Bostyn's Blessing Day

Bostyn was blessed on January 8th while Greg's parents were here visiting us! She looked so precious in her dress and Greg did an amazing job with her blessing! We were so glad we could bless here while her grandparents were here, and are thankful for all of our friends that were able to come and participate in her blessing.

Here are some pictures from the day:

Newborn Pics

Little Bostyn is already 2 weeks old, time sure is flying by! Here are a few newborn pics that Brooklyn and I snapped this morning. We think she is adorable!

Our Christmas

We did Christmas a little different this year! Since Bostyn was due before Christmas we had told Brooklyn that she would be here before it was time for Santa to come! Every time we would ask Brooklyn how many days until Christmas she would say, "After Bostyn is here, Santa will come in 2 weeks." Well needless to say Christmas day came and went and we still had no baby! She was convinced that it couldn't be Christmas until her baby sister was here. So we decided that we would hold off on opening gifts and celebrating Christmas until after the baby came home.

The day we came home from the hospital we finally celebrated Christmas! Brooklyn was excited to leave out cookies and a snowman picture she made for Santa

While Brooklyn was napping, Santa came and left lots of good stuff

She went straight for the stockings

Getting ready to open presents

Brooklyn was pretty excited about these puzzles from Grandma and Grandpa Merritt

and she loved twirling in her Strawberry Shortcake dress

One of our favorite games; now we don't have to borrow it to play it!

She loved the Dora books and money from Papa Frank and Grandma Helen

and finally at the end she got to open the one thing that she had asked Santa to bring

her Strawberry Shortcake car!

This year Brooklyn loved learning the story of the nativity, and was so excited to dress up as the angel and act it out; of course Bostyn was baby Jesus.

Dad helping her say her part

Bostyn slept through most of Christmas, so Brooklyn helped open her presents

Showing off all of her Christmas presents

Bostyn's first Christmas!

We had so much fun celebrating Christmas and loved all of the gifts and cards that we received this year!

Bostyn Noelle Baxter

After being 11 days overdue it was finally time to be induced! The night before we had to be at the hospital, Brooklyn spent the night at her pal Shaef's house.

Our last picture as a family of 3

Ready to go to Shaef's house

After about 8 hours of labor, Bostyn Noelle Baxter was born December 29th at 6:18 p.m weighing in at 9 lbs 0oz and 20 inches long

Cutting the cord! Don't mind Greg's stylish jacket, it was a little chilly in the room and I was the only that had brought a jacket!

She was quite the little chubbers

First time holding my sweet baby

Brooklyn was so excited to meet her little sister for the first time!

Bostyn even gave her a special Bell doll for being her big sister

Bostyn wasn't a fan of getting cleaned up

Finally holding her little sister! She was so happy that she was finally here!

First family picture

I love that I can finally say "My girls"

The beginning of thousands of kisses

At least Greg slept well....

Bostyn and daddy!

Brooklyn found the nurse's stethoscope and had fun pretending to be the Dr. checking everyone's heart.

After a couple of days in the hospital it was finally time to go home!

For those interested here are the details of the labor and delivery:

We checked into the hospital at 7 a.m and got all hooked up to the I.V's and ready for Dr. Brody to start the induction. Finally at 10:45 the Dr. came in and started the induction and I was only dilated to a 1. After 2 hrs of sitting I was able to get up and walk around for 45 mins, then it was back to being hooked up for another 2 hrs.

After walking for the second time my contractions were starting to get a little bit stronger, but nothing too bad. The nurses checked me again at 3:21 and I was only a 1.5. At this point I thought we weren't going to be having the baby til well after midnight!

The nurses started me on the pitocin and we just had to wait. Greg and I kept busy watching movies, playing card games, and Skip-bo. After a little bit my contractions were coming 1 1/2 mins apart and were getting more painful, but they didn't appear strong on the monitor! It was making me so mad that they weren't showing up more on the screen! At 5:30 I asked the nurse if she thought it was too early for the epidural, because I had only been a 1.5 and because the contractions didn't look strong on the monitor. Luckily she told me I could get the epidural whenever I wanted and maybe then I could relax and start to dilate faster. A few mins later the anesthesiologist came in and did the epidural!

After he was done, I was only numb on my right side and could still feel everything on my left side! I was starting to worry that it wouldn't ever get completely numb on both sides before it was time to have the baby. A few mins later my Dr. came in to check me again. To all of our surprise I was just about a 5. At 5:48 he broke my water and said he was heading to the other hospital and would be back in a few hours.

All of the sudden at 6 p.m I could still feel part of the contractions, but along with the pain, felt that "urge to push" that everyone always talks about. I told Greg to get the nurse to just check and see what was going on. When she came in she said that I was probably just feeling the baby move down lower, but she'd check just in case. I think we were both a little shocked when the nurse said, "Wow there is no cervix left, you are definitely at a 10!" followed by "I better page Dr. Brody to get back here!"

The next 10-15 mins waiting for the Dr. to get back, were the longest minutes of my entire life! With every contraction, I just wanted to push but the nursed kept telling me I had to wait and to "blow the urge away". Easier said than done. With Brooklyn I was completely numb and never felt that I had to push, so this experience was completely different! Finally the Dr. came hustling in and got all of his gear thrown on and I could finally push! 3 contractions later our sweet little baby came into this world at 6:18 p.m. After almost 2 years of waiting for her to be in our family it was such a great feeling to finally be able to see and hold her! We are loving being a family of 4 and having two beautiful little girls!