DUNCAN ANCHOR RETTERATH

Little boy Duncan is finally here and he's actually not so little!! He gave us quite the surprise when the nurses weighed him at 9 pounds 5 ounces and 21 inches long! Although I will say, I felt a bit vindicated by his size because I was completely convinced that I was way bigger this pregnancy than with Braden (7lbs 6oz) and Connor (7lbs 10oz), but was told I was measuring on track to have a similar sized baby #3. Yeah tell that to all my new stretch marks!!

I had hoped he would be early like Braden, but by our 38 week appointment where he STILL hadn't dropped, I was beginning to hope that he just wouldn't be late! Our due date was the 12th. Earlier in the week I had had contractions all morning and even made Dave come home early from work (and then they stopped when he got home). Otherwise nothing, just some random Braxton hicks.

Finally on the morning of the 10th I woke up at 6am with consistent, mild contractions. Around 10am they were strong but super inconsistent...so of course we went to Costco. Then they stopped. So I tried all sorts of tricks: squats, stair walking, tilts...everything. I was done, I wanted this baby out. Sure enough around 6pm they really started kicking in. My parents arrived at our house around 7:30 to two toddlers who were already asleep in their own beds (praise the Lord) and we got officially checked into the hospital at about 9:30pm at 4cm dilated!

The big fear for me was: would the preeclampsia happen again? Braden's birth was so much easier because I didn't have it like with Connor. My blood pressure was a little elevated, but after running labs they decided I didn't need to go on magnesium! Hooray!!! Got the epidural right away and Duncan was born at 1:50am after an hour of pushing. An hour of pushing for baby #3 because he had a good TWO POUNDS on his big brothers. 

So on the early morning of June 11th, we officially became a family of five. Duncan is perfect and healthy and just the sweetest most chilled out baby ever. I'm doing great in my recovery as well and am just cherishing this special time while it's just the five of us home together.

Oh and the big boys, LOVE him. Maybe it's because Duncan "gave" them Mario Kart and a Nintendo Switch for his birthday, but I like to think it's because they're so excited to have a new best friend. Hopefully they'll learn he's not quite ready to join in on their wrestling matches yet. Sometimes their hugs and kisses are a little too...forceful for baby bro ;)