In LOVE with HIM

This is Chayce Bradlee Ercanbrack! He was born Wednesday, May 20th at 4:12 p.m. weighing in at 6 pounds 7 ounces and 18 1/2 inches long!

I had my Dr.'s appointment Wed. morning and I was at a 5. Dr. Jones told me to go home and get my stuff and meet him back at the hospital! I was so glad he wasn't going to let me hang out that far along! We were admitted to the hospital around 12...

















...And were given this amazing gift at 4!
















So happy that he was here!

















The fabulous Dr. Jones. He's an awesome OBGYN if you are looking!

















I was left in my delivery room as McKay and Chayce went down to get cleaned up. About two hours later I was still up there by myself and started to wonder what was going on. In the meanwhile...

















...Chayce was surrounded by a handful of nurses trying to figure out what was going on with his breathing and lungs. It was probably a good thing I was alone and oblivious to all of this.

I finally talked to McKay around 7:30 p.m. and he let me know they had to use a CPAP machine on him to help him calm down his breathing. His heart rate was fine, he was just taking breaths too quickly. After an XRay, they also found a little cloudiness in his lungs...so he was put on antibiotics. When they put a newborn on antibiotics they make them stay in the Level 2 nursery (in between NICU and regular) for 48 hours. Of course when I found all of this out I was VERY emotional. Mother Baby was really busy that night also so I didn't have a room and they were going to make me stay in the Peds unit. An awesome nurse (Kay) was my advocate and demanded I have a room close to the Level 2 Nursery as this was the only way I was going to see him (through visiting the nursery).

This was a sweet moment for me to hold him and know everything was going to be OK. Not knowing and understanding what's going on with your baby can be such a nerve wracking thing. I can't imagine what parents go through who deal with very serious complications and don't know if their baby will pull through. About 10 p.m. I was put in my recovery room (which was super close to the nursery...again Kay was my angel that night!)

This is us in Chayce's little home for the next two days. It's definitely a different experience than having your baby with you in your room. What a proud daddy with his two boys!

Our family of four! (Can I just say I am in LOVE with my boys...I wouldn't have it any other way!)

I met two of the most WONDERFUL women while Chayce was in the nursery...this was his first nurse Sherry who helped us both nights. We became friends and even had a nice conversation at 4 a.m. when I couldn't sleep the first night we were there.

We were lucky and had the same two nurses while he was there. This was Baeta (pronounced Baata - I need to remember this!) Another AMAZING nurse who was so awesome. I felt so lucky and blessed to have these two women there for Chayce and I during this time. They were so helpful and explained everything so clearly to me. I think we will make a visit to them to thank them for all they did!

Peyton is so excited to be a big brother and loves to give Chayce hugs, kisses, rubs his head, helps me burp him and can't get enough of him. I STILL can't get him to say baby brother consistently, so until he learns more about gender we may still get baby sister. It's so neat to look at these two now and think about the future and the relationship these two will share. What an amazing thing families are.

Well, there's the long story for everyone. I just want to mention how extremely grateful I am for being able to carry and deliver a healthy, strong, beautiful baby. It's my life's greatest blessing and it's hard to put into words the emotions of this process. Our family is truly blessed...thank you to all of you who have been so supportive and willing to help us during this time.