It's a Boy!

With Baby Storm #3 I found myself at 40 weeks 1 day pregnant and not progressing with any dilation so we made the decision to move forward with an induction.

 

We arrived at the hospital and were admitted at 600pm on December 26. Dan and I made our way to the Labor and Delivery unit that evening and we were ready to get the ball rolling.

I do have to say that the best part of having an induction is that the drive to the hospital is so much more pleasant when you are not in active labor!! Sitting in a car with lots of contractions = Not comfortable. I can still so clearly remember the hot summer night when Dan and I were driving to the hospital to have Roman. It was an August evening and all kinds of UW students were hanging out in the streets in Madison - it was a very l-o-n-g trip to Meriter to have the baby.

 

Anyway, we arrived at the hospital safe and sound without any contractions and I was all set up with my cytotec. I know that it is totally ridiculous but I just hate signing off on the consent forms for this type of things ... even though the odds are so slim, the idea that this medication could potentially cause certain side effect still scares the crap out of me. I still managed to sign my life away! Haha! Here I am all ready to go - trying to stay positive and feeling so excited to finally meet Baby Storm.  

 

 

At first the back pain and contractions were very light so we watched some National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation - a holiday classic! :)  I even fell asleep for a few hours and woke up when my water broke around 200am.

 

After that - things moved fast!! I started having some serious contractions and powered through them for about an hour. Just after 300 every single cell in my body was telling me to push! Baby Storm was ready to come into the world. :) The most challenging part of my labor was NOT pushing during the 5 minutes while the nurses got my doctor and told him to come right away. Three pushes later and this beautiful boy was born at 319am.  

 

 

His name is Leon Henry - Leo for short. :)

Baby Leo weighed in at 10 pounds 1 ounce and was 22 inches long! Yes, I pretty much gave birth to a toddler! Hahaha! My doctor said that 22 inches long is a baby record for him!

 

 

I feel so grateful that the delivery was quick and smooth! I was worried that the induction might necessitate a bunch of other interventions but it did not. It was a fast and furious birth - pretty much an hour and twenty minutes start to finish! I was able to make it through this labor in the way that I had wanted - without an epidural or pain meds. Yay!

 

Once our sweet boy arrived, we texted and called our family and friends with the good news. Lucy and Roman were so happy to hear about their new baby brother. We called Grandpa Glen's cell phone with the news and Grandma was able to capture the excitement on their little faces! 

 

Little Leo had a busy first day of life - he got his footprints stamped ... there was barely enough room on the paper for our big guy's feet.

 

 

We had lots of cuddle time.

 

He had his first bath and passed his hearing test.

 

 

In the afternoon we had some special guests come to visit us at the hospital!

 

Lucy and Roman are so proud of their baby brother!

 

They are going to be great helpers.

 

 

Grandma Sharon and Grandpa Glen were able to meet their 10th grandchild! There are now 5 boy and 5 girl grandchildren on the Hoekman side ranging in age from zero to 12. :)

 

 

Lucy is a huge fan of her Big Sister unicorn t-shirt.

 

Here is our first picture as a family of five! I love this crew of mine so much.

 Xoxo from the Storm family!

Merry Christmas 2018!

 We had a lovely, low-key Christmas this year! For the first time in our lives, Daniel and I did not make the trek to the Dakotas for the holidays...Instead we spent time at home on baby watch!

 

My Mom and Dad spent Christmas with us this year - we were so grateful to have our babysitters on hand! :) Grammy taught Miss Lucy how to play Cribbage.  

 

 

We enjoyed lots of snuggle time on the couch.

 

We played games and drank hot cocoa.

 

 

The kids loved spending extra time outdoors over the holidays! It is a winter wonderland in northern Wisconsin. :)

 

I snapped this picture of my Dad texting with Austin about the ice fishing conditions back in South Dakota. Dad still uses a flip phone so any time that you get a text from him that consists of more than 'K'- it is a labor of love! Haha!

 

 

As always, we played several rounds of Rummikub together.

