He has arrived! (You can just scroll through and see the pictures if you don’t want to know all the dirty details!!)

We were supposed to be induced on Monday, but received a call from the hospital that morning telling us that they would be postponing us. They told us the would call when they were ready for us. We went to bed that night pretty bummed.

But the call we were waiting for was just around the corner…we received it at 3:30 in the morning. We called our niece over to stay with the kids and we were to the hospital by 4:30.  I was already having sporadic contractions when we arrived so they hooked me up with some pitocin to speed up the process. My platelets were remarkably low, so in order to to get an epidural, I had to have it inserted right after getting there, they just didn’t hook me up to any medicine. About an hour later, the doctor came by and broke my water, after which I had my epidural hooked up to the good stuff! After two additional doses, I was finally not feeling as much pain.

Within two hours the doctor was there and I was ready to push. I remember thinking at the time how different this experience was from Hallie’s birth. With Hallie I had no clue what the pushing process would entail and I remember feeling a lot of anxiety and being nervous. But the third time around, I knew what was around the corner and I was ready for it. I pushed through several contractions but he was having a hard time getting around my pelvic bone. Same problem I had with the other two. But with a couple more strong pushes I was relieved to hear, “One more really good push.” And before long I had a sweet little baby boy laid on my chest.

He weighed in at 7lbs 13oz, (just an ounce less than Hunter) and 20 inches long. He was everything I had hoped he would be. Healthy and strong.

Immediately I could see Hunter in him and I had these visions of the two of them getting in to all sorts of trouble together!

We made our way to our recovery room and settled in. I was tired, but still alert. I think I was just tired from being up so early, of course, labor didn’t help my cause! But I felt surprisingly good, especially after I could finally feel my legs again!

Our first privileged guests were Steve’s sister Christy and James. Followed by Steve’s sister Laurel who so kindly watched our kids for the day and brought them for a visit.

Hallie was more than excited to get her hands on him and she sat so proudly with him in her arms. Hunter bounced around the room, not sure what to make of the situation. He held him for approximately 10 seconds before he said, “I’m done.” I’m not sure he realized at that point that we would be bringing the baby home with us!! They left a short while later and I had an immediate hole in my heart as I watched my two children who seemed so old, wave at me as they walked out the door.

We had a quiet evening before we had a couple more family visitors to end our night. By the end of the day, I was more than exhausted. It had been a long and eventful day that started very early that morning. It felt good to have the bed recline all the way down as my eyes grew heavy and even better was having Steve there with me. Laurel graciously took our kids for the night so Steve could stay with me. I needed that.

I wouldn’t say I got much rest during the night and morning came way to early. Steve spent the day with Hallie and Hunter while I continued to rest in the hospital. We had more great visitors who helped pass the time and I could feel my body regaining it’s strength with each passing hour.

By Thursday, I was more than ready to get home. I hadn’t been outside my room in 48 hours. I was starting to feel claustrophobic and anxious. I started the discharge process early that morning, finally filling out the paperwork declaring the name of “Baby Boy Pothier” as Bennett Oxnam Pothier. With a name in place we were ready to make our way home. As a family of five.





I won’t lie, I was a little overwhelmed as we pulled away in our car. I was exhausted. Physcially and emotionally. But I was more than excited to have a new addition to our family. How blessed we are to have Bennett here safe and sound.