the everydays

MADDOX RYAN LILLIS
after going in for our 37(almost 38 week) doc appt, doc realized my amniotic fluid was leaking so we had to deliver within 24 hrs...i reeeeaally didn't want to be induced since that was so not fun with mia so doc stripped my membranes (yeah, about as fun as it sounds..) so we hung around franklin all day until finally around 5pm nothing had happened & i called doc-she said to go ahead & head to hospital for her to break my water to get things going...i was super dissapointed because i hoped for it to kinda happen on its own but we got there around 7 & checked in...doc got there around 8 & broke my water at 8:22 (i was 4cm) at 9pm i was 5cm..at 10pm i was 9cm & by 10:15 we were ready to push & at 10:34 our sweet little man was born!

all along, i had hoped to go without an epidural...after 3 deliveries with one, i just wanted to know what it was like without one..aaaaannnd i was strangely excited about the challenge of doing it without one...once doc said i was ready to push & still hadn't had my epidural yet, i was kinda freaking out..thinking 'this was way easier than i thought it would be' & 'should i hurry up & get one because pushing with out one panicked me!' ...no time for it tho because little man was coming! after a few quick pushes, he was here... he didn't cry for what seemed like minutes & he was soo swollen & bruised but he was oh so perfect to us :)

so relieved he's finally here!

our sweet doctor..haven't done-& hopefully never will do a delivery without her!

was so glad it worked out to where mia could be in the room when he was born, here she is getting her first glance..

from mississippi to knoxville, everyone made it in time :)

their first sight of him around 10:30pm :)

braxton just couldn't (& still cant) get enough of him..

first bath at 3am..

day 1 of life! one thing i noticed this go round was how ALERT he was compared to the others..from the moment he was born he was wide eyed..i chalk this up to not being sedated by the epidural but who knows?

from the get-go, mia has been excited about changing his diapers, so it was convenient that she was there to take care of his first..

tradition with meg meg..heading down to the gift shop to pick out his animal..braxton is still attached to the dog she got for him when he was born..

i love this pic of chance..when he held mia for the first time, he was stiff as a board & wouldnt move i guess out of fear of dropping her & now he looks so relaxed & at ease with it...

poor little guy's juandice got bad & he had to stay under lights..leading us to stay an extra day at the hospital

they let us go home under the condition that we kept him under the 'bili-blanket'...a blanket with UV lights wrapped around him...finally on friday we got the all clear that his bili levels had dropped to 15 & we could 'unplug' him :) we're so grateful for this new life & believe it's nothing short of a miracle-

so, my sweet friends melissa & ericka threw baby boy a shower & it was such a special day.. i felt a little awkward having a shower for my 4th but melissa made such a good point that it was just a nice time to have everyone together just to celebrate our new little man...she came up with a 'spa' theme & the thought that they put into every detail was so obvious. we got our nails done, had warm neck wraps while soaking our footsies, a smoothie bar, & complete with adorable spa food (yes, adorable) including key lime cupcakes with raspberry filling/icing! i'm so grateful to have so many special people part of our lives. thank you guys!