Alex is Here!

Alex Patrick Dangerfield

7 lbs 6 oz, 20 3/4 inches

I know it's been awhile since I last posted, but not a whole lot was going on. Erik finished up first grade and is ready to start second grade. Lily is VERY excited to start kindergarten at Emerald. I'm excited that it will be full day, every day!! Drew continues to work with a speech therapist once a week. We had his one year evaluation meeting and found out he qualifies for free preschool starting in August. In fact, he turns 3 on the 22nd and preschool starts the next day. He's very excited that Erik's school will now be his school as well. Every time we drive by the school, Drew points out the window and yells, "Erah, Lll, ee!" This translates to "Erik, Lily, me!" because all three kids will be attending Emerald next year. Drew's preschool will go from 8-11ish Tuesday through Friday. That will leave me with just Alex in the mornings. That will be quite a change from having 4 home all the time! I kept subbing a few days each month, even though I felt tired each day. Daniel continues to work at GeoEye on the second shift, which for him is 4pm-12:30am.
We watched the big Broomfield City fireworks display on the fourth. Erik and Lily thought it was great, but Drew only made it through about 20 minutes before he wanted to go home. He kept looking at us saying "Home. Home." Daniel finally took him to the car while Erik, Lily and I watched the rest of the show. We got rained out last year so this year's show was bigger than usual. The finale was the best I've ever seen! Even Alex liked the fireworks....every time there was a really loud BOOM he would kick and go crazy. At one point I even thought my water had broken, but no such luck. I think Drew would have made it a bit longer except for the fact that the show started soooo late and we'd already been sitting there for over an hour before things got underway. He was just too tired.
Fast forward to July 6. At my 39 week doctor appointment the doctor decided to schedule an induction for the following Wednesday, July 13. This was my actual due date as well. I was just exhausted and tired of the 90 degree temps each day. I tried setting up a few babysitting situations for the other kids for the day of the induction. Luckily, Janet (my mother in law) decided to drive over Tuesday from Salt Lake. This relieved a lot of the stress of the whole situation. Wednesday morning we went to the hospital and everything got underway about 8:30. I had contractions 2-3 minutes apart all day, got my epidural about 12:30 when I was a 5 and things progressed pretty quickly after that. About 3:30pm I was a 9 and was feeling about half of the contractions, but my water still hadn't broken. At 4:30 I was a 10, but water was still intact. I did one practice push to see if my water would break without help. As soon as I pushed both nurses told me to stop. The "water balloon" was trying to come out and Alex was right behind. They were worried he'd come out before the doctor made it. They called the doctor and as soon as she was all ready to go, they moved me over a bit and my water "popped" all over the doctor! This was a first for me, but apparently not for her. Oops! One push later, Alex Patrick Dangerfield entered the world. He was born at 5:15pm, weighed 7 lbs 6 oz and was 20 3/4 inches long. He was my longest pregnancy (the others were born 1-2 weeks early), but not my biggest baby. The other boys were 8 lbs and 8 lbs 6 oz. He is perfect! We are all very glad he is finally here.

Erik and Alex

Drew, Alex and Dad

Lily and Alex

Now we are all adjusting to life with a newborn. He eats well (he had already regained his birth weight after 4 days) and sleeps well. After the first two nights home (during which I slept a total of 5 hours) we decided to sleep him in his bouncy chair. Since making this change I get 3-4 hour stretches of sleep at night. Seems like heaven to me right now! Hopefully this keeps going and getting longer. Life is good and now even Drew likes having him around!