Clayton Patrick

Our second little boy, Clayton has a much less dramatic story but it really fits him. So far, he's definitely the less dramatic of the two.

Clayton is a Katrina baby...the product of only seeing my husband here and there for 3+ months, since he was actively involved with the Katrina/Rita relief effort, being a National Guard Officer and also a former employee of the State Office of Homeland Security.

Clayton is definitely a bright shining star out of a time of misery. My pregnancy with him was monitored much more closely, given the history I had with Grant. I was on medication for the blood pressure and Mike had the pleasure of giving me weekly injections to prevent pre-term labor. He did an ok job. He only crippled me once by going in too far and hitting a nerve! I had a preterm labor scare at the exact time that I went into labor with Grant but this time, Mike believed me and brought me to the hospital in time to stop it. I went back into the hospital at 35 weeks for ridiculously high blood pressure but was disharged and went in for my induction at 37 weeks on the nose.

Clayton's birth story was so different. It was actually good. I mean, it hurt like heck but everything went as it should have. I had him in the birthing suite, the doctor held him up for us to see right after he was born, I got to hold him after they cleaned him...It was unbelievable. When we got wheeled to the room after I was stabilized (had a little BP issue) he came with me! The nurse came in and told me that if I wanted, she would take him to the nursey so I could get some rest. I told her that he wasn't going anywhere. She'd have to take him out over my dead cold body.

I got to bring him home with me, where he slept all night the first night. He was sleeping through feedings and everything. At his 1 week check up, the pediatrician made me start waking him up at night to feed him, because he was losing weight, rather than gaining. We did that for a few weeks, then he went right back to sleeping through the night. He still is, too. Talk about a gift from God!!!

As soon as I get the photos from his birth, I'll upload those. My in-laws took the pics and they have all the digital copies!