The Bunnell's

One of my favorite things about the place I delivered Ledger was that they came to our house for his 1st checkup. No loading baby in the car and going to have blood drawn at the hospital. It was so nice and the nurses that came were so sweet and really cared about how Ledger and I were doing.

Papa & GG were on their way home from Utah and could not pass through without meeting their 2nd Great grandson.

Ledger did have a little jaundice but his levels never reached the point that they were worried. Just to be sure I set him in the sun a few times to let this little dude soak up some Vitamin D.

This little cutie is the best big brother!

My attempt and fail at getting a cute pic with me and my boys!

I made this dum dum tree (thank you pinterest) for my friend Lindsay's baby shower. No one ate any dum-dum's off it so I decided to use it as my Halloween candy!

We got home from the Hospital Sunday the 30th of October and the next day was Halloween. My mom was super prepared and had bought both of my boys skeleton pajamas. It was perfect for a newborn and Cohen loved his too.

TJ took Cohen out trick or treating and my mom and I traded off handing out candy and snuggling baby skeleton.

Business in the front, party in the back. Ledge had a pretty sweet mullet from the beginning.

Cohen adjusted very well and very quickly to having a baby brother. He wanted to be swaddled like the baby, read his baby brother stories, hold him, help burp, and help change his diapers. Most of the time though Cohen was pretty content with just doing his own thing.

A few more pics of my cute babies.

Disclosure: I wrote a very detailed post of all the things I wanted to remember so you may just want to skip to the pictures.

From the beginning when deciding to try and get pregnant with baby #2 we thought it would be cool to have a baby on 11/11/11. 11 has always been one of my favorite numbers. We decided we would try for a month then take a couple months off if it didn't happen the first month because I didn't want a Christmas baby. I wanted to be able to still go home to Idaho for our Christmas that year. So to our amazement I got pregnant the first month of trying and my due date was 11/01/11. Still pretty cool right? My dad told me to just try to hold out for the 11th but I didn't not want to add an 11 pound baby to the stats. With Cohen I was induced and had such a great experience. I decided, being the planner that I am, that is what I would do again. I always thought I would induce the 1st but when we looked at TJ's schedule it made a lot more sense to induce the 28th right before midterms started. That way we wouldn't have to worry about me going in to labor in the middle of all his tests, and my mom could be here while he was having a long week at school. Okay enough background.

We had planned to get up around 5 that morning but TJ must have hit the snooze button a couple of times. We got up, got ready, and we were out the door by 5:40. It was a cold morning which didn't help my nerves. TJ had left the car seat outside all night sitting by the passenger door of the Xterra. We felt lucky that it wasn't stolen or that it didn't rain. We got to the hospital and took a quick picture by the Birthing Center sign and rode the elevator up to the 3rd floor.

We sat down and signed in. Some woman was rushed in that was in labor while we were calmly waiting to get induced. Another reason I'm so happy to get induced. No stress, no rushing, everything is controlled! Just the way I like it! We headed back to room 305 and met our amazing nurse Stephanie. I quickly changed into my hospital gown and the IV attempts began. I warned Stephanie that the worst part of my last labor was getting the IV and that my veins are awful. Sure enough she tried twice and both blew. Stephanie then brought in another nurse who tried twice and both also blew. 3rd nurse was the charm apparently and she thankfully got it on the first try. In addition they were drawing my blood from different places at the same time. My hands and arms looked horrendous and were more sore than anything else from labor and delivery. Around 7 I was finally situated and ready to see the Doctor. My nurse Stephanie informed me that they would be breaking my water then starting the Pitocin. This terrified me because with Cohen they gave me the epidural then broke my water. I'm such a wimp. Dr. Kramer came in and I was dilated to a 3 1/2. She broke my water and it didn't hurt at all. Stephanie started my PIT and told me to plan for an hour and a half before I would get my epidural. I ordered it right away not knowing how I may be feeling in an hour and a half. The contractions never got painful though and lucky for me the girl who was rushed in was getting her epidural so they were coming to do mine next while they were there. At 7:45 the came in and by about 8:00 I was numb and in the clear for another pain free delivery. Then the nausea hit. After every contraction my blood pressure would drop super low. I was feeling 100 times worse between contractions then during them. They gave me some medicine and finally got it under control. With Cohen they started my epidural very slowly and it must have been a much lower dose. I never got sick during labor and I could still feel contractions enough to push but not feel pain. I've since learned from some CRNA neighbors to ask for the lowest setting and then you can always have them turn it up if you feel to much. Good to know right. Anyway, my anesthesiologist gave me a very large "sample dose" and it took some meds to get my blood pressure to finally stabilize. Lets be clear that I'm not complaining. I would much rather be sick for a half our than be in pain for hours. From 9:00 to 10:00 TJ and I relaxed and listened to music while we tried to catch a few ZZZ's before baby came. It appeared that I was having lots of strong contractions but I didn't feel a thing.