 

On Christmas Eve morning, Dan and I headed to Antigo for baby's 40 week appointment. Here is a selfie from the doctor's office - this is as close as we get to having a date these days. Hahaha! I was super disappointed to learn that I made zero progress from Week 39 to Week 40 in terms of dilation. Since I was still at 1 cm and it looked like there was a winter storm on the horizon, we made the decision to start the induction process on Wednesday evening, December 26. I wasn't ready to go straight to Pitocin so the plan was to give me Cytotec as a way to, ' Light the Fuse' and push me into labor. I had never had an induction before so I wasn't too thrilled about the prospect of it but ... the drive to Antigo is 50 minutes on a day with zero weather issues and I definitely didn't want to have a baby on the side of the road in the blizzard so an induction at 40 weeks 3 days seemed like the best way to go.

 

We ate a delicious Christmas Eve feast of ham, squash, cheesy potatoes and green beans before heading to church. Lucy and Roman loved the candlelight service, they were both so thrilled to have their own candles and they did a great job singing along with the carols.

 

 

Before bed, Grammy Sharon read Twas the Night before Christmas to the kiddos. We couldn't find the actual book on this night so it was a good thing that Grandma located a copy online and read from her phone. You can see that everyone was getting pretty sleepy! :) 

 

We hung our stockings by the woodstove with care!

 

Our kids came into our bedroom early the next morning and they were quivering with anticipation. Roman shouted, "Mom! Dad! It's Christmas morning! Are you nuts?" Hahaha! 

 

 

Christmas Jammies + Stockings + Presents = Best morning ever!

Christmas morning with a 5 and 7 year old is one of life's greatest joys!

 

 After opening gifts we made brunch together! Lucy loves flipping pancakes.

 

 

There is nothing better than Christmas brunch!

 

We spent the entire day in our jammies! Roman was a happy guy with his race tracks. He set up some elaborate courses complete with traps, all kinds of creatures, etc. I just love his creativity.

 

 

We can't forget our sweet dog Ranger! Here is our pup on Christmas Day 2018...  overlooking the Pelican River.

 

The children had the best day playing with their new toys. Roman got a stuffed Mario and Luigi and he promptly set up a bunch of obstacles for them. Lucy got 2 LOL Surprise Dolls so she was in heaven!

 

 

Grandma brought a bunch of Christmas photo props - the boys had lots of fun taking selfies. Hahaha!

 

 

 

 

What a wonderful, lazy day filled with family time, movies, games, good food, and new toys! Here are some pics of our epic Jenga game.

 

 

 

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

Twas the Week Before Christmas

The nights are getting longer, our house is cozy and the Christmas lights are twinkling! Roman and Lucy are counting down the days!

 

Romy made a gift for us at day care and he was so excited for Mom and Dad to open the package! :) Thanks for the fun ornament, son! 

 

 

We have been watching Christmas shows in our jammies during the evenings.

 

 

I wanted to capture a quick pic of these two in their Peanuts PJs but, as you can see, my photo op was a fail as everyone wanted to watch the show and not look at the camera.

Love these two so much!

 

Lucy and Roman had their Elementary School Christmas concert on Wednesday. They were looking very sharp as we sent them off to school that morning. 

After we dropped them off at school, the kids hopped on buses and went to the high school so that they could sing to all of the parents, Grandmas, and Grandpas on the big stage at RHS. 

Here are the 4K’ers, ready to sing and recite poems.

Roman did a great job singing and doing the actions! 

After the 4K kids were done singing, they paraded down for pictures. Then it was time for the Kindergarten kids and, after 2 songs, one children threw up in the risers!!! So gross! I am so glad that Lucy and Roman didn’t get splattered on!!

The first graders sang Up on the Rooftop, Must Be Santa (the classic Raffi song!) and I Wish I was a Reindeer.

Here is our bright and beautiful 1st grader! 

 

Lucy’s Girl Scout troop had their last meeting of the year right before the holidays. They wrapped presents and made cards for the kids who are currently staying at the Homeless Shelter in Rhinelander. Lucy was excited to get this fun Girl Scout cap as a gift from her leader!

Last but not least - Dan recently set up the side car bed for Baby Storm!! Just like the other kids, this little guy or gal is looking to be a late arrival. Sigh! Until he/she gets here this lil bed is serving as my magazine rack! Haha!