Family Pictures!

Shots

Yesterday was Owen's two month appointment at the doctor and he had to get his shots. It was the saddest thing in the world. He was just fine, and then all of the sudden "Waaaaah!". The cry was an "I'm in so much pain!" cry, too. It made me tear up a little bit and the nurse had to ask me a couple times if I was okay. Yes - It's just it's my first baby and his first shots. And it was just plain sad. So he just slept most of the day and recovered. When I took his band-aid off later that night there were a couple blood spots on it, and it made me sad, again :(.

I'm on the road to losing weight. So far I'm doing pretty good! Nursing, working out every day (whether it's on my Orbitrek (elliptical) or doing Pilates) and eating better. Although, I do still drink my Dr. Pepper. I should probably give that up soon, huh... :( Soon I'll be one hot mamma! (At least that's the goal)

Time Flies!

I can't believe my baby is almost 2 months old. Time has gone by so fast, and I can't believe how much he is growing up! We measured him (just at home), and when he was born he was 21" long and now he is 24". I'm not sure how much more he weighs but I can definately tell he's getting heavier.
He is so much fun and brings so much happiness into our home! It's amazing how much more my husband and I love each other, too. He's definately brought us more together as a family.
He smiles all the time now, and it's the cutest thing. He is even starting to make noises like he's trying to giggle and talk. He's getting to where he can hold his head up when I sit him up, and he likes to sit on my lap facing the world.
Of course I miss the newborn stage, but I have to say that this stage that he's at right now, where he is learning to interact and get his personality is so much fun.
Here's some of the latest pictures of him. I love the one where he's giving his toy the "stare-down". He's just learning to look at the toys that hang above his swing and bouncer and it's so cute!

Finally, He Is Here!

Last Sunday at about 3 o'clock in the morning, I woke up with the worst contractions I could imagine. I grabbed a paper and pen and started to write down every time I got one, and just waited for them to get close enough for me to feel like they were actual "labor pains".

The day went on and I kept timing them. They hurt so bad that they would make me cry! After I got out of the shower, I had one so bad that it made me fall to the ground and just bawl my eyes out. I finally told my husband, "I need to go to the hospital!".

We went at about 1:30 in the afternoon, and they hooked me up to a monitor and "checked" me to see if I had dialated any. I was at a 3. So they chose to admit me, and bring on the epidural!

I have to say, the epidural was the scariest thing for me. My husband held my hand, he said I was making it purple, and I cried, not out of pain but because it honestly freaked me out.

Finally I couldn't feel those horrible contractions anymore, and I just chilled in the hospital bed. I had a lot of family come down to share the experience with us and give us support.

As the day went on, they would keep checking me and I wouldn't dialate any more. So they decided to put me on the medicine Pitocin to see if that would help my contractions get bigger and closer together so that I could get past a 3.

For about 5 or 6 hours, I stayed at a 4. The doctor would come in and tell me my options, and by this time, they thought my chances of a c-section were 50%-50%. (Other factors were that I was a week overdue, and they could tell that the baby was a little big).I really didn't want a c-section, the thought of that freaked me out as well. Of course, I cried a little about that, too. (Labor is a very emotional thing!!!).

Because I was so scared, we called my husband's cousin, and he, my grandpa and a friend of my husband's cousin came and gave me a blessing. I felt so much better afterward, and the thought of the c-section didn't scare me as much anymore.

At about 10:30 that night, they decided that I was going to have a c-section. They got my husband dressed for the O.R. and numbed me a little bit more. As they were wheeling me off I kept thinking "This is so not how I imagined this going at all!".

The whole experience in the operating room was surreal, and I only remember bits and pieces. My husband stayed by my side and held my hand, and I could tell he was nervous, too.

Finally, at 11:16 pm, Owen Cody was born!!! He weighed 8 pounds 7 ounces and was 21 inches long. He is a tall little boy!

