Isaac & Meg: Raleigh Stewart Paulsen

On October 2 a rainy Sunday morning we were surprised with a beautiful baby boy. His due date was originally September 25 and apparently Raleigh was getting real comfortable and didn't want to come out. Because Daphne was delivered c-section they were very hesitant to induce me and needed to wait till I was 41 weeks. That last week being pregnant seemed like an eternity, but it was filled with getting the house ready, going to a concert with my mom and sisters and spending time with Daphne.

One of my biggest fears of having a second child was losing that one on one time with Daph. Daphne and I have had an interesting bond. Both of us are extremely strong willed. And we are gradually coming to a mutual understanding of that. Parenting Daphne has brought some of the roughest of times as well as the most rewarding times. Because this summer would be our last of just the 3 of us, we really lived it up with lots of swimming, beach time and playing. Don't get me wrong, we were SO thrilled to be adding a new edition to our family but knew it would be a big change. With a new baby coming I had all sorts of expectations of how it would be, how things would go and how we would survive the transition. I wondered how Daphne would react to the new edition and hoped for the best.

That rainy Sunday morning we happily welcomed in our healthy baby boy. I was lucky to have had a successful v-back and Raleigh and I were doing well. The moment I had him and the doctor held him up for Isaac and I to see we were so thrilled to see we had a beautiful baby boy. We didn't find out the gender until I had him so the suspense was really getting at us. My doctor was amazing and we couldn't have been surrounded by better nurses.

Raleigh came in at exactly 8 pounds and 20 1/2 inches. We instantly fell in love. He came out crying, which was great and the nurses quickly wiped him down and laid him on my chest. As we spent those first moments with him one of my nurses asked if we had a name picked out to which Isaac quickly responded "Raleigh Stewart!". We had the hardest time thinking of boy names and had our minds set on 2 we thought would be fitting. But as soon as Isaac said his name I knew it fit him perfectly. Raleigh is the name of my mom's great uncle. He is still alive and is one of the neatest men I know.

To say we've fully adjusted to having two kids would be a lie, I think we will always be adjusting. I am so grateful to have had the amazing help and support from my mom, sisters, dad, in laws, neighbors and Isaac.

more than ready to have a baby at this point

Katie took this on their way up the elevator to come see Raleigh. Daphne was holding her baby doll in preparation for the real thing.

The amazing and talented Mariko took photos for us and I couldn't be happier with them. I love the memories and feelings they bring back from that day. The rest of the pictures are from her.

I love the feeling of anticipation before having a baby, it's like no other feeling I've had before. We went in to the hospital on a Saturday night and I was supposed to try and sleep but I felt way too excited to.

This time around I made a "push" playlist, and I'm not gonna lie, it was kind of the best. It was the perfect thing to lighten the mood and make things fun. It started with the Beastie Boys then included various Earth Wind and Fire songs, the Doobie Brothers and ended with The Talking Heads. Raleigh actually came out to the song Take Me to the River.

we were swooning over his little swollen face

my mom texting my dad and sisters

I love this picture of my doctor giving Isaac a hug. She was actually the on call doctor and we didn't know her before this. She was amazing and took such great care of us.