Happy Halloween!

Two Weeks

It's hard to believe that it's been two weeks since Langdon was born. It feels like he's always been a part of our family. Funny how that works! He continues to be such a good baby. He is a great eater and sleeper (so far). He went four hours between feedings last night (had only gone three before that) and the extra hour made a very happy Mama. Hopefully he'll be sleeping through the night as early as his big sister did!

Speaking of his big sister, Mary Laine is continuing to adjust well to having a new baby around. She loves to hold him and give him kisses. She had a cold last week, so we would only let her kiss his feet. She didn't go a day without asking if she could give him kisses on the cheek, though. (And he ended up catching the cold anyway, but is almost completely over it.) We went for some newborn pictures yesterday, and Mary Laine was so excited that she got to hold and kiss Langdon again. I hope that she continues to be this sweet with him.

We can tell that he is already growing and changing so much. It happens so fast!

Langdon at two weeks

One Week

Yesterday was Langdon's one week "birthday". I sent Gary out to get a stuffed animal for us to use for his comparison pictures (we did this with Mary Laine and her Bitty Baby Doll). Gary very appropriately chose Thumper (I mentioned in my last post that we call Langdon "Thumper" because of his long rabbit-like feet). So, here is our precious son at one week:

And to show you how much he looks like his sister, I pulled her one week photo out of the archives:

Langdon

I am so behind on my "Adventures of Mary Laine" posts, but I know that the grandparents are anxious to see pictures of their newest grandson, so I'll jump ahead a little and post about Langdon. Words cannot express how thankful we are that he is here (and, of course, that bedrest is OVER!!). As I mentioned in an earlier post, I stopped taking my contraction-stopping meds on Monday morning. Throughout the day on Monday, the contractions continued to get stronger, but were intermittent. I didn't sleep at all on Monday night because the contractions were pretty intense, but then they slowed down again on Tuesday morning. They continued to build in strength and frequency throughout the day. Gary and I were able to go out to lunch (McAlister's), to see a movie (The Social Network), and then out to dinner (Biaggi's). After some pretty painful contractions at dinner, Gary encouraged me to go to the hospital to get checked out. We arrived at the hospital at 7:15pm and were so thankful to see my doctor's smiling face as soon as we walked through the doors - she had switched with another doctor to take call that night and so she was able to deliver our baby (she had been out of town when Mary Laine was born). When we checked in, they told us that we would definitely be having a baby that night, but I wasn't sure what to expect. I thought that it may be a long night of waiting. I was very wrong! Things happened very quickly (as they did with Mary Laine) and I had the baby only about 3 1/2 hours after arriving at the hospital. We found out after Langdon was born that the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck (we did see that his heartrate was dropping everytime that I had a contraction), but thankfully he came so quickly that he wasn't hurt by it.

I think that the first thing that I said when I saw him was "he looks like Mary Laine!". There are definitely some major differences, but I can see so many similarities in them as well. The major difference that we have noted is that Mary Laine has very small hands and feet, while Langdon has incredibly long hands/fingers and feet/toes. We very affectionately call him "Thumper". :-)

He has been such a joy so far. He is a great eater, sleeper, and just a very content baby. We went for our follow-up doctor's appointment today and he is only 2 oz lighter than he was at birth and everything else looked great. And Mary Laine is a very sweet big sister. She loves to give her baby brother hugs and kisses and I think that she is proud to show off how gentle that she can be with him.

And now, what I know that most people have skimmed over the other stuff to see - the pictures:

Last family shot before I left to camp out in Jackson until the baby came

Mimi brought Mary Laine to Jackson to spend the day with us on Monday. We went to the Natural Science Museum and she loved the fish!

Checking into the hospital

Langdon with Kathryn's cousin Micajah

Happy family of four

Langdon with Cindy Mercer

Langdon with Aunt Su-Su

Langdon with Dr. Meck - so thankful that she was on call!

Langdon with his great-uncle Mike

Headed home from the hospital

The O'Briens came to welcome us home

Not happy about his first bath

My sweet friends came and decorated the house and left goodies for our arrival

So so thankful for great friends!

First Wake Forest football game -

as a Deacon fan, Langdon is going to have to learn to live with disappointment

My sweet cheerleader and football player

Still smiling even though we lost. Go Deacs!!

