Picture Perfect!

Steven did a little photo shoot with Henry in the hospital with our new camera. We got some picture perfect shots, including a great one for his birth announcement!

Getting to know you...Getting to know all about you.

More hospital pics...getting to know our baby boy!

Henry is a Vol fan, he just doesn't know it yet.

Hospital Visitors

Steven's Dad and Peggy were there to meet the baby right after he was born! His sister and family were all there, too. My folks made the trip down that night and stayed in the waiting room for a long time, but it got too late for old codgers like them, so they met Henry the next morning.

My parents meeting their new grandson!

Aunt Heather, Uncle Jimmy, Big Cuz Camden, Mid Cuz Kaia, Lil Cuz Layna, and Baby Cuz Henry. :)

Ben, Melanie, and Allie came by after church on Sunday and brought Steven some lunch.

Friends Sara and Blakeley stopped by Sunday afternoon!

More wonderful small group friends came by Sunday evening-Brad, Karen, Connor, and Chloe Burns.

Our other small group friends Jeremy and Sarah came by Sunday evening and brought us Zaxby's!

Chillin' with Grandma in the hospital on Monday.

Also on Monday, some of our very best friends from Murfreesboro made the trip to meet Henry! What a wonderful surprise! Abby, Ashly, and Noah...we've sure known these guys for a long time. I know they all thought it was about time we jumped on the kid bandwagon and became parents ourselves!! :) We love you guys!

My good friend Jessica came by with her two cute kids-Kalena and Gavriel on Monday afternoon. Gavriel just turned one and wanted to get his hands on Henry!

On Monday evening Michael, Jenn, Sawyer, and Autumn came by to say hello! Sawyer was so sweet to Henry!

And, of course, Dr. Light came by to check on me and we had to snap a photo! He was just the doctor I needed through this whole pregnancy, and I prayed the whole time that He would be the one to deliver Henry. Thank you, God, for answering that prayer! I wouldn't have wanted it any other way! What a great doc!

Henry comparisons

We've been trying to figure out who Henry looks like. This is Steven's hospital picture...see below that Henry is wearing the same shirt! We brought it to the hospital with us so we could get a photo of the same shirt 30 years later. Both were born at Huntsville Hospital. Around here, that is not a big deal to most people, but Steven's family moved around quite a bit as he was growing up and only lived in Ardmore, AL for about 3 years.

Too bad we didn't get Henry with his eyes open. Not much seems the same...maybe head shape? Maybe mouth/chin? Steven says he looks like an angry baby in his hospital picture!

Here is Steven with his mom and big sister on his first day home from the hospital. Look closely and you can see the fancy Lacoste sleeper he is wearing.

Fast-forward 30 years, and here is Steven's mom again holding her baby's baby in the same Lacoste sleeper! Too cute!

Here is a picture of me in the hospital...I guess Henry got some of his hair from me? Where did all that hair come from??!! It is hard to tell at this point if he has any of my features. I guess he will just be his own man!

Namesake

I was hoping this article would show up scanned in, but oh well! I just wanted to share the neat background on our Henry's name and birth date. As it turns out, Steven's great-grandfather Carl Sietmann, shares a birthday with our Henry-February 26! And what is even cooler is that Carl's father's name was Henry Sietmann! Both were well respected business men in the community and were important figures in Steven's grandmother's life, so we are thrilled we could honor family like that! He is the 4th generation Lawrence on the Hough side, too. Steven, Steven's dad, and Steven's granddad are all Lawrences, so Henry's middle name was only fitting!

The Next Day...

One funny thing I kept reading in the Bradley method books was the "celebratory orange juice" that was shared after giving birth. So when I had my own OJ the morning after Henry was born, I had Steven snap a photo! Oh, yes! We decided on Henry Lawrence Hough at about 6 that morning. Henry was on our list, and after seeing him, it just seemed to fit. I finally felt at peace about naming him that. There are some Henrys in my family tree, but no one I knew or wanted to claim or anything. There IS a connection with Steven's side, though, that I will blog about later. So cool!

Checking out our sweet baby boy. Where did all that hair come from??!!

Daddy and Henry

Does it look at all like I know what I am doing??....cause I don't!! We will learn together, though. :)

Hospital Happenings

Well, now that our baby boy is here, I am finding it a bit harder to find time to blog! And I have so much more to blog about! Rather than give all the details of how Henry got here, I will just give the basics. I have written everything out, trying to include every detail, to keep for myself and for Henry's baby book. Anyone who wants to know all about it, though, feel free to ask! I am happy to talk about it, and I especially want to talk to people who are about to go through it. It certainly was a crazy experience.

After laboring for about 12 hrs at home on Saturday 2/25, we got to the hospital and got all checked in by 6 pm. I was between 5-6 cm and still able to walk around and talk on the phone. I had a hep lock and was being monitored intermittently so I could stay mobile.

I progressed about 1 cm per hour. The nurses were awesome and very encouraging since they knew I was trying natural. My nurse would come in and say that all the nurses at the nurse's station were cheering me on! The were all talking about how I was still up walking around and handling it so well. That really encouraged me!

They monitored my contractions and the baby's heart rate 15 minutes out of every hour. We both always looked good, so there was no need for other interventions.

Getting a little more serious in this photo! Steven was my encourager...he gave me reminders and helped with different positions so I could be comfortable. I had a lot of my contractions in my back, so he was great at applying pressure. He was awesome, and I could NOT have done it without him. Just when you think you couldn't love someone more....

After pushing through 3 contractions, at 12:05 AM on 2/26/12, our baby came into this world! Praise God from whom all blessings flow!