Good rule of thumb: If he's smiling, make him wash his hands.
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Good Morning!
This morning Kellan woke me up holding one of those bubble bottles--you know, the kind they hand out at weddings--right next to my face. He was yelling something like, "Mom! Now I have something to give to strangers! Urine!" And sure enough, the bottle was full of pee. Or urine, if you will.
Good rule of thumb: If he's smiling, make him wash his hands.
Good rule of thumb: If he's smiling, make him wash his hands.
Thursday, August 8, 2013
So, We Had A Baby
Back in April, that is. My due date was April 22, and my OB scheduled an induction for the 29th since I am a VBAC-er. There must be something psychological about being induced, because the last two times I have gone into labor on my induction days.
This time I woke up around 1:30 with contractions, and as soon as I woke up I knew I was in labor. But I was all set on getting induced and having an epidural and NOT being in pain (with Noelle I was crying at 4 cm), so I kept trying to sleep through the contractions. It doesn't make sense, I know, but I thought it did and I was determined. Finally around 5 a.m. the contractions were about 5 minutes apart so we headed in to the hospital.
We got there an hour before shift change, so I guess there was a lot of feet dragging and stuff. The nurse coming on was all worried about getting the baby warmer set up and organized and wasn't taking care of things that needed to happen before I got an epidural, but it wasn't that big of a deal yet. I wasn't in any pain.
My doctor checked me at 8:15 and I was almost at 6 cm. He told the nurse to order the epidural and that he would see me at noon. I wish I had said something like, "Um...it takes me less than 45 minutes to get from a 6 to a 10", but I didn't want to look dumb when I was in labor for another 5 hours. So they ordered the epidural. The anesthesiologist came pretty fast, but couldn't get started until they had two IV lines in and they knew my blood type. So we waited for the lab to come and take a blood sample, and we waited for the nurse to try to get a second IV line in. For some reason they were having a hard time getting my lines in, so this took a while. At this point, I had whimpered through 6 or 7 contractions and was sitting up on the edge of the bed.
Right when the second line was in place, I had to push. I have never felt that urge (I guess because I have always had an epidural?). It was like when you have to throw up--you know, all your muscles are going crazy, and you can't stop it if you wanted to. So I was sort of yelling my head off about having to push, and Jesse is trying hard not to laugh, because he thinks I'm insane, and NOBODY is ready for anything yet. All of a sudden our room is swarming with people, and it was all I could do just to lie back down on the bed. Those contractions were pretty intense, but it was good because only a small corner of my mind noticed the uncomfortable things happening. The other 99% of my brain was concentrating on the crazy contractions and wondering why I didn't get more than a second between each one. And concentrating on getting a good breath in that second. I guess the contractions were pretty distracting, though, because I didn't know I wasn't pushing until my doctor leaned forward and said that I had to push so we could get the shoulders un-stuck. I'm glad the anesthesiologist was there though, even if she didn't give me the epidural because she was telling people what to do. This sort of thing must happen a lot to her.
After the baby was born I had pretty bad shock. I didn't even wonder about the gender for about 5 minutes. They asked me if I wanted to hold the baby and I was just like, "Um...no."
But after about 10 minutes I thought I could hold him without dropping him. We named him Myles Bern Horrocks. He was 9 pounds 5 ounces and supposedly 19 inches long. I don't think that was right, though, because he doesn't look as fat as he should for being short and that heavy.
He looks just like Jesse. He has red hair...unfortunately...but maybe he'll like it. Or grow out of it.
Here he is:
At three months he is 16 pounds 8 ounces. He's smiley and patient and fat. Pretty much perfect.
This time I woke up around 1:30 with contractions, and as soon as I woke up I knew I was in labor. But I was all set on getting induced and having an epidural and NOT being in pain (with Noelle I was crying at 4 cm), so I kept trying to sleep through the contractions. It doesn't make sense, I know, but I thought it did and I was determined. Finally around 5 a.m. the contractions were about 5 minutes apart so we headed in to the hospital.
We got there an hour before shift change, so I guess there was a lot of feet dragging and stuff. The nurse coming on was all worried about getting the baby warmer set up and organized and wasn't taking care of things that needed to happen before I got an epidural, but it wasn't that big of a deal yet. I wasn't in any pain.
My doctor checked me at 8:15 and I was almost at 6 cm. He told the nurse to order the epidural and that he would see me at noon. I wish I had said something like, "Um...it takes me less than 45 minutes to get from a 6 to a 10", but I didn't want to look dumb when I was in labor for another 5 hours. So they ordered the epidural. The anesthesiologist came pretty fast, but couldn't get started until they had two IV lines in and they knew my blood type. So we waited for the lab to come and take a blood sample, and we waited for the nurse to try to get a second IV line in. For some reason they were having a hard time getting my lines in, so this took a while. At this point, I had whimpered through 6 or 7 contractions and was sitting up on the edge of the bed.
