Campbell Ryan Johnston

August 16, 2012 at 9:44 a.m., we welcomed our second sweet son into the world.

Campbell Ryan Johnston weighed 7lbs, 10.5oz and was 21 inches long and is absolutely gorgeous.

Big brother Cole is absolutely smitten with his little brother and is such a great helper.

As always, I meant to blog before, but truth be told...time is flying by and any spare minute I have is spent playing battleship or Beyblades with Cole, snuggling Cam and breathing in his sweet baby smell and stealing as many kisses as possible, or spending some quality time with Ryan.

Life is good!

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We were originally scheduled for a section on August 8th, but at my doctor's appointment the week before we were told that she had to bump us to the 16th.  On Thursday, August 16th we headed in to the hospital for 7a.m. only to be told that the other lady scheduled for the same day had been in all night in labour so we had to wait.  During our wait they decided to go ahead and check on the baby (he was still nameless at this point and was until early afternoon) and the monitor showed that I was having contractions and that baby was doing well.

We were taken to our room to get settled and shortly after the anaesthesiologist came in to get us and we were on our way.  The spinal was not as bad as I had anticipated, but a moment after lying down on the table I got really light headed and felt nauseous.  After getting more fluids all was well and Ryan and our surgeon came in and 15 minutes later I heard the most wonderful sound - our son's first cry.  I remember the expression on Ryan's face when he whispered 'he has a head full of hair and his mom's pouty lip' and the look in his eyes when we heard his first cry.  A moment I will never forget and I am so thankful we were able to share together.  The rest of the morning was spent snuggling our new baby boy, nursing and trying to decide on a name for him.

Ryan's parents were taking care of Cole and brought him in to meet his brother right away.  Cole was excited to see us and gave his brother a little look over.

We were sent home on Saturday August 18, 2012 (Ryan's birthday!) after 2 days in the hospital.

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7 weeks later...

Campbell is nursing roughly every 2 hours, with a 4 hour stretch daily and sleeping from 10:30 p.m. to 4 a.m., up to eat and back to sleep until 7 a.m.

As of Tuesday he weighed 9lbs, 10oz and is starting to grow quickly.

We are all so in love with Campbell and couldn't imagine our life without him. When we meet Cole at the bus stop after school, one of his first questions is always 'did you and my brother have a good day?' or first thing in the morning 'Mom, how is my brother?' and it is ALWAYS melts my heart.  Cole is an amazing helper, always holding his soother in for him or putting a dirty diaper in the diaper genie...his love for his baby brother has completely blown me away.

God has blessed us with a healthy, beautiful little boy and we could not be happier.  We most definitely will be counting our blessings this Thanksgiving weekend and spending it with all those who mean most to us.

Amazing...

 

If it isn't obvious, we're expecting (again), I am currently 33 weeks and all is going very well.  As of our last ultrasound (June 4th), baby is measuring right on track with our due date of August 20th, and has a strong heart beat and is very active.  Little boy number 2 (who is still nameless) was measuring at roughly 3lbs, 1oz and the technician just casually threw it out there that he would likely triple that weight in the next two months.  Thank goodness for a planned section!

This time around we are being monitored fairly close.  We have already had 7 ultrasounds (4 of those are level 2 scans) and are scheduled for one final scan on the 20th.  The level 2 scan is an hour long ultrasound where the baby is assessed in full detail to verify that all is well.  This was recommended by a genetic counsellor that we saw early on in the pregnancy.

I was told by my sister over the weekend that she has been checking my blog to see if I have updated it lately and basically that I am a slacker.  Cole had a baby website of his own, loads of updates and pictures and this poor wee guy is getting the short end of the stick like you wouldn't believe.  It may have something to do with us being more cautious this time around and not technically announcing it to anyone other than family and close friends.  It may have to do with the lack of time I have with a busy 4.5 year old at home and all the planning and organizing for the sweet little bit we are soon to meet.  Either way, here it is, in writing and pictures for now.  More to come and I'll hopefully be around more...but we all know I'm not regular...I gave up that hope a while back.

12 weeks

22 weeks

How far along? 33 weeks
Total weight gain: 16 pounds
Maternity clothes? A mix of both maternity and non
Stretch marks? The ones from Cole...as for new ones, I'll wait and see after as they seem to show up after the fact.
Sleep: Pretty good for the most part
Best moment this week:  Section date will be booked tomorrow afternoon and the final countdown will be on!

Miss Anything? We were away on the weekend on our annual family get away...gorgeous weather, 12 adults, 7 children...I needed wanted an ice cold beer (or several!).
Movement: Loads!  Little guy is so active it's crazy.  The kids enjoyed seeing and feeling him move on the weekend.  I would like to ask that he quit jamming himself under my ribs...that's all.

Food cravings: Fresh fruit, ice cold water, freezies, ice cream...anything cold really.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Not normally, but when cooking some bacon yesterday I almost lost my supper...I don't know what it was, but I couldnt' do it!
Gender: Boy!
Labor Signs: None
Symptoms: the large protruding belly
Belly Button in or out? Still in
Wedding rings on or off? On
Mood: Excited
Looking forward to:  Finding out our section date and finalizing everything (putting the car seat in the car, finishing up at work and spending some time with Cole before his brother joins us.

Overall this pregnancy has been amazing.  I did not suffer from morning (all day) sickness like I did with Cole, only bouts of queasiness.  We had given up on pregnancy tests after trying for 7+ months and didn't realize that I was pregnant until December 28th - Cole's 4th birthday.  At that point I was 5 weeks pregnant and exhausted, but I just assumed that the holidays had tuckered me out.  Since then we have been counting our blessings and thankfully all is going smoothly.

More updates/pictures to come soon enough. In the meantime, we need boy names...any and all.  Know that Rye likes common, short names and I like unique, strong names.  I let him choose Cole's name and this time it's my turn to choose...although I'd like something we both agree on, that doesn't seem to be happening.  HELP!