Happy Birthday

(for my records you all don't have to read)

I went to my doctors apt Wednesday Feb 18th just to hear the same thing I've been hearing for the past 3 weeks..."I can't even tell how close you are because he is still too far up." Being now 4 days overdue this was not what I wanted to hear. Then my doc came back in the room and said she didn't want to wait any longer and she was going to induce me that night (or rather the next morning at 3am). WOW....I was excited and nervous all at the same time. I am finally going to meet my little boy.

After getting the apt set with the hospital I rushed back to work to complete my leave paperwork and tell everyone the good news. Dallas and I started guessing what time we thought I would have him. She guessed 9:30am and I guessed 6:30 or 7am (since my labor with Kaitlin went so fast I figured this one would be too...boy was I wrong!!!). I got home around 1:30pm, ate lunch and went to pick up Kaitlin and tell her the good news. I got her from school right as it got out and told her the news. She was so excited and we straight home to pack for her trip to grandpas house. We had to wait for grandpa to get off work which drove Kaitlin nuts. Every 10 mins she asked if we could leave. We finally got to grandpas house around 6:30pm and she ran straight for the room they had set up for her (she was excited because it had the WII in it). I left there around 7pm and went straight home to get some sleep. I fell asleep from 9-10:30 then couldn't sleep anymore. Russ got home around 11:30 and got less sleep then me (but he could sleep at the hospital). We both finally fell asleep at 1am and I had a crazy dream about having a baby with soo much hair all over it's body that the doctors had to shave him (good thing it was only a dream). The alarm went off at 2am and I jumped in the shower and we were off to the hospital.

3am: we arrived at the hospital right on time. The nurses checked me in and got me to my room. At this time my nurse was Stephanie. She was real nice and was actually able to tell that I was at 3cm. She got me started on the pitocin drip at 4am we were off.

4:30am: contractions started. They were small ones but contractions none the less. Stephanie came in every 15mins to up the dose of pitocin and we actually reached the max dose before I was even at 4cm.

7am: Nurse change....Stephanie went home and now my nurse was Celeste. She checked me when she got on and said I was still at only 3.5 -4cm....not going as fast as I thought it would. Good thing was that she was real nice too. I have heard horror stories from girls with bad nurses during delivery. Turns out she is 25 and graduated from GVHS the year after I did. I warned her about Russ and his weak stomach. She laughed and said that he gets to stay on the couch then so we don't have to make a trip to the ER too.

9am: Still not much change. My Mom called and said that her, my dad and Kaitlin would be there in about an hour. The nurse kept asking me about getting and epidural, but I kept telling her I wanted to wait....she thought I was crazy I think.

10am: My parents arrived with Kaitlin and I finally got Russ to take a nap on the couch. He was safe I figured since things were going so slow. Kaitlin showed up and gave me a big hug then asked where her little brother was. I told her he still wasn't here and she asked if it was okay for her to stay and watch when the doctors finally came. At that point I wasn't sold on that idea so I told her she had to wait in the other room with Grandpa.

10:30-11am: The nurse finally talked me into getting the epi (she said that it would help my body relax a little more and make things move faster). Pain wise I didn't need it, but at this point I was willing to try anything to get the labor moving. My parents and Russ were getting hungry and planned on leaving for lunch with Kailtin while the doc put in the epi. Kailtin didn't like that idea and really wanted to watch. We figured that once she saw the doc take the needle out she would change her mind and want to leave, but it was the exact opposite. She watched the doc do the whole thing and thought it was cool. He explained everything as he was doing too, so I guess she learned something. After was done he asked how high I wanted it set and I told him at the lowest setting. He offered to bring button so I could up the dose if I wanted to, but I told him not to cause I wanted to keep it low. (again the nurse and doc thought I was crazy).

11am: My parents went to lunch with Kaitlin at TGI fridays and Russ stayed with me in the room. This is the time he got to take a nap.

1:30pm: my parents called to check the status (I was now at 5cm so the epi worked a little), but still moving slower then I wanted. The said they would head back and brought Russ Wendy's....it smelled soooo good. I hadn't eaten since lunch the previous day so I was starving. When they got back Kaitlin ran in the room with a big stuffed monkey and a stuffed rose. It was soo sweet of her.

2:30pm: Now only 6.5cm....closer, but not close enough. The epi and some other internal monitors they got approval to use allowed them to now up the dose of pitocin to almost double the max dose....Wow that's strong. I could really feel the contractions now...so i had them up the epi a little.

3pm: The nurse came in with a girl she called the changing nurse. She checked me and said "I think I can help get her to the end." "WOW...you can do that??" apparently you can. She did some things said push a couple of times and like magic I was ready. Why couldn't they do that sooner? The nurses left the room to call the doc and I told Kaitlin to go behind the curtain with grandpa.

