welcome to the planet, penelope jean

i met margaret (you probably call her margaux, BUT that is not really her name) in third grade. even at the young age of nine, margaret was really into going to college and having a career and helping out the advancement of women. yes, it's true... she was a teeny tiny feminist. i, on the other hand, had big plans to get married young and have a million kids that i would drive around in my minivan. i told margaret that i was sure we would grow up and have kids together. she said she wasn't sure if she wanted to get married. well, i don't want to come right out and say... what cortney wants, cortney gets, but i will say this...

i am more that thrilled to announce that margaret and her wonderful husband ;) pat, welcomed their daughter, penelope pierce into the world on january 29th. margaret had a looooong labor and was a serious trooper and is looking amazing in the birthing aftermath! might i mention that penelope came a mere three weeks after beckett. they will certainly be lifelong friends. i am so excited to share this next big chapter in our lives, as i always knew we would. congrats to margaret and pat... penelope is really just too cute to handle.

a note for margaret... margaret, i know you said you maybe only wanted one child, but you should accept now that i know the fate of your future better than you do and penelope has siblings in her future for sure! no worries though, you have this mom thing down. 

splish splash, first official bath

beckett loves the bath... so much. he looks like a little old drunk man while in the tub, and i love it. we kind of want to bathe him like ten times a day, but the doctor says only twice a week so he doesn't get too dry and shriveled up. these pictures are from the 18th... so he was 11 days old. whoop.

getting out is the worst...

sittin'... waitin'... wishin'

oh, the waiting room. beckett had no shortage of friends and family awaiting his arrival just outside the door of our hospital room. of course in typical new baby fashion, beckett army crawled his way out (matt and i watched a show on babies being born and it literally looks like they are army crawling out of the birth canal!) in the middle of the night. so, his welcome party was quite the rager... lasting all night and into the morning.

aren't they a lovely group? beckett was thrilled (sleepy, but thrilled) to meet each and every one of these special people and matt and i felt very blessed to have so much support at the hospital and help coming home. i can't believe that there are single mothers out there that bring babies into the world all alone. i could hardly do it without a team of ten. a big fat "i can't thank you enough" to everyone who traveled, and bought stuff, and visited, and lost sleep, and cleaned, and held a sleeping baby. i owe you my first born... or not!  

 b and his yiayia

 b and his papa

 b and his grandpa and grandma

 b and his aunt saige

 b and his bestie jenni

b and his friend-o misty

a baby delivery story

beckett is here! he is pretty much perfect in every way and delivering him was easy peasy... kind of. matt was amazing in the room with me and beckett had a whole cheering team that sat in the waiting room all night long, BUT this post is about my delivery. more to come on all the magical support i had in later posts. 

on january 6th (my due date) i woke up early in the morning and felt weird. the constant pressure i had been feeling on my pelvic bone was gone and i couldn't feel the baby moving. i instantly started to stress out and push on my belly to try and get beckett to respond, but nothing. after about half an hour i woke up matt and started to tell him that something seemed not right. as soon as i said the words out loud, i threw myself into a total panic. we rushed to the doctor's office and she found his little heartbeat right away. she decided to monitor me just in case and after about an hour, was not totally happy with the results and decided it was baby time! yes, it was my due date and i knew that beckett's entrance into this world was quickly approaching, but hearing that i was not leaving the hospital without a baby was a little bit... um... terrifying. i was not in labor and still only 2cm dilated, so the doctor put a foley catheter in (a small balloon that forces your cervix to dilate to 4cm) as a way to try and naturally induce me. i checked into the hospital around 11am and then we waited. and waited. slowly i started having contractions and by 7pm they were getting a little intense. at 9pm my nurse checked me and my catheter fell out and my water broke. yea for my body going into labor without the use of drugs! i was 5.5cm dilated and was offered the epidural, but decided to labor as long as possible before having one. that lasted about two seconds. the contractions were so close together i could not get any relief and i wanted some help, like immediately! of course the anesthesiologist was busy with another patient and it was 11pm when he came to do the epidural... i was 7.5cm dilated. the epidural was magical and i was able to rest for a little bit until i started feeling seriously sick. as my hormones went kookoo bananas preparing me for labor, i started throwing up. at 3am i was fully dilated and i decided to "labor down" and rest before i started pushing. at 3:30am i was still sick, but tired of trying to rest and decided to start pushing. i pushed and pushed and pushed and pushed some more and by 6am i had made little progress and was exhausted. also, my epidural medication had worn off and the anesthesiologist was not able to get back to me. i'll just say going from feeling very little pain at 10cm to feeling everything was not my favorite... at all. the general ob doctor came in (my doctor was with another patient) and told me that my pelvis was just too small and the baby had been in the birth canal too long and it was time to prepare for a c-section. my nurse asked about a vacuum delivery and he said that he wouldn't do it. i was at a loss. i was tired and in pain and confused and i kept saying i didn't want the c-section and i was told i had no options. i signed the paperwork for the surgery and just then my doctor came in. she discussed things with the general doctor and came over and said as a last ditch effort, she would try the vacuum if it was really important to me. i said it was and she told me i had 3 tries to get him out. after my third push, i would be rushed immediately to the operating room for the c-section. ahh! too much pressure! i got my epidural refilled (thank goodness!!!) and pushed like i had never pushed before. after my third  push the doctor yelled, "cortney you are so close, i am giving you one more try... get him out!" and... drumroll... i did! WOO HOO! at 7:15am on january 7th, all 8 pounds, 4 ounces and 22 inches of beckett kol pennebaker was born! the doctor put him on my chest and matt cried while i stared in shock at the little person who had been inside me for 9 months. i still can't wrap my mind around it really. it is pretty cool though.