Newborns

My goal for the weekend was to get some pictures of the kids, especially Nate's Newborns! Saturday I did a shoot for him. Very simple, but those tend to be my favorites so I stuck to that this time! He was a perfect model! So easy to pose that it made it too fun!

 Sunday, I did all the kids. Not as fun since Nate was not really asleep and the kids were so wiggly! Dan was gone at Stake Conference meetings all day too, or another set of hands may have made it easier with an almost 2 year old! However, considering that we did get a few cute ones!

More of Nate

Our first week

We headed home Friday. The kids were in good hands while we were away. Bada came to stay a few days before the baby and stayed till Saturday to help us out. It was nice not having to worry about them being well taken care of while we were away! On Saturday Grandma came up to stay for the week. We were spoiled with all of their help. My week consisted of adjusting to a newborn's sleep schedule, feeding schedule (all day long), and naps! My kids, my house, and my food were all taken care of for me! My recovery has been the best of the 4 I think, minus the nursing side. Not my favorite thing to adjust to! Nate had to go back in Sunday for a billirubin test and again Monday since it was not as low as they would like. But, he was cleared after that! Tuesday, I brought him in for his circumcision. Dan met me there. It was nice to get that over with as well! My mom took the kids to the Treehouse Museum on Tuesday and the Dinosaur Park on Thursday. I even called in to have Levi excused so he could go on one of the escapades! The other days were school and doctor visits. They had a lot of time outside on walks and bikes and doing races with Grandma. It was a fun week for them and a good one for me knowing they were happy and having fun! Makayla had her buddy while mom was stuck on the couch. On to week 2 with a newborn!

 First bath

 He has the most blonde in his hair than any of my other kids did. We may have another toe head in our midst!

Nathan Dale Burkholder

Here are pictures till you go blue in the face. I have taken forever to post because I was intimidated by the amount of pictures piling up! So here goes nothing...

Much to everyone, including my doctor's surprise, I made it to my induction date on Thursday March 12, 2015. We headed in bright and early and were there at 7am. They were not ready for us, so we waited in the waiting room for 40 minutes or so before they took us back to our room. Funny thing, it was the exact room that we had when Makayla was born! This is when things just started speeding up! Right after I changed the doctor was there around 8 to pop my water, before they had even put in my IV! So, with that done, they put in my IV and started the Pitocin. I was still sitting at a 4.5cm dilated, like I had been for 3 weeks beforehand! Once I was all set up, a little before 9am, they told me to wait and let them know when the contractions got bad enough and they would call for the epidural. It should only take him 10min to get there. So, after Levi I was not going to wait long after having my water popped and the pitocin kicking in, so I started feeling it pretty good not a half and hour later. So to be safe, I called for the epidural around 9:15am. Well, they did not come in till 10am at the earliest! Then it took him a good 45min to place the sucker! I was in full blown labor at this point with contractions 2-3 minutes apart. By the time he was done, it was 11am. They checked me and I was about an 8. Still had no epidural. By 11:30, it still had not kicked in. At this point the nurse started to worry since I was still in so much pain, that she called the anesthesiologist back to give me a bolus. By 11:45 it had kicked in and lucky for me it did since I was complete. They called the doctor, and with 2 1/2 pushes baby Nate was here at 11:53am! They always seem shocked that my babies are the size they are, but at least they are consistent! Nathan was 8lb 10oz and 22in long. He is my longest baby so far, but all 4 were within an once of each other. The first thing I noticed when they gave him to me, was his really long fingers and toes! I always forget how tiny they are! It was a very smooth delivery. He was an excellent eater too. We had the rest of the day to rest and had a couple of visitors. Grandma, Aunt Kellie, Grandpa, and Krista came up to meet the little man. No kids were allowed in the unit since the RSV cases were high. Levi was in tears, and they all were bummed they could not come see him. We showed them baby Nate on the IPAD. We took till the next day to settle on a name for the little guy. We had figured he was going to be William (Will) or Thomas when we went in to the hospital. However, when we saw him we both just didn't think it was right. We went back through our big list of names and still were not sure. My mom was reading a list of baby names and read through Nathan. I had added it and taken it off and thought about it a couple times during my pregnancy. So, when she read it I stopped  her and asked Dan what he thought. We looked up the meaning and Nathan means, "Gift from God." We discussed it and decided to sit on it till the morning. Well, it sat well and the more we said it, the more it fit. So, Nathan it is! We loved nicknames too like Nate and Naters:) Dan went home that night not only to get a good nights sleep, but to ease my mind. I had been in tears the night before sad about leaving Makayla. All the kids, but I had never left her more than a few hours before and I knew her world was going to be rocked the next day! So, he headed home to give her some stability for me! We got a pretty descent sleep that night and the next day (Friday) we were ready to head home when they finished all his labs and tests. He passed his hearing and Heart test. He got his billirubin tested as well. They called us after we left and scheduled to have him come back on Sunday to be tested for a little jaundice as well. He was doing great, mom was doing great, and we were ready for our kids to meet their brother! The boys ran out to meet us when we got home. They were both SO excited to see him! Unfortunately our kids had slight colds and Makayla woke up sounding croupe from her nap. So we went the safe route and had masks on hand and kept the little sister at bay for a few days! They were in love! I will save the rest for the next post. 

Nathan Dale, with his name sake!