Later, in the delivery room, they told me that Owen was distressed while still in the womb, and so he had a bowel movement and accidentally breathed in some of the meconium- baby's first poop, which is sticky and black, almost like tar they say. Now, you can imagine, that's not a good scenario! They immediately took him to the Newborn Intensive Care Unit, and I didn't even get to see him. It was so hard. In the morning, they told me I could walk up to the NICU and see him, but after that c-section I was in a lot of pain! I didn't care though, I was determined to see my baby. I had to see him all hooked up to tubes and IV's, there were so many wires I didn't know what went to what. Nothing is harder than seeing your little baby in a position like that.

Cody and even had to wait until about 5 o'clock the next night before we could even hold him for the first time.

Eventually they weaned him off of the ventilator, on to oxygen tubes, and then on to an IV. My job then, was to start nursing him to get his blood sugar up so that we could take him home. That meant that every time he woke up, they would call me and I would run up to feed him. I did not sleep hardly at all that entire week. Between feeding, pumping so that my milk would come in, having visitors, getting up to pee all the time (I know, too much info, but seriously, after surgery even little things like that are so time consuming), etc. I maybe got 4 hours a night, and that was split up.

I was telling people that it was the hardest week of my entire life. After going through such a different (than what I was planning on, but when do things like that ever go to plan?) and trying labor, and then seeing my sweet baby hooked up for so long and not being able to do anything about it, I was emotionally and physically exhausted.

Finally, on Thursday, 4 days later, we got to bring Owen home. When they told me we could I cried because I was so relieved and happy. That meant that he was healthy!

Now our family is home together, and he is the cutest, sweetest baby and everything that I went through was so worth it because it was for him. It's amazing how much you love your kids!!!

Things Skipped But Not Forgotten

A few things have happened in between posts that were just skipped over because other things seemed to need to be blogged first. So here they are, not forgotten :)

First, I decided that after going through what I have, I deserved a "spa" day. So I went and got a manicure and pedicure. And I love my toes. So I had to post them. They look like ruby slippers!!! At least they're cute enough to take off some of the focus from the swelling....which is still there :P.

Second, for our annual Fourth of July party, we decorated cakes, and I thought (for my lack of skills) mine was pretty cute, considering :).

And lastly, I hate to end on a sad note, but the day after Father's Day, we had to put our sweet dog Heidi to sleep :(. She was 12 years old, and for a toy poodle, that's longer than the life expectancy, so we were lucky to have her as long as we did. She had cataracts, making her completely blind, she no longer had control of her bladder, and she would throw up etc. It was just time for her to "be perfected". I say, at least she can see now :) It was a sad couple of days but at the same time, we were all at a realization that it was just time. We miss her, but we'll see her again someday! And yes....it's the poor dog I accidentally cut off part of her tongue, so at least now she's "whole" again, too :).

Here she is when she looked good:

And here she is, the day before, you can tell, she just doesn't look good :( :

The countdown is at 10 days! I'm getting really anxious, a little nervous, a lot excited!

St. George, 2009!

This last weekend, the girls on my mom's side of the family took our annual trip to St. George. It was so much fun, and the only thing that brought me home was the fact that I missed my husband too much :(. (And the fact that the whole weekend the baby kept dropping and I had the constant thought in the back of my mind "Will I go into labor down here?!"). We swam, saw a movie, went shopping and saw "Footloose" at Tuacahn. It was so much fun! Here are some pictures :).

Today = 14 days to my due date. While we were in St. George my grandma was so sweet and bought me a rocking chair - lifesaver! I just packed my hospital bag. I can't wait.... :)

Swollen Scare

One of the many joys of being pregnant is swelling. I have been a little bit, especially the last couple months, but on Saturday it was so bad that we thought we were going to have to go to the hospital. My feet looked like balloons - they looked disgusting! When I would walk I could occasionally feel the liquid in the jiggle. My husband, mom and I were kind of worried. I put my feet up, and yesterday just took it really easy with my feet elevated most of the day. The swelling has gone down, but it's definately something I'm asking the dr. about when I go in on Wednesday! I almost didn't want to post this picture because it really is just gross how fat they look, but my excuse is it's because I'm pregnant. They really aren't that fat! :) It's too bad that the only way it really goes away is from having the baby. 3 weeks from today is my due date though... I'm in the last stretch! Notice the sad attempt at painting my toenails...I couldn't reach too good, ha ha!