Introducing William Perrin Haynes

I'm very happy to present to you the 4th member of our family, William Perrin Haynes. Will was born on January 15, 2013 at 12:39 pm, weighing a whopping 9 lbs 15 oz and measuring 22 3/4 inches long. Big boy! Will is 10 days old now and still has his days and nights mixed up, but overall, he is an easy baby! He makes very cute grunting noises and his cry is very interesting... kind of a "wa, wa, wa, waaaa" every time, like he's gotta get a good start up before he gets into it. He cannot fit into newborn diapers OR clothes! He's solidly into 0-3 month clothes and even some straight up 3 month clothes. He's eating 3-4 oz of formula just about every feeding.

As for me...I'm still healing. I've got a bit of pain, still, but, hey, he was almost 10 lbs! Overall, I'm doing pretty good - MUCH better than I was after Lucy bug was born, which I attribute to the fact that I'm not breast feeding and the grace of the Lord!

Birth Story:
A little back story: I had contractions with Mr. Will for about a month prior to his actual birth. This resulted in me going in to the hospital 3 times with "false" labor, which included lots of painful contractions for hours at a time, getting Lucy to either Bibi or Babu, checking in to the hospital and getting hooked up to all the monitors, only to have the contractions all but STOP and me not be progressed hardly any. This was a little upsetting at the time, but all the while, God was prompting me to Trust Him. His timing is perfect. He had every one of Will's days recorded in his book before even one of them came to be! (Psalm 139)

After my scheduled appointment on January 9, I was 2 cm dilated (still) and the induction was scheduled for January 15. I was told to be at the hospital at 5 am. We had a great dinner at Newk's, just the 3 of us and then got Lucy all set up at Bibi's house and headed back home. Brad and I stayed up a little too late watching Duck Dynasty (so funny!) and then got as much sleep as we could.

I woke up at 3 am, brain in overdrive, and was able to talk to several friends overseas before we headed to the hospital at 4:45 am. Here's the last picture of Will inside my belly:

We arrived at the hospital a little after 5 and were taken straight into the room where Will would later join us. Our nurses, Laura and Laura (a nursing student), got right to the paperwork and getting me all set up. About 6 am, a doctor came in and got everything going with the induction. At some point shortly after that, I got my epidural. Bibi (my mom) arrived a little after dropping Lucy off at preschool, after 9 am. At that point, I was in full swing of contractions, but thankfully, not feeling a thing because of the epidural. Wonderful, I tell you! Basically, I was sleeping as they rolled me from side to side, trying to keep my blood pressure from dropping and to keep Baby Will's heartbeat from dropping during the contractions. I actually had to get IV medicine for my BP and then eventually a shot in my hip to keep my BP up. And the nurses and doctor weren't happy about Will's heartbeat dropping.

Around 11, I guess, my doctor, Dr. Lassiter, came in to check me again (had been at 7 cm for a while) and said that I wasn't progressed quite as fast as she'd like and said that they would check me again in 15 minutes and if things weren't progressed more, then we'd have to go in for a C-section. Again, my BP and Will's heartbeat were a big factor in this. I laid there, half in-half out of consciousness praying that God would let my body progress and that we wouldn't need a C-section, but trusting Him that whatever happened was in His perfect plan. 

When they checked me again, I was at 8 cm and then within the next 15 minutes or so, I progressed all the way to 10 cm! It was so fast and such a huge blessing! At 12:12 pm, I started pushing. I kept asking them if I was doing it right - you know, lots of medicine and not a lot of feeling when the epidural is in full swing, which thankfully, it was! And about 15 minutes into the pushing, the nurses, Dr. L, and my Mom started getting really excited, saying I was doing a great job! Then, praise the Lord, at 12:39, precious William Perrin Haynes joined us to shouts of "It's a Will!" I was so overcome that we actually had a boy! I kept saying, "I can't believe we have a boy!" and "We have a boy!" It was an amazing moment! 

We were immediately overcome with how big he was and how RED his hair was! The nurses were all trying to guess how big he was before they put him on the scale and he blew all their guesses of 9 lb 3 or 4 oz out of the water:

 9 pounds 15 ounces! 22 3/4 inches long! BIG BOY! 

We've been home now for about 10 days and we are constantly overcome with how blessed we are. Will is a calmer child than Lucy, and man, does he love to sleep - during the day! Lucy is adjusting well and seems to love her baby brother. She'll sit down and pet him and talk about how cute he is. She is a little more clingy to me, but that's to be expected. 

I'll leave you with Will's verse and some pictures:

"With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God." (Mark 10:27)

 Look at all that red hair! It's about an inch long on the top/back!

 Beautiful Big Sister Lucy!

Finally home

My favorite picture so far!

My greatest earthly blessings, Brad and his kiddos 

CRAZY that we have kiddoS now!

Will's first bath at home. Bibi gave Lucy her first bath at home and she got to give Will his, too!

Look at proud Bibi!

Long boy! He's lost a few ounces since birth, weighing 9 lb 8 oz at his first doctor's appointment.

 PRECIOUSNESS!!!

 Aunt Emily H!

 Aunt Sarah!

 Pops!

With Nana

 With Mimi

 Are ya'll gonna kill me for this picture? Because I LOVE it!

Aunt Meredith came to visit from France

 My men!

 Not too sure about things...

 A smile!

 Under his baseball blanket that his sweet Daddy bought him.

My favorite moment so far!

The Lord keeps reminding me to be thankful for every moment, every day, and all of my abundant blessings! Thanks be to God! I'm excited to see these two kiddos grow up together and to see how precious Will changes our lives forever!