January 16, 2011...The Details

I should warn you now, this post may contain more information than you want regarding the birth of our precious little man, Henry. The details won't get too gruesome, so read if you want, or skip to the pictures.

I'd been having contractions for weeks, but they weren't productive. I had my regular weekly appointment on Wednesday, January 12th, one day overdue, and I was dilated about 2 cm. Dr. Bell didn't think Henry would be born any time soon and thought it was best to induce me Monday the 17th at 7:30 am. Disappointed, I went home and finished out the week pacing the house. On Friday night I was having some contractions, but not very painful ones. I took a couple Tylenol and went to bed. I woke up in the middle of the night with more contractions and took a couple more Tylenol and went back to bed. Saturday morning didn't bring many contractions at all. The few I had were spaced fairly far apart and were not very intense. As the day progressed the contractions got a little stronger and a little closer together; although they still weren't very painful. I took my usual afternoon nap only to have the contractions completely stop. I had a few during dinner and throughout the early evening. Then...at about 8:00 the contractions really picked up, both in frequency and intensity. By 9:00 my contractions were 10 minutes apart and lasting about a minute and a half. I called the nurses station to see when they wanted us to head in. She said any time, but if I wasn't far enough along they'd just send me home. I decided to stay put and continue watching Shrek and let Landon continue watching the Miss America pageant. I did call our neighbor, Carolyn, to give her a heads up that we might be heading to the hospital but didn't know when. By 10:00 my contractions were lasting about 2 minutes and were only about 1 minute apart. I'm not quite sure how I went from 10 minutes apart to 1 minute apart so quickly, but I did. Landon called Carolyn again and she was at the house within a few minutes. We headed to the hospital in a mad race against another girl in labor (the first one admitted got the birthing suite, so we had to hurry). We got to the hospital at about 11:20, losing the race, and were sent to the ER waiting room while they took care of Allison, the other mother. I spent about 10 minutes in the waiting room with Allison's mom having contractions that were intense and frequent enough to produce a baby. Finally, Allison's mom went and got an ER nurse and told them they needed to do something with me now, BEFORE I had a baby in the waiting room. At about 11:30 I was in the coveted birthing suite, checked and dilated to about 7 cm. I was going to attempt to deliver without drugs, but I caved as soon as they checked me in and started begging for an epidural. They had to draw blood, get an IV going, and do a few things first, which took FOREVER. In the meantime Dr. Bell showed up (11:45 ish), and checked me. And this is when he broke the news, I was ready to push and there wasn't any time for an epidural (at this point they still hadn't drawn blood or managed to get an IV hooked up). Dr. Bell left for a minute to get changed into scrubs while the nurses did their thing. Dr. Bell was back in at about 12:00 and told me to go ahead and push if I felt the urge. Um, no thanks. First, I haven't had an epidural, and second, you aren't completely scrubbed in yet! Dr. Bell was still putting on his baby catching outfit as he was telling me to push. So, at a few minutes after 12 I started pushing. I pushed through two contractions and Dr. Bell said he'd be out in one more contraction. Well, he lied, it took two more contractions. I pushed for about 7 minutes and we had a baby, WITHOUT an epidural. Of course my little man was perfect. We spent the night in the hospital and were discharged Monday morning with this little bundle of joy:

New Baby Holte

He's finally here! And only 5 days late. He was born at 12:14 am on January 16, 2011. He weighed 8 lbs 2 oz and is 21 inches long (1/2 a pound heavier than Carter, same length). I'll post more pictures when we get home along with all the details of the weekend, and a name if we have one by then.

Carter and His Wilson Gene

It may be too soon to tell, but I think he's a lefty. 9 times out of 10 he will feed himself with his left hand. When he was younger he would pick up one piece of food with his right hand, then eat everything else with his left. Then transfer the piece of food from his right to his left and eat it. I can be sure that he really is mine if his left hand is dominant. I'm not sure of any lefties on the Holte side of the family, but we have plenty of them on the Wilson side.

A Few Christmas Photos

We spent Christmas in Watford City, ND this year with Landon's Mom and Mike, and Casey, Paula, and Cruz. I didn't take many pictures because Paula is a photographer and her pictures always turn out much better than mine so I'll post more when I get them. Here are a few of the boys "playing nice".


Grandma just didn't get the hint that they DID NOT want to sit next to eachother on her lap for yet another picture. We all got a good laugh out of this one.

