Day 3 - Going Home Outfit

Mommy and Daddy were just told by our nurse that it was time to pack up everything and go home.  Woohoo!  Mommy seems excited about this (I think she is ready to sleep in her own bed) so I will be too!  Mawmaw Deck (Mommy's grandmother and my great grandmother) bought my coming home outfit and blanket.  Thank you Mawmaw Deck!!!  I love it and it's so warm which is good since it sure is cold outside - it is January you know!  Of course Daddy took lots of pictures while Mommy dressed me.

Big brother helping with my hat

Me in my outfit and Brayden working his Big Brother shirt

Day 3 - Big Brother Snuggles

Daddy went home to get some sleep and be with Brayden while Mommy and Mawmaw stayed with me in the hospital last night.  It was a VERY long night for all of us.  I cried a lot and didn't sleep much.  I'm not really sure why I did all that although Mommy thinks I had some acid reflux going on.

The doctors say that I may get to go home today!!!  I am not sure exactly what all that means for me, but Mommy and Daddy seem pretty excited about it!  

Once Daddy and Brayden arrived back at the hospital this morning, Brayden immediately wanted to snuggle and give me kisses - which I loved!

Our family hand shot

I love being in my big brother's arms

Day 2 - Meeting more family

Today in the hospital was busy for me!  I met lots of family - aunts, uncles, cousins!

Aunt Kristy

Uncle Kory

Aunt Kori

Devyn - my cousin

Devyn & her Dad - Uncle Mike

Aunt Trisha

Sophie - one of my cousins

Sophie, Cohen (her brother),  my brother and ME!!

Day 2 - Big Brother Time

After a long night of not much sleeping for Mommy and Daddy, I got to see big brother again!  I love him so much already and can tell he loves me too!  You know why - he smiles at me ALL the time!

Here are some pictures of us together!

All clean and dry

After my bath I was all clean and getting pretty sleepy!  It has been a long, hard day for me!  Nurse Amy had moved me and Mommy to a new room which is where we will stay for 2 days/nights.

My First Bath (in hospital)

Mommy's nurse got the sink ready for my first bath - let me just tell you something.......I was not a fan.  I cried hard and loud, but I did get to stay in the room with Mommy and Daddy!   Check out the pictures!

Meeting Grandparents

After meeting Mommy, Daddy and Brayden it was time to meet my grandparents.  Mommy's mom and dad - who I will call Mawmaw and Pawpaw - drove R-E-A-L-L-Y fast from Winston-Salem to arrive before I was born!  Mommy wanted her Mom in the delivery room with her, just like she was with Brayden.  They made it with about 20 minutes to spare.  Daddy's mom and dad - who I will call Memaw and Pawpaw - had come over to my house to stay with Brayden while Daddy brought Mommy to the hospital to have me this morning!  Once I was born, they brought Brayden over to the hospital.  Here are my first pictures with them:

Mawmaw holding me for the first
time with Pawpaw taking a peek

Looking right at Pawpaw

  

Mommy Kisses

Love my sweet Mommy kisses!!!  I was only a few minutes old here and loving my Mommy so much already!

Dr. Smith and Nurse Amy

I mentioned early that Nurse Amy also helped deliver Brayden, so Mommy was super excited that out of all the nurses at Wake Med Hospital that we got so lucky to have her again!  Mommy said she really thinks the only reason she was still able to get an epidural after being dilated to 10 cm was because of Amy!  She had everything all set up for Dr. Smith to walk right in and administer it!  Thank goodness for Mommy!!  I could hear her moaning in pain while I was waiting to come out of her belly.

Dr. Smith was the one doctor that Mommy saw the most during the pregnancy.  She told Daddy early on that she bet Dr. Smith (he works at Kamm McKenzie OBGYN) would be the doctor who delivered me and she was right!  He is super nice and funny!  He likes to tell jokes which make Mommy laugh!

