To be completely transparent, Grayson is my baby NOW. We think we may want 1 more child, but you also never know what God has planned for you, so for now and maybe forever he is “THE BABY”. Grayson turns TWO today, January 19th, so I decided to share his birth story. Some people may think that a birth story is the lamest blog post ever…then don’t read it. If nothing else, this post is a sweet letter to my baby G and a reminder of the sweet way he came into this world.
My entire pregnancy with Grayson was a blur. Probably because I was working full time as a pediatric physical therapist (aka spending much of my day chasing around toddlers and making babies cry) and teaching yoga “on the side”, all while I chased around a 1 year old son (Crawford). Thankfully getting pregnant with Grayson was seamless and much easier and less stressful than my pregnancy journey to get my 1st born (I’ll leave that for another post one day…maybe). Regardless, we have been beyond blessed to easily get these 2 boys within just a few years without too many trials, and with that I will say my heart genuinely goes out to anyone that has the least bit of trouble with fertility because this stuff is REAL and out there.
Nelson and I had decided prior to getting pregnant with Grayson, that we were not going to find out the gender of our second born. Honestly, looking back, I am so happy we did this, because it made the pregnancy fly by even faster and I feel like I was excited and positively anxious to find out what we were going to end up having. One positive to not finding out, is that you kind of have to throw some control out the window, which God knows I need him to just take the wheel sometimes (well ALL the time really), and let go and just enjoy the moment. So, honestly, my pregnancy with G was crazy because it was over the holidays and we were busy with Crawford, but thankfully, we weren’t stressing over decorating a new nursery, or buying new clothes, or having another baby shower, or anything like that. We simply got to enjoy being pregnant and joyful over whichever sex was growing and developing inside my belly.
41 weeks pregnant with Grayson on the morning of January 19th, 2016
I was induced with Crawford about a week late, and figured that since I was “experienced” and it was the 2nd time around that I would maybe have Grayson on my own, but that was not the case. Although I was told at 37 weeks that this baby could come at any moment and I was already dilated 4cm, G was NOT coming out on his own. Fortunately, we were induced about a week late and things went super smooth and easy.
I’m not going to lie to you, I have barely felt a contraction through my 2 pregnancies and labors. My nurses were sweet and whispered in my ear, “As soon as you start to feel any pain or feel like the contractions are bad, you just let me know, sweetie, and we will get that Epidural in”, so there was my cue. They must have known that I have a low pain tolerance. I wasn’t playing around and as soon as I was “uncomfortable”, we called for the epidural with both babies. With Grayson, it was a rush to get it in, because I was dilating quickly, but thankfully they made it in time! And for the record, in case you are worried about the Epidural being painful, it is briefly uncomfortable while they are putting it in simply because of the position you are in, but then once it kicks in, WELL worth it. I truly admire anyone that gives birth without it, I just had no desire to do that. Grayson was born just a few hours after we were admitted to the hospital that morning for induction, and that was even with being held off from pushing to wait for the doctor to get there in time for the birth. Because of the epidural, this time was spent either resting or smiling and laughing with Nelson before our second son was born, and that in my opinion is such a gift to genuinely enjoy the moments of labor and childbirth. Fortunately, only 5 pushes later and G was out! And we found out we had our second boy!
Hello, world!
Grayson Manning Poe
Born on January 19th at 3:22pm
8 pounds 12 ounces
20.25 inches long
Crawford (21 months at the time) came up to the hospital the next day to meet his baby brother, and honestly that wasn’t the sweetest meet and greet. Because let’s get real, when you are an almost 2 year old toddler, the last thing you want in this world is a cute little baby stealing attention away from you. So, these pictures show his real feelings towards his brother…curious but skeptic, and forced to be sweet and give him a kiss (haha), because after all, Grayson was definitely coming home with us.
G’s 1st photo shoot with Wonderlight Kids just a few days later
We are so, very thankful for our sweet boys!
Grayson, Happiest of birthdays to you! Cannot believe you are already TWO! We truly fall more and more in love with you each and every day. You are equally sweet and spicy, and always loud, like your momma. You know how to melt our hearts when we walk in the room, give the biggest hugs, and the sweetest kisses. You have the ability to make up for hour long tantrums in seconds and you are constantly making us laugh. You are the class clown and love to entertain! You LOVE all kinds of food and love to sing, jump, and dance. You are OBSESSED with your big brother and he is the first thing you ask for every single morning when you wake up. You follow him around and look at him with admiring eyes, and with joy and approval when you are able to make him laugh. You are just the sweetest. We adore you and love you so, and absolutely cannot imagine the Poe fam without you in it. Time please slow down and let us savor these sweet, sweet family moments. We love you! ~ “Mommy”
XO
Shana