At 10:00 Steph checked me and I was only dilated to a 5. Like Cohen, Ledger was turned the wrong way so he wasn't progressing. Stephanie had me roll to my side for 15 mins, then came in and had me roll to the other side. I told them with Cohen I had to go up on my hands and knees and within a half hour he was turned and ready to go. So up on my hands and knees I went. My goal was a half hour, because that had done the trick with Cohen, and half hour is exactly what I hit. Not a minute more. After that I went back to my side and Stephanie said we switch sides a couple more times and then she would check me at noon. When she came in at 11:30 to have me switch sides I mentioned that I was feeling a little pressure. She asked if I wanted her to check me and I said yes! Right before she came in I had told TJ that I was feeling pressure and the I better at least be dilated to a 7. Steph checked me and I was and 10 and ready to push. She got everything set up and ready and had me push once. Then she told me I was going to push 1 more time and we were going to get Dr. Kramer. I pushed once more and she told me to stop. Dr Kramer came in and Steph told me to not make a liar out of her and show Dr. Kramer how well I could push. I pushed once and Ledger's head was out. I pushed again and he was here. (much easier then the hour of pushing with Cohen) On the way out Ledger swallowed fluid so it took a few seconds before we heard him cry. I could tell he didn't have dark hair like his brother and asked if it was red. It looked a lot more red when he first came out then after we got him all cleaned up.

Ledger Justin Bunnell

7 pounds 10 oz

19 inches
Born 10/28/2011
11:55 a.m.
Liberty, MO

TJ held him most of the time for the 1st couple of hours becuse my blood pressure went wacky again. I thought eating may help but I threw up half way through scarfing down lunch. After throwing up though I felt so much better. My guess is my body got an overdose and just need to rid itself of it and I felt amazing. I couldn't believe how good I felt. I was ready to go home...seriously. Both my labors and deliveries were cake. But recovery with Ledger was soooo much easier then it was with Cohen.

I worried that I wouldn't be able to love a 2nd child as much as I did Cohen but every second I spent with him I fell more and more in love. Having a newborn is like getting to have piece of heaven with you! We love you so much Ledger and could not imagine our life without you. We feel so blessed to have you in our home. I wish I could protect you from everything. I know I cannot do that though so I promise to kiss every boo boo, comfort you when you are sick, cry with you when you are hurt, pray for you, teach you, and love you as much as I possibly can. Thanks for choosing us. We love you, we love you, we love you.

When Cohen came to meet baby brother we hadn't officially decided on a name. Cohen came in calling him baby "Dedgers," and we were sold. Ledger it is.

Nana Mimi was so nice to come stay with Cohen while we were away. It was so nice knowing he could be in his own house and so well taken care of. He loved coming to hang out with his new buddy in the hospital though and I missed him so much that I loved every second I got with both my boys.

I also have to add that the day Ledger was born the last game of the World Series was on. TJ requested that I get the baby out in plenty of time for us to watch and enjoy the game. Sure thing Teej, sure thing. Anyways, I did do my job in plenty of time for us to not only have baby, meet big brother and relax before the game. TJ got the second best present that day when the Cards won their 11th World Series title.

Another visit from brother the next day.

Such a proud big brother!

They finally let us go home on Sunday the 30th. All dressed and ready to make the trip home.

Mirae and Jay left soon after we got home and we had a couple of hours as new family of four to ourselves. Then we headed to the airport to pick up my mom. My neighbor brought us over dinner that included cupcakes, (Cohen's favorite) for Ledger's birthday celebration. Cohen was ecstatic and kept running over to tell "dedgers" about the cupcakes. We sang happy birthday and welcomed our sweet new baby boy into our home.