Right when the second line was in place, I had to push. I have never felt that urge (I guess because I have always had an epidural?). It was like when you have to throw up--you know, all your muscles are going crazy, and you can't stop it if you wanted to. So I was sort of yelling my head off about having to push, and Jesse is trying hard not to laugh, because he thinks I'm insane, and NOBODY is ready for anything yet. All of a sudden our room is swarming with people, and it was all I could do just to lie back down on the bed. Those contractions were pretty intense, but it was good because only a small corner of my mind noticed the uncomfortable things happening. The other 99% of my brain was concentrating on the crazy contractions and wondering why I didn't get more than a second between each one. And concentrating on getting a good breath in that second. I guess the contractions were pretty distracting, though, because I didn't know I wasn't pushing until my doctor leaned forward and said that I had to push so we could get the shoulders un-stuck. I'm glad the anesthesiologist was there though, even if she didn't give me the epidural because she was telling people what to do. This sort of thing must happen a lot to her.
After the baby was born I had pretty bad shock. I didn't even wonder about the gender for about 5 minutes. They asked me if I wanted to hold the baby and I was just like, "Um...no."
But after about 10 minutes I thought I could hold him without dropping him. We named him Myles Bern Horrocks. He was 9 pounds 5 ounces and supposedly 19 inches long. I don't think that was right, though, because he doesn't look as fat as he should for being short and that heavy.
He looks just like Jesse. He has red hair...unfortunately...but maybe he'll like it. Or grow out of it.
Here he is:
At three months he is 16 pounds 8 ounces. He's smiley and patient and fat. Pretty much perfect.
Monday, August 5, 2013
We're In!
I don't know how to tell this story in a cool way, so instead of trying to make it a story and spending a lot of time and not getting this posted, I will just post the bare facts and get it done.
Jesse applied to physical therapy school last fall. He got into Franklin Pierce in New Hampshire and was put on the alternates list for Eastern Washington University. We really wanted to go to Eastern; the tuition was cheaper by $50,000, it was a higher ranked school, we wouldn't have to take Ian away from the great schools here, and when we toured their facilities we just really liked them. I felt like Jesse belonged there.
Since he turned in his applications, we have literally prayed every night that he would get into Eastern, and all along I just felt like he would. I don't know...it's like, I felt like I should worry about what we were going to do if he didn't get in, and I needed to do things if we were moving to New Hampshire (like buy a plane ticket back for my sister's wedding in September and packing), but I didn't feel like I needed to worry about those things.
Anyways, a week ago Sunday we fasted and prayed that Jesse would get into Eastern, and I gave a talk in church and mentioned that we might be moving and we would appreciate prayers on our behalf. Bright and early on Monday, Eastern called and asked Jesse if he would be interested in a spot in their class!
This whole experience has taught me a few things. First, if you really feel like you should worry about something, but just can't, then maybe it's the Holy Ghost telling you that you don't need to. Which I knew already, and I really was hoping that it was the Spirit directing me and not just my own laziness. Second, sometimes Heavenly Father is planning on blessing you, and even if you feel like you are going to receive that blessing, you should still fast. Matthew 17:14-21 makes it clear that some miracles require fasting.
We are humbled by the love the Lord has shown us through this experience, and we're grateful for the prayers that have been offered up on our behalf.
I had a dream last week that we moved to New Hampshire and Eastern called and told Jesse that they had a spot, and we were like, "Oh, if only they had called a week earlier, we wouldn't have spent thousands of dollars to move, only just to move back!" I'm really glad that didn't happen in real life.
Jesse applied to physical therapy school last fall. He got into Franklin Pierce in New Hampshire and was put on the alternates list for Eastern Washington University. We really wanted to go to Eastern; the tuition was cheaper by $50,000, it was a higher ranked school, we wouldn't have to take Ian away from the great schools here, and when we toured their facilities we just really liked them. I felt like Jesse belonged there.
Since he turned in his applications, we have literally prayed every night that he would get into Eastern, and all along I just felt like he would. I don't know...it's like, I felt like I should worry about what we were going to do if he didn't get in, and I needed to do things if we were moving to New Hampshire (like buy a plane ticket back for my sister's wedding in September and packing), but I didn't feel like I needed to worry about those things.
Anyways, a week ago Sunday we fasted and prayed that Jesse would get into Eastern, and I gave a talk in church and mentioned that we might be moving and we would appreciate prayers on our behalf. Bright and early on Monday, Eastern called and asked Jesse if he would be interested in a spot in their class!
This whole experience has taught me a few things. First, if you really feel like you should worry about something, but just can't, then maybe it's the Holy Ghost telling you that you don't need to. Which I knew already, and I really was hoping that it was the Spirit directing me and not just my own laziness. Second, sometimes Heavenly Father is planning on blessing you, and even if you feel like you are going to receive that blessing, you should still fast. Matthew 17:14-21 makes it clear that some miracles require fasting.
We are humbled by the love the Lord has shown us through this experience, and we're grateful for the prayers that have been offered up on our behalf.
I had a dream last week that we moved to New Hampshire and Eastern called and told Jesse that they had a spot, and we were like, "Oh, if only they had called a week earlier, we wouldn't have spent thousands of dollars to move, only just to move back!" I'm really glad that didn't happen in real life.
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