Welcome to our family!

Heber Devin Kroff!

We are so excited to have a new addition to our family! He is already so wonderful!

This was immediately after he was born. Not cleaned up yet but they like to give immediate contact to the mother.



T.J. was really sweet to the baby. His first time meeting him he was pretty disinterested in the whole thing. But when he came back later, he was excited to hold the baby and touch him. In this picture he was about to give Heber a kiss. Hopefully he still loves his baby brother a lot even when he has to share all the attention with me when its just us 3 at home! :)


I'm sitting in the hospital with my baby now so I figure this is a good time to record the birth story so it is still fresh in my memory! This is more for records so don't feel obligated to read it. :)
I went to my dr. appt on August 17th (which was my due date). I am a slow dilator so when I went at 39 weeks, I was not quite to a 1 yet. So I was at least relieved to be at a 1 on my 40 week mark. I got my membranes stripped, in hopes of that putting me into labor. When I asked my doctor how successful it is in starting labor, he said "maybe 30%." So I decided not to get my hopes up. Later that night though, starting around 9-10 pm I started my first consistent mild contractions! I pretty much felt like the baby would be here by the 18th at that point! By the time we went to bed around midnight, my contractions were strong enough that I couldn't sleep. I laid there for a while, dozed a bit, but then decided to get up and do things to make the night go faster. I showered and got cleaned up and just did things to get ready to go to the hospital. Let me tell you, time goes MUCH faster when you are doing things rather than just laying on the bed suffering through the contractions! I remember the night I was in labor w/T.J. was the longest feeling night of my life cause I just laid there. This time went much faster even though it was about the same amount of time.
Around 4 a.m. I decided I couldn't stand it anymore, and we needed to go to the hospital. My great friend Mandi was awesome and let me bug her in the middle of the night and she came over and slept on our couch for a few hrs so we could leave T.J. at home until my mom and dad could get here to tend him for the day. I couldn't have done it without the huge help from my mom! She has been watching T.J. the whole time since Heber came.
At the hospital we were sad to hear I was only dilated to a 2, and I did not change at all over the hour they monitored me. (Laying down made me slow down contracting). So they decided to send me home. In my emotional painful state, it pretty much made me cry to have to go home. But in the end it paid off. I went home and walked around a bunch more (painfully) and by the time I went back an hour or so later, I was dilated to a 4-5. I was so scared I had dilated so fast that I wouldn't be able to get an epidural in time. Luckily I did though, and life was a lot better after that! I went through a lot more pain with this labor than I did with T.J. because I got an epidural when I was at a 3 with my first one. I thought I was going to die during contractions, they hurt so bad! I am grateful for the medical procedures they have now to help labor and delivery of babies go so much more smoothly!
I got my water broke probably between 9-10 a.m., and then baby Heber was ready to come at 11! I pushed him out at 11:08 a.m. and he was perfect! He weighed 7 lbs 7oz, and was 19.5 inches long. And he has a big head full of dark brown hair!! Totally unexpected for me! I love it, it makes it so much different from T.J. and it is fun. It is funny looking though in the way that he has barely any hair on top, and it is really long on the back and sides. He is perfect though, and very adorable. I am absolutely LOVING snuggling with and holding our little newborn. I love being a mom!
I can't wait to go home and spend time with both my wonderful sons! I have missed T.J. the past 2 days.
Heber's blood is coombs positive, which means he was more susceptible bilirubin/jaundice. So he tested in the high risk zone this morning, which means we had to keep him here at the hospital one extra day, laying under the lights. Although I wish we could go home and start trying to get our life to a new normal, I am grateful that what he has is something that can easily and quickly get better. It is hard not being able to hold him much in the day when he is at such a cute snuggly age! But we will probably be able to go home in the morning. I love being a mom and I am so grateful that Heavenly Father blessed us with another choice son! I am grateful he trusts Steve and I to be parents of another one of His perfect babies. Heber is wonderful and we love him so much already!!