Joy

Monday, March 28, 2016

Easter 2016


 What a fun Easter we had this year!  We started off the day with an enjoyable morning at church.  Jack wore his Sunday best too! 
(his onesie has a collar - although I later realized the collar was making him fussy because it was constantly rubbing on his cheek reminding him that he should eat....nonstop.)

We had a few minutes after church to go home and make deviled eggs before heading over to my mom's and dad's for Easter dinner.

 This little guy sat in the swing happily while we were preparing and eating the dinner.  I have never had a baby sit in a swing for more than 2 unhappy minutes.  What a treat!
Steve and Michelle, T.J and Josiah weren't able to come so it was a much smaller crowd than usual.
 After dinner the girls opened their gifts that Nana always gets them.  They were a huge hit and since they were mostly outside toys and the weather was PERFECT we spent the rest of the afternoon/evening in the backyard.

All the kids were in such good moods!  It was amazing.


                                     Then the Easter Buddy (Uncle Buddy) hid the eggs and the girls found them all.
 Norah had her own Easter egg area with orange slices in her eggs!

Paige was so good at egg hunting this year and even found the harder ones that Joy and Claire missed.

 More toys and games.  Everyone had so much fun!  The only time there were any tears is when Joy was showing us how fast she could run while Claire was playing baseball and they both collided at full speed.  It was hilarious though.
 Claire learned how to jump rope this week and the Easter Bunny brought her a big jump rope in her basket.  We all had fun jumping  - even Nana and Dadda!
Of course Uncle Buddy was the best jumper and had to have some added weight.  Norah loved it.
This is the last Easter that Paige's dress will be worn by one of our children! 
All three girls have worn it now.  

What a nice Easter this was!  It was the most enjoyable one yet!

Saturday, March 12, 2016

Jack's Birth Story

Jack's Birth Story.

This beginning part will be redundant for anyone who was following my updates on facebook.  I still need to type it out for my memories sake because one day I will want to remember what exactly went down.

The last two weeks leading up to my amnio, I was a nervous wreck.  I was just waiting for every movement I felt to be the last and I was so afraid to go to bed at night and wake up in the morning to find him dead.  I called the on-call midwife line late at night 4 different times.  Once because he was moving too much, the next time he was moving too little, another time because his heart rate was way slower than normal and once because it was way faster than normal.  Sounds silly I know.... I ended up going to the hospital twice to be monitored in middle of the night.  Of course everything was fine and I was sent home but at least I had a little more peace of mind.   I was dying for amnio day to come because I had it in my head that since it was early in the morning, I would hear back in 6 or 8 hours (like last time) and would be induced that night. I was actually concerned about having a leap year baby because I did NOT want that.

When Josh and I got to the hospital for the amnio we were told it would take 24 hours to get the results.  I was crushed.  I wish someone had told me ahead of time that the lab situation had changed.  When the Dr did the amnio (which was much faster and easier than it had been with Paige) he said the fluid looked good.  I was encouraged by this and was sure we just had the 24 hours to wait.  They rushed it to the lab to supposedly be put on the first flight to Utah.  We went and picked up the girls from my mom's, they had been packed and ready to spend the night in case the baby came that night.  They were disappointed as well.  We went home and tried to keep busy.  The rest of the week we waited anxiously, packing and unpacking the girls' suitcase every day, and calling the Dr's office just to be told different wait times each time which was completely frustrating.  It ended up taking 4 days to get the results and have the induction ordered.  By the time we got the okay to induce, the hospital was full which has also happened every time I have been induced.  Really?  Why can't hospitals just build enough rooms?  This is obviously a continuous problem - anyway.  I had had enough at this point and I went to my appt at the midwives office just because it gave me something to do.  While there I had a bpp which looked fine but when the midwife came in to talk to me I couldn't hold it together any longer and I broke down right then and there.  I had 3 midwives come in and talk to me and decided I should just go to the hospital triage and wait for a room and get monitored while I waited.  So I ran home to get some things together and went to the hospital.  I was told it would be the next morning before I got a room but I didn't care anymore.  I just sat in triage for 5 hours expecting to stay the night there when all of a sudden a nurse came in and declared she was there to take me to a room!  I was shocked.  I called Josh to tell him the news and he then dropped of the girls and joined me.