3:30pm: Doc was there and the fun stuff began. Russ was made to sit on the couch and Kaitlin was behind the curtain (I guess she was peeking cause she ran in the room as soon as the doc had him out). I won't go into those details with you. By 3:44 Parker was here. At first we thought he had blonde hair, but when she wiped it off it was red....RED oh wow everyone said. He was 8lb 9oz and 20.5in long. The best part was that I got to hold him for a long time before they even took him to do everything. After everything was done he got to stay in the room with us for about 1hr before they took him to the nursery. Everyone got a chance to hold him and see how perfect he was. Happy birthday Parker.

My due date....or maybe not

Yesterday was my due date and it didn't look like anything exciting was going to happen. I have been trying everything (eating spicy food, drinking the tea Dallas gave me, and doing a lot of walking), but nothing seems to be working. So Russ came up with the idea of taking a drive up to Mt. Charleston to see if the elevation change would trigger anything. Well...needless to say it didn't change anything (I'm still pregnant). It didn't even trigger any braxton hicks contractions, but the kids got to have fun in the show.

The kids found some icicles hanging on buildings by the campground.

And attacked Russ with snowballs

Charlie got thrown in a mountain of snow

It was a fun day even though we didn't accomplish what we wanted to. Maybe someday I won't be pregnant anymore and we can meet our little boy. I guess he just needs to cook a little longer.

Valentine's Day

Saturday was Valentine's Day, but we decided to celebrate it a day early so we wouldn't have to deal with the mass of people out to dinner on Valentines day. We went out to dinner Friday night at a steak house and ate a lot of food. We got there a little before our reservation time and they got us in early. By this time in my pregnancy (2 days till my due date) my belly is huge and I'm sure they felt sorry for us and figured they would get us in and out so I wouldn't pop in the restaurant. We sat down and they gave us our menus. being oh so graceful with my huge belly, I went to move my menu in front of me to read and hit my belly and knocked over the wine glass (thankfully empty). We both laughed and were glad it didn't break.

Russ ordered oysters Rockefeller for an appetizer and they brought out this huge plate with 8 big oysters on it. He made me try one (held a gun to my head and everything). It wasn't bad, but I can't see how people order straight oysters and swallow them. For dinner we both got the petite filet mignon with garlic mashed potatoes and salad. It turned out to be a lot of food and we were both glad we got the petite.

We left dinner and went to get the kids so we could get them home and to bed. Amazingly they both fell asleep on the way home so we were able to put them to bed and get a little kid free tv time in. I ended up falling asleep on the couch like I do just about every night lately. I woke up a little after midnight and went to bed only to be surprised by my valentines day present on my pillow. Russ got me a beautiful necklace with matching earrings. It was very sweet of him and I love my new jewelery.

100th day of school

I haven't been on in a while so I have some catching up to do.

Two weeks ago was Kaitlin's 100th day of school. Her teacher sent her home with a note saying each student had to do a project for the day and it was up to them what they did. I asked her what she wanted to do and she said 100 stickers on a board. We went to the store and she picked out her stickers, some glitter glue so she can write the number 100 and a poster board. When we got home and started on her project she also decided she wanted to draw 100 glitter shapes on her poster board. After drawing about 50 shapes she got tired and wanted to quit, but I told her she should take a break for the day and finish it throughout the rest of the week (I want her to learn that she has to at least finish what she starts). It took her all week, but she got it done and it turned out pretty good for a 5 year old. I was especially proud that she did it all by herself.

We took her project to school on Friday and put it on the wall next to all the other projects. Kaitlin looked at them with a little disappointment. The majority of the other projects were so perfect and some complicated that you could tell that the parents did most of the work. I assured her that her project was great and it was very special because she did it herself. She agreed with me and finished putting her project with the others. I finished dropping her off at school, but couldn't help but feel a little bad. I believe that a kids homework is their responsibility (granted that a 5 year old will need a little help), but they will not learn anything if the parents do it for them. It all turned out good though since the following week she got a best project star on her poster board. (I think all the kids got the stars, but it made her feel good about her project).

I can't see my feet

My belly is sooo big I am having trouble seeing my feet. I can only see them if I am sitting down and prop them up or stick them out way in front of my belly. I've been having this problem for a while. In fact, 2 days before Christmas I went last min shopping with Kaitlin and went to get out of my car only to realize that instead of having put on my shoes I was still wearing my slippers. Since then Kaitlin has been in charge of my footwear. She has been a big help.

She ties my shoes

And even paints my toes

What would I do without my little helper?