I thought I'd better post some December pictures before January gets here since Carter will be neglected as soon as we bring the baby home. We all but finished the bathroom one evening last week. We finally hung the mirror and towel ring and re-centered the faucet. I still have touch up painting to do, but it's not on the top of my TO DO list. Carter is so helpful as you can see. I know Landon just loves Carter's "help".

We called Grandma one night while Dad was in town processing game. I talked to her, Carter talked to her, and even Abby got to talk to Grandma, although I'm not sure Grandma knew she was talking to Abby (for several minutes).
Mini muffins are a big hit at our house and Carter is quite the baker. I'm not sure if you can really tell, but he was testing the muffins with a toothpick; every one of them. Like I said, he's a big help.
We tried very hard (about 50 pictures very hard) to get a good picture in front of the lit but very bare Christmas Tree. It wasn't until we loaded Carter up with clothespins that he finally sat long enough to get an ok picture. He is a candid kid, not a poser.

Innocent Carter

I walked into the kitchen the other day to find...This chair; not quite empty, but not occupied by a little boy.
This on the stove...
This on the chair...
And this little boy holding a ziplock with the two remaining mini loaves of bread that haven't been bitten into. Carter has figured out that he can get a chair into the kitchen and to the cabinets and that will put anything on the counter within reach. And if he can't reach whatever it is that he is after...he'll just climb up ONTO the counter. I have since removed EVERYTHING from the counter. The top of our fridge is a bit crowded now though.

Carter's Big Boy Room

In November my Mom came up to help move Carter from his little boy room to his big boy room. We shampooed the carpet, painted, and altered the length of the curtains so that I wouldn't find Tarzan swinging from them. I still need to get something on the walls, but the room is mostly finished. He didn't have any trouble with the switch and seems to like his new room. He slept on the mattress on the floor for about 2 weeks until we picked up the bed in Billings over Thanksgiving. Don't worry moms, there is a rail so he won't fall out, I just moved it for the picture.

The Name Game

Since I've had little help in coming up with a name for this new little boy, I'm throwing some names out there for you to narrow down. I know most of the names don't fit the criteria but you've given me little to work with. Some of the names aren't just names, they represent someone special in our lives...
Henry Andrew - both of my Grandpa's middle names
Hazard Campbell - Ducks Unlimited's biggest advocate
Quaid Andrew - just a name that Kristie picked
Danger - just a name my brother suggested for Carter
Lincoln - might as well stick with presidents
Nixon - more presidents
Houston - my Great Grandfather Wilson's first name
Remly - my Uncle's name, and an odd one at that
Charlie Max - my first doll's name, Max - also my Grandpa's first name, my brother's middle name, and my cousin's first name on the Wilson side
When in doubt, Andrew is a very likely middle name for any other name you might suggest. We already have several Dale's on the Holte side and have already used Landon's middle name for Carter. Louie might be an option for a middle name too. You might have noticed that we have less than 60 days until this child needs a name, so you better get crackin'!

Baby #2's 2010 Hunting Season

When I was 28 weeks pregnant with Carter we went hunting for "just a doe" just to say I went hunting while prego. I had an either species, either sex tag and ended up shooting a little buck that wasn't any bigger than his ears. So, being pregnant for another hunting season, I thought it was only fair that Baby #2 have a hunting picture in his scrapbook. This time I'm 31 weeks 6 days pregnant. This buck was about the same size as Carter's, and in nearly the same location, at the same time of day. Only difference is I used a .243 for Carter's deer and a 7mm for Baby #2s. The last time I shot a gun was when I shot Carter's deer but I was lucky enough to shoot Baby #2's deer right through the vitals at about 150 yards. Carter and Landon were in the truck and Carter didn't seem to mind the gun fire; he says "boom" when asked what a gun says. He was a little unsure about the deer when we got up to it and didn't want to pet it. Which didn't surprise us with this dislike for dirty hands. It was a little chilly for a belly shot with the deer so I just look bundled up instead of pregnant. So now my hunting season is complete. With one elk and three deer in the freezer or at the meat shop, the pressure is off and Landon can go back to enjoying his bird hunting.

Halloween

Carter likes to carve pumpkins...if...he gets to hold the knife and someone else touches the slimmy guts. He's kind of weird about getting his hands dirty and it wasn't until we were done that he tried to help clean out the seeds. Of course he's too serious to smile.
Our little lover is just that. He will gladly give the dogs, Mom and Dad, toys, and yes, even a pumpkin a kiss.
Isn't he the cutest little Fireman you've ever seen?!
The only problem with letting Carter drive the Firetruck is that he doesn't want to get out. Although he was willing to help his Dad put out a fire, as long as he doesn't get his boots dirty.