Welcoming Greyson Alma Johnson

Greyson was due January 13th.  My mom decided to come one week early and stay for two weeks.  We planned it this way hoping she would be on time for the delivery of the baby and be able to stay a while. Our hope was I wouldn't go into labor before she got here (she was planning on being in the delivery room this time) or that I wouldn't be too late that she wouldn't have any time to spend with the new baby (my dr. said she wouldn't induce until I was a week late). She got here in the afternoon of the 7th, patted my belly, and said, "Ok, baby you can come now."   He must have listened to Grandma because I was up most of the night with some hard contractions.  Finally, around 5:00 I woke my mom up and had Justin call his Dad to come stay with the boys and we headed to the hospital.  

Once we started driving there I started thinking we were going in a little prematurely, as the contractions seemed to slow down.  Luckily, my Dr. got there and new I wanted my mom to be there so badly with me that she went ahead and admitted me.  After a few hours and the contractions not being very consistent she started me on PIT.  

Of course, once on Pitocin, the contractions come one hard and strong.  After a coupe of hours I was ready for the epidural!  I love that drug.  I was finally able to take a nap and relax for a while while I slowly progressed.
(Random story about the Epidural:  I don't know if it was nerves or what, but when they were getting ready to do the epidural I broke down in tears.  I couldn't help the tears from coming and I couldn't explain why I was crying.  After everyone helped soothe me and tell me everything was ok, -- The nurse said, "Don't cry." and then quickly said, "Well, I mean your in labor, you can do whatever you want..." hahaha-- they gave me the shot. Almost immediately afterwords I felt sick to my stomach and threw up.)  

After a very long day at the hospital (thanks to Justin and my mom for sticking it out with me), Greyson decided to make his debut around 5:00 pm. 

My mom got to cut the cord, and Daddy got to hold him first.  He weighed 6lbs7oz and the nurses commented about his "strawberry" hair right away.   

Between Bill (Ala Grandpa) and Uncle Jordan --who was home from college-- they took care of the older boys at home for us.  (Donna was sick)

Funny story about that.  Because we left in the middle of the night, the boys didn't know we were going to be gone and they didn't know Grandpa was going to be there.  I guess Bill was sleeping on the couch when Jackson woke up.  Bill heard Jackson crying upstairs and he found him in the corner of our room.  He was crying and saying he saw a real monkey in the house and he wanted to go find it.  They searched around for a while, but Bill honestly didn't know what he was talking about.  After talking to Jackson, we realized that Jackson must have gone down and seen Grandpa asleep on the couch and for some reason really thought he was a monkey!  

Later in the evening after things settled down and we got put in our recovery room, Uncle Jordan brought the boys up to meet their new baby brother.  

Our Family of FIVE!

Day two:  

I don't like being at the hospital and wanted to get everything done as soon as possible.  Justin went home and spent most of the day taking care of the other boys.  My mom came up and helped me get ready to go home.  

The baby had to be there for at least 24 hours before they could discharge him, and once we hit that 24 hours we were out of there!  The boys had decorated when we got home with banners welcoming him home!