Erickson James Broffitt - Day 1

We arrived at the hospital shortly after 8:00am on Saturday. They monitered the baby and preped me for surgery, etc. If you can't tell from the look on my face...we were very excited to meet the newest addition to our family.

At 10:06, Erickson James was born via c-section. Dr. Wenzel delivered him and Dr. Pentico was there to take care of him right away. He weighed almost exactly one pound less than his big sister and was 21 inches, 1 inch shorter than Sylvia.

Dr. Wenzel commented on how much hair he had and said he had big shoulders as she delivered him. She later told me that she thought he looked like a boy but didn't say anything until she knew he was. He didn't cry much at all in the delivery room.

After Dr. Pentico checked him out more thouroughly, Dan brought him up for me to see.

Dan took him back to our labor room and I joined them shortly after and got to nurse him. About an hour later, Erickson headed to the nursery for a bath, etc. and we called our family to announce his arrival.

Not too much later and we were all moved to our postpartum room. Daddy enjoyed some snuggles from our alert little boy.

There is nothing better than holding a brand new baby in your arms.


Sylvia spent the morning with my parents and went to swimming lessons. She got to eat lunch with all four grandparents. Dan's parents stayed with her during her nap and then brought her up to meet Erickson. My parents also came up. Although Sylvia did not like the hospital room and all the equiptment mommy was hooked up to, she immediately wanted to see Erickson and hold him.

She is a proud big sister.


Grandpa, Grandma, Nana and Papa also like him a lot.

39.5 Weeks

We'll let you know soon how big this baby actually is.

Pregnancy Update

My blog posts usually include lots of pictures and very few words because I figure that's what most of you want to see anyway...and I'm not a big writer. But, as I laid in bed at 5:00 this morning not being able fall asleep, I felt like I should do a little writing.

Almost 9 months ago, Dan and I found out that we were expecting our second child. After attempting a natural birth with Sylvia and ending up in a c-section, we immediately knew that we wanted try a VBAC with this baby. Throughout the pregnancy we have experienced wonderful care from the midwives at the University of Iowa Hospitals. Early on in the pregnancy, I began measuring slightly ahead but there was no evidence at that point that a natural birth would not be possible. Baby continued to grow well and I controlled my weight gain much better than I did with Sylvia in hopes that it would help make baby #2 a bit smaller than Sylvia. You may remember that she entered this world at a whopping 10lb 15oz.

A couple of weeks ago, one of the midwives suggested we get an ultrasound to help determine the approximate size of the baby because again I have measured large with this baby. Although ultrasounds are not always accurate, the information we were presented with at our 39 week ultrasound made us begin to question our plans for a VBAC. After difficulty even measuring the baby's head and abdomen, the technician estimated our baby to weight 10lb 2oz. The concerns with a large baby combined with attempting a VBAC are shoulder dystocia (for baby) and uterine rupture (for mom).

After much prayer, research, consulting, and a few tears we have decided to schedule a c-section. Although we have loved our care with the midwives at the University, we will be having baby #2 on Saturday morning at Mercy Hospital with Dr. Wenzel. We originally chose to go to the University because we felt like we'd have a better chance of a VBAC with the midwives and technology available. However, after choosing to do a c-section, we felt more comfortable returning to Mercy, where we experienced great care when Sylvia was born. We will now be able to have the same doctor deliver both of our children and our family doctor will be able to care for the baby after birth.

If you've made it this far in this post, I would ask you to pray that I do not go into labor before Saturday, for Dr. Wenzel and that surgery would go smoothly, for mom and baby to both stay healthy and recover quickly, and for Sylvia to adjust well to her new roll as big sister.

4 Weeks to Go

Sylvia saw this picture on Yahoo's homepage the other day and said, "baby."

Our Upcoming Arrival

I am now 39 weeks and 2 days pregnant. I wasn't counting until a couple of weeks ago when I got put on "bed rest." I now spend most of my time in a recliner in our newly remodeled family room...although I do make frequent trips to the bathroom. I usually try to accomplish at least one thing while I'm already on my feet. Our family and friends have been wonderful and have helped out so much. My kitchen and bathroom have both been cleaned, my grocery shopping has been done, errands have been run, meals have been dropped off, and our kitchen even got a new coat of paint. Needless to say, we are ready for the arrival of our little one any day now.

This is what I looked like as of October 26.