a stomach bug. It was the first time he'd ever thrown up in his life and he was miserable. What a way to celebrate turning five. He stayed home from school the next day with a puny appetite but luckily the stomach bug went away as quickly as it appeared.
Will's day 4 marked his first sponge bath. Not a fan.
Looking at Mommy like what did you just do to me.
Day 5, Will's first trip back to the pediatrician. Will was back to his birthweight of 7lbs, 9oz. Pretty remarkable for a breast fed baby and way to make his pediatrician Mom proud!
Reid is very interested in his "baby." He sticks his arms out to hold him then as soon as he's in his arms, Reid will say "done." He gives the baby kisses. When the baby cries, Reid will find his (Will's) pacifier and shove it in the baby's face. He'll also offer the baby his own (Reid's) precious blankie - over his face of course. Luckily Reid is so verbal that he'll give you a split second clue before he does anything to Will. For example, you can hear him say "jump" before he jumps or sits on the baby. He will say "eye" or "belly" before he pokes him in those locations. He'll say "eat" before he tries to shove food in his mouth. All of this is done with the utmost love. :)
Will at 11 days old.
I think he's saying Go Red Sox.
Cooper is such a good big brother. He really is a lifesaver with all his help.
The three boys. Again, Reid is showing us his "teeth"
Will at two weeks. At his two week check up he was 8lbs 3oz, 20.75 inches in length.
A brief wiggle in the floor while the boys are at school and daycare.
Since our Halloween snow, we hadn't had any significant snow this entire winter. In fact, it had been downright mild. We finally got a few inches this past weekend and the big boys got to play outside. Reid kept yelling, "Snow! Hot!" I think he meant cold.
So here we are as a family of five. Dad is back to work. Cooper and Reid are going to daycare and school. Gigi is still here helping us but is leaving Tuesday. My vision is getting better but still not perfect. Life is totally crazy, but we wouldn't have it any other way.
Most of this post was devoted to big and little brothers, but I didn't want to leave out little Reid since he has grown and changed so much in the past few months. He's 17 months old. He weight 25lbs 11 oz at his 15 month check up but he looks so much more solid than that. He's walking and running all over the place. His most significant achievement is how his language has progressed. I can no longer count the number of words he says. He names all his family members including Mommy, Daddy, Coop, Mimi, Papaw, Gigi, Bubba, and Baby. He knows all his body parts. He knows most of his animal sounds. He loves to read "boops" and can boss you around and tell you which ones he wants to read in which order. He loves to eat. Most food is a "cracker" and all liquids are "wawa" but he specifically knows pizza, apples, nanas, cookie, pancake, bites. He's obsessed with the toaster since he often gets frozen waffles or pancakes in the morning. As soon as he wakes up, he goes in the kitchen and points to the toaster. When we leave the house, he tells us we have to put on his coat, shoes, and hat. He tells us he poops after he poops. He tells everyone hello and bye bye. He's starting to put two words together. He says soooo much more than what I've listed and we're all just amazed by how quickly he picks things up - it feels like he learns a new word every day - and compared to Cooper (which I know you're not supposed to compare kids) his vocab is leaps and bounds above.
Apologies for not keeping up with the blog as regularly as life has been very busy and will continue to be so, but I'll try to keep up better. Take care!
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