Behind the Name

We have named our son Langdon James Dyksterhouse in an effort once again to honor our two families and the legacy that they have passed down to us as parents. Langdon comes from Kathryn’s grandfather on her mother’s side, whose name was William Arden Langdon. As you might imagine there is not a huge precedence for using the name Langdon as a first name, but much to Kathryn’s sister’s and cousins’ chagrin, we have chosen Langdon as the name of our first born son. Granddaddy (as Kathryn always called him) was a man that was respected by many. Kathryn always knew him to be quiet and patient, tender and kind. He was dedicated and passionate. We pray that Langdon will inherit some of these qualities of his namesake. Gary's father is a man created in much the same mold as Kathryn's Grandaddy, and we are so happy that Grammy Dyksterhouse (Gary's mom) pointed out that we included 'Don' in the naming of our child. While we do not support the pronouncing of our boy's name as langDON, we are so happy that our boy incorporates the names of two of the kindest, most dedicated men that we have ever known.

We gave our son the middle name of James out of respect for the Dyksterhouse family, although James is also a prevalent name on the Sturdivant side (James Walker – Kathryn’s paternal great-grandfather, James Walker Sturdivant & James Walker Sturdivant Jr.). Gary’s middle name is James, and all the males in Gary’s immediate family have a middle name that begins with the letter J (Donald Jay, Andrew John, Gary James, and James Jay). One of the most famous James in Biblical history was James, son of Zebedee. He and his brother John formed the sons of thunder and were the first two disciples to answer Jesus’ call to ministry. We hope that our son is open to Jesus’ call whenever and whatever that call might be, and that he would always be known as someone who is willing to stand up for his beliefs.

We also want to use this forum to send out a special thanks to everyone that was so instrumental in little Langdon James Dyksterhouse being born into this world. Having a child in the Dyksterhouse family is truly a community effort, and we could not have done it without all of your support. It is a common expression that it takes a village to raise a child, but in our case it takes a village just to have one, and we are so grateful for the village in which God has placed our family.

Langdon James Dyksterhouse Arrives!

Our baby boy has arrived! Thank you so much for the prayers, phone calls, texts, emails, and thoughts. We would have never made it through this process without all the support and love of our friends and family.

Langdon's recruiting profile is as follows:

Name: Langdon James Dyksterhouse

Goes By: Langdon

Height: 19 1/2inches

Weight: 6lbs 9oz

Birthdate: October 12, 2010

Birthtime: 10:50pm

We Made It!!

Well, it's 4:00am and I've been up since 2:30 unable to sleep. I don't know if it's the huge dinner I had to eat last night (my nurse gave me permission - even encouraged me - to go out to eat since I would be stopping all meds and possibly go into labor tomorrow), the discomfort at being 8+ months pregnant, or the excitement that I am about to stop my last miserable, contraction-stopping medication. Whatever the reason, I am wide awake. Maybe my body is just preparing for those 2am feedings that are just around the corner.

And, to add to the excitement of stopping all meds, I hit another "milestone" in my pregnancy yesterday. My friend Stephanie gave birth to her sweet son, Yates, at 4:59pm yesterday. Stephanie is a high school friend who I have reconnected with during this pregnancy. Her daughter, Charlie Rogan, is only 3 weeks older than Mary Laine. Stephanie had a difficult pregnancy with Charlie Rogan and delivered her at 29 weeks. They had a very difficult journey with a long NICU stay. I am thankful to say that sweet Charlie Rogan is doing great today. Stephanie has been such a great support to me throughout this pregnancy as she has been going through many of the same things in her own pregnancy. And it looks like our sons will only be days or weeks apart in age as well. I knew that it would be so encouraging to see pictures of her with her healthy son post-delivery. Congratulations Stephanie and Robert!! Yates is adorable and we can't wait to get together for a playdate!!

On that note, I am off to take out my t-pump RIGHT NOW!!! I can't believe that I'm actually stopping the meds... I really never thought that this day would come. My doctor and nurses all believe that labor will start fairly soon after I'm off of everything. I hope they're right. It's been a very long last 11 weeks of bedrest and I'm ready for my son to be here! Hopefully the next post that you will see on here will be our hospital pictures with the baby!

Baby Update - 36 weeks!

I have officially made it to 36 weeks!! I can honestly say that I really never thought that I'd see this day. I had a doctor's appointment this morning and everything looks good. The baby appears to be big (hopefully not too big, though!), healthy, and low. The plan is to stop all of my medicines that stop the contractions on Sunday night/Monday morning. Dr. Meck said that my chances of making it too long after that point are very slim. I am thrilled at the prospect of actually being able to come off of bedrest before the baby's here. Not that I'll have any strength to get up and do much, but it will still be nice. And I have hopefully had the last of my shots before my hospital admission - I received my FINAL 17P injection this morning (WOO HOO!) and I think that I may be able to make it without having to move my t-pump site again. That in itself is reason to celebrate.

I'm expecting that our next post will be from the hospital, but if there's one thing that we've learned in my pregnancies, it is to expect the unexpected. Thank you all for your continued love, support, and prayers!

Time to Take a Bath Today!

Mary Laine reading in the bathtub.