As a team they did a great job getting me out safely and quickly!  I came pretty fast once we were at the hospital - I was out of Mommy's tummy within an hour and a half!

Carter Julien Kirk

Our first picture as a family of 4

Carter is here!  He surprised us all by coming 3 weeks early!  He was due January 24th but came today - January 3, 2015 at 12:40 pm.  He weighed 6 lbs 2 oz and was 19 inches long.

Let me tell you my story.  I have lots to share with you about my first year of life so enjoy the reading.  I tried to come a week before.  It was December 27th and all of Mommy's family came to my house to celebrate Christmas.  I woke Mommy up that morning at 2:00 am with contractions.  She had these "pains" all day while her family was here so she was walking around the house and sitting/resting a lot - not really visiting or enjoying the company.  Around 5:00 pm Mommy and Daddy went to the hospital.  Dr. Smith was there and decided to keep Mommy after she was dilated to a 3.  She and Daddy did lots of walking in the hospital, but would eventually come home around 1:00 am.  Dr. Smith had given Mommy some IV fluids which re-hydrated her and stopped the contractions.  He told her to go home and rest a lot so that is exactly what she did.  Mommy didn't know it, but this would be the last week that I was in her belly.

The week of December 29th, Mommy sat a lot and rested just like Dr. Smith said to.  She didn't go anywhere until that Friday.  On January 2nd, she, Daddy and Brayden (he is my big brother) went to the mall to a store called Build a Bear.  They went there just for me!  They made a bear for me to keep forever and even recorded their voices welcoming me to the family.  This was so sweet of them to do!  I know this bear will be so special to me my whole life!  Once they left the mall they ran a few errands, but Mommy still rested.  That night she ate white chicken chili and cornbread and went to bed not knowing that would be the last night as a family of just 3.  I woke her up again around 4:00 am with contractions again. These pains were hurting her (sorry Mommy) but she laid in bed breathing through them.  She called Mawmaw and Pawpaw around 8:00 am and told them they might want to head to Raleigh (they live 2 hours away).  Mommy got in the shower and that is when the pain REALLY started to hurt.  It took Mommy almost 2 hours to get ready because the contractions were coming every 1-2 minutes.  Memaw and Pawpaw (these are Daddy's parents) came over to watch Brayden while Mommy and Daddy went to the hospital.  They got there at 10:30 am and Dr. Smith was working again!  Mommy really likes him so that was a nice surprise for her.  She was dilated to a 6 and everything was happening fast.  I was really ready to come out and meet her, Daddy and my new big brother!  Mommy got moved to a different room where she met her nurse, Amy.  You are never going to believe this, but Amy is the same nurse that helped deliver Brayden when he was born!  How crazy is that, but it made Mommy really happy and she was hurting so much that I was glad to see her happy about something.  Mommy was now dilated to a 10 and still didn't have any pain medicine/epidural.  She was really worried she wasn't going to have time to get an epidural, but Amy and Dr. Smith 'hooked her up'.  Dr. Smith gave the shot to Mommy and it helped the pain not be so bad.  We are now waiting on Mawmaw (Mommy's mom) to get tothe hospital.  She gets there around noon and shortly after that Mommy is ready to start pushing - she was trying to give the epidural time to work.  Mommy pushed through 5 contractions and I was out!  It was now 12:40 and my birthday!!!  Here is one of the first pictures taken of me.

After I was out of Mommy's tummy (by the way it was really bright and loud) all of Mommy's pain stopped and I got to lay on her chest.  I got to meet Daddy and hold his finger and then it was time to meet my big brother Brayden.  He was super excited for me to get here and ran down the hall to meet Daddy.  Check out this picture of him doing just that.

He was all smiles and rocking his Big Brother shirt just for me!  I love him so much already.  Daddy took lots and lots of pictures of us meeting for the first time, so I will share a few of them now.

Hanging out with Mommy and waiting for Daddy to
bring Brayden to meet me

Brayden holding me for the first time