AJ's Birthday

Mark & Nana were very surprised at how calm I was at 6:30am.

That had changed by 10am. Good thing no one was taking pictures of me at 10am!

Drum Roll please!
Sweet Baby of Mine

Official Weigh-In: 9# 5 oz

Baby brother meet Carter. Carter meet baby Brother.

4 Dodd's. What will this little guys name be?

CW is a BIG BOY compared to little brother! AJ slept though Carter's visit despite Carter tickling him and shaking his bassinet to try to get AJ to giggle.

Papa Bear & his new Cub

One last picture before bed time! AJ opened only one eye at a time for several days.

Magwa - too bright! AKA One-Eyed Jack.

Monday, August 29th

I fell asleep about midnight.

2:00am Carter woke me up. I stayed in his bed till about 3:00.

3:38 Started timing my contractions. Perhaps eviction day has arrived!

4:45 Woke up Mark and text my mom to get her fanny on the road.

Began doing all the last minute things one does before they leave the house for a few days. Dishes, take out the trash / recycle, laundry, shower, finish packing, etc.

6:45 Left for the hospital. We didn't wake Carter up. Nana was at the house with him. Called the midwife office, and all other grandparents.

7:30 Got to the hospital. Checked in with some less than friendly faces. No midwife at the hospital yet. Grrr. Shift change was at 7am and some how the midwife that was leaving call didn't communicate to the one coming on duty that I was on my way. Also she didn't tell the hospital I was coming. We got a triage room & I was assigned a nurse who had never worked in triage before. Meg couldn't figure out the thermometer and I was quickly losing my patience with her.

8:00 Elaine from the midwife office arrived and said she was stuck in traffic.

8:15 Nurse Meg & Elaine told us to go walk for an hour and come back.

9:05 I'm all done with walking and ready for some pain medicine. I didn't want to disappoint the midwife but quickly signed up for an epidural.

The next 6 hours are pretty much a blur. There were a couple times that they couldn't find Andrew's heart beat. 15+ people in blue came running into the room screaming c-section, sign here. But Elaine had everything under control and kept us reassured. Epidurals rock and I would kiss Robert Andrew Hingson for his invention if he were still alive. I also have to say the my nurse Vanessa rOcKed! I told her she need to be on Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe. Elaine and all the midwives were wonderful too!

2 big pushes and 2 little pushes around 3pm and Andrew James Dodd arrived at 3:08. 9#5oz & 20.5". Evicting 9+# sure made mommy's belly feel much better!

Nana meet Andrew and was quickly shewed from the room by all the people in blue. Mark went to get me some thing to eat. Andrew went to the nursery with Daddy to get his official stats recorded.

Grandma, Papa & Carter came to visit around 7ish. When Carter woke up on Monday Nana was at the house with him. Mark and I were gone to the hospital. The little stinker didn't even ask where his parents were. He was having too much fun telling Nana how to get him ready for school evidently. Grandma came to pick him up from school and still no questions about where is my mom & dad. CW feel asleep on the way to Grandma's house. Finally when he woke up Grandma told him baby Andrew was here. I'm glad I worried so much about how he would handle us being gone!

Around midnight Andrew went to the nursery for a few hours. He was a very sleep head in the hospital. He had fat granny cheeks and the wrinkly tiniest hands, fingers, toes and feet! Truly love at first sight.