Merry Christmas Eve!!!

My sister Michelle took these photos and I'm so glad that she did.  Getting them to smile was accomplished with bribery.......told them they would get treats if they smiled. Getting natural smiles was hard, Ethan has a scared deer look in most the pics, but we got a few great ones!

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas Eve!

Dance Party

This is dedicated to Auntie Shell and her dance parties with my kiddos the past 2 days :) My shy daughter REALLY got into this!

Progress

Now dialated 2 cm!! Progress which is awesome, especially considering I have had pretty much just Braxton Hicks contractions this past week, a huge change, so no pain....yet progress!

The reason I'm the happiest is I am now scheduled to be induced Dec. 27th (check in at 9PM) if I don't go into labor before then :)

So........most likely will have a baby Dec. 28th!

Ethan's birth story

I had to write this down before I have another baby and start to get details mixed up between the birth stories.

Ethan's Birth Story:

On July 2nd we had my 39 week Dr. check up.  We went to the appointment about 11am.  This was Rob's 1st day off from work, he had scheduled 2 weeks off for the new baby and we had lots of things on our list to get done.  When walking into the Dr. office I was already having light contractions....or maybe just Braxton Hicks.  I got checked at the Dr. and was dialated 3 cm.

We left the Dr.'s office and went by the grocery store.  We saw 2 families at the store who had volunteered as "back ups" to watch Breanna if we needed them to when we went into labor and to the hospital.  Both families were at the store getting their last minute items before they took off for a long holiday weekend.  Each family was going camping and were getting smores items or hot dogs, etc.  After we saw them I called Pam Gideon to make sure she was going to be around for the weekend b/c she was who we were counting on to watch Breanna and I freaked out a bit knowing that our 2 back ups were now leaving out of town (and probably cell phone range).

We went home and put Breanna down for a nap.  Rob went to work on some things around the house that needed to get done.  I was having some noticeable contractions and so I decided to rest in bed to see if they would lighten or go away.  An hour later I was still having them about 15 minutes apart and I went to the bathroom and saw some pinkish "bloody" show.  I then told Rob, okay this might be the real start to things.  He said, "Do you think you can wait a day or two so that we can get all of our things done?"  I said, "well we better start doing them now just in case."

So along with our errands we packed Breanna a bag and Rob some things for the hospital.  I don't really remember the rest of the evening except that we hung out together and I continued to have contractions, but never closer then 10 minutes apart.

I tried to go to bed with Rob at 11ish and the contractions hurt too much to sleep, but I rested for about an hour and a half then got up b/c I hurt too much.  I think I took a shower then and shaved my legs just in case :) I paced the downstairs of our apartment for a couple more hours, called labor and delivery asked some questions and then just endured the contractions.  I was still 10 minutes apart but crying b/c they hurt and I was exhausted by this point (probably 3:30am).  I felt pain but thought they're never going to get any closer!

Around 4am Rob woke up and came down to see if I was okay, which of course I was a basket case by then. He convinced me to call Pam to come and stay with Breanna and we would go to the hospital to get me checked.  Pam got there around 4:30 and we got to the hospital and checked in by 5am.

The nurse checked me and we were just praying that I was dialated to a 4, so that I would have progressed since my appt. and so I could get an epidural.  Well, nurse checked me and said, wow, you're at a 7! Rob and I high fived and then I asked for the epidural :)  She said she would get the paper work started...but first I had to get in a different room, get an IV, had my blood drawn, etc.  So, everything got done as quickly as they could, but apparently nothing goes quickly from 6am to 8amish b/c there is the 7am change of shift, so EVERYTHING was slow or backed up.  The nurse said, you're doing so well, are you doing this naturally, um, no