The midwife on-call was Belinda.   She came in and at about 9 pm, put the foley bulb in (which took about 89 tries because it kept slipping out of place) and then we went walking. (I was 2 cm at this point) For some reason I forgot my leg stocking so my veins were bulging and hurting more than they ever have. The hospital was freezing so walking was torture between my leg and being so cold that my teeth were literally chattering.  After 4 hours the bulb fell out but I was still only 2 cm! So disappointing,  I should have been almost done at this point and here we were back at the start.  We decided to try cervidil next,  I did NOT want to use pitocin as I like to not use painkillers in labor and I have heard many bad things about pitocin.  The down side to cervidil is the monitoring and waiting that it requires.  Every dose required an hour of lying around being monitored, 40 minutes to walk and then 20 minutes more of monitoring.  We did this for 3 doses before Belinda broke my water and I actually went into labor.  Up to this point the only pain I was feeling was my leg veins.  Josh had run home and got my sweatshirt and leg stocking so it was better but still bad.   I started having contractions that I could feel when I was at 6ish cm and then they got kind of uncomfortable and close at 7cm.  I decided to get in the big hot tub that was in our room.  I had never had the chance before to try it and I was always afraid of being cold when I got out. (because the fear of being cold outweighs the pain of labor for me)  I had the heat in my room turned up so it would be okay when I got out. I was in their for about 5 contractions that were really bad and I decided the warm water didn't help at all and wanted to get out but the reason those contractions were so bad is because as soon as I got out I had one more and the baby was coming out!  Yay!  My mom and the Joy and Claire had just gotten there a few minutes earlier and were waiting to come in to watch him come out.  I had originally wanted to try using the squat bar for the pushing but there was no time.  I barely got to the bed and his head was out and one more contraction later the rest of him came out and he was screaming mad.  So yeah, even though the induction seems long, I was only actually in labor for about 3 hours.

The girls did great watching and were so excited to finally see this baby that we had been waiting for so long.

Joy was alarmed by his boy parts.  She asked the nurse "What is that!?"
 
He was 6lbs 15oz and 19.75 inches long.
Before they left, my dad brought in Paige to see the baby. She was pleased with him.
My mom isn't in any pictures because she was taking them.

The baby was grunting a little when breathing so we were afraid he might have to go to the nursery but they gave him some time and it went away on its own. We spent the next two hours alone with him so he could try feeding and get skin to skin contact.
 

 After that, we were moved to a postpartum room and Josh's family came to see the baby.  Josh and I still didn't know what we were going to name him.
 

We both agreed that the only name that he looked like was Jack but Josh thought Jack Eli was too short sounding so we turned Eli into Elijah.

Jack slept most of the time and if he wasn't sleeping, he was nursing.  The night was long, as all nights in a hospital, are but the next morning we had lots to do in order to be discharged.  My mom dropped off the girls when we were close to being done.
He had his hearing test, jaundice test, oxygen test, newborn screen, paperwork and circumcision.  We also noticed that he was tongue tied (as 3 out of our 4 children have been) and thankfully the doctor that did his circumcision just clipped that too.
 Claire got to hold him for his hearing test.  

Josh went with him for the circumcision and said it was no big deal.  He cries harder when we change his diaper than he did for the procedure, according to Josh.  He was calm and sleeping when they brought him back to me so it must not have been too tragic. 

We were able to go home later that day and the girls went to spend the night at Grandma's house so Josh and I were able to enjoy the quiet house and I had a huge stack of work I had to turn around and get in the mail the next day.

This past week of being home has been wonderful.  We have loved every second of snuggling Jack and leisurely getting things done around the house.  Jack has 3 little mommies taking care of him and bothering him.  Claire wanted to change his diapers and loves to do it - (for now). Joy likes to hold him and cram pacifiers in his mouth and Paige likes to admire him from afar and says "That my baby bruh-ya!"  

Jack has been a pure delight.
 
  He has been very easy going and sleeps well at night (and all day for that matter).  He should still be inside for a couple more weeks so he rarely is awake but he really does open his eyes occasionally.  He always looks a little worried when does.  Haha.
During this whole pregnancy I thought,
"If this baby comes out alive and healthy I will feel like luckiest person in the world." 
and I do.  

We are exceedingly abundantly blessed.