I’m a father. Kara & I are parents! It still sounds weird for me to hear or say. Our parents are now grandparents and Kelly became Auntie Kel. On May 20th, 2013 at 8:36 pm, after 20 hours of labor ending in a c-section, Winnie Christine Smith was born and it changed our lives forever.
We found out the great news that Kara was pregnant way back in September. Feels like forever now. I came home from work and Kara was waiting for me in the kitchen to tell me. We kept it a secret until after we got the first ultrasound.
Kara’s parents and Kelly were coming over to carve pumpkins about a week or two before Halloween. Earlier, I had printed a “We’re Pregnant” sign and taped it to one of the pumpkins sitting on the kitchen island before everyone got there. It was to look as though that was my pumpkin and the piece of paper taped to it would be my design that I would carve (I win ALL the carving contests). Just as Kara’s parents and Kelly arrived, Kara was burning (picture a lot of smoke) the hash-browns for breakfast. Macee, Kelly’s dachshund, came over too and the dogs were going crazy. We all said our hellos in the midst of the controlled chaos that was going on. Our plan was to all have breakfast together and then carve our pumpkins, it’s a family tradition. I stood back, Kara tended to the stove, and we waited as her parents and Kelly made their way around the kitchen island where the big announcement was. Kelly and her mom got to the sign first and I was anticipating the reaction I had played in my head over and over again the night before. And then I waited… and waited… Kara’s mom didn’t initially pick up on what the sign said because it wasn’t exactly the best printout, plus how was she supposed to know such a big announcement was taped to a pumpkin! But then Kelly figured it out, and then began to cry, a lot. She fought through the tears to read aloud what the sign said, “We’re Pregnant!”, and the waterworks began to flow, this was the reaction I was expecting! It was great and a wonderful memory I won’t ever forget.
The big announcement!
Here is what was supposed to be our delivery room. We were in here for over 20 hrs.
This is the last photo taken of Kara & I before we were officially parents!
This is the very first picture I took of Winnie.
Paging Dr. Smith… Yes, that’s me cutting the umbilical cord!
Here Winnie is getting her footprints transferred to her “All About Me” page.
Winnie gets to meet Mommy for the first time via some cheek-to-cheek.
Her unofficial nickname is One Eyed Winnie.
I love this picture. Kara was downstairs for about an hour before being able to come up and get settled in the new room. Winnie and I were in the nursery and after she got her 1st bath Mommy was rolling by. The nurse was nice enough to hold Winnie up for Kara to see.
This is the 1st morning, Kara bought this strawberry hat off Etsy.
I could stare at this face all day.
Winnie is now 1 month old as I type this post. It’s funny because when you are in the hospital you have the nurses coming in all the time. Seems like every hour or two someone would be in to check on us and Winnie. We also could ask the nursery to take Winnie for a few hours over night while we got some sleep in our room which was nice. Looking back on it now it was great. And then comes the day you get discharged to go home! You’re excited. The nurse came in to see us out and I had to put Winnie in her car seat for the first time. The nurse looked on intently as if I was being tested. That’s a lot of pressure! I felt like I was trying to buckle her up with two left hands. I must of passed though because they allowed us to take her home. I probably drove about 15 mph taking Winnie home from the hospital because I was scared the nurse was still testing me. But once you get home it hits you, there are no more nurses. There is a nursery, but YOU are in charge of it.
Here we are at home and Juno is just beginning to settle down. She was a little protective at 1st but now she is great, until a runner or squirrel goes near our house!
The thought of that alone is scary, but then add our min-pin Juno to the mix. Poor lil’ thing. She hadn’t seen us for 4 days and then we go and bring a new person home with us. She was extremely hyper at first. Her nails are sharp so we were afraid something might happen. I think Kara’s mom thought Juno was literally going to eat Winnie! But after about 3 or 4 days Juno and Winnie became besties and it’s all good now.
We had a lot of amazing people come to visit Winnie. I felt bad because Kara had to stay on a pretty strict diet and whenever Kelly or her parents would call to come visit I would request they bring some of my favorite foods. I had a gyro delivered, some Chipotle tacos, McDonald’s Bacon Egg and Cheese biscuits, even Johnnie’s Italian Ice! I will say I did eat my share of hospital mac n’ cheese and chicken noodle soup. Ok, and I had some hospital baked lasagna! What can I say, I like to eat.
Here are some pictures we took of Winnie after we got home, I’m really proud of how they turned out.
Special thanks goes out to Lauren for knitting this AMAZING cocoon!
Our favorite photo so far.
Besides meeting Kara, Winnie is the best thing to ever happen to me. If you follow us on Instagram you probably know how obsessed I am. 9 pictures out of 10 are of Winnie. I am so proud. I look forward to holding her everyday while I’m at work. It is the highlight of my day.
Well, I’m so glad I got to share our story with you through the blog. And how about a big shout out for my first post! I hope you enjoyed it.
Don’t worry, since I’m sure everyone loved this post so much I have at least 1 more coming your way, a DIY Wooden Scrabble Letters post so stay tuned! It was my little pet project for the nursery and I think it came out amazing!
Got any awesome/inspirational stories you’d like to share about your baby, I’d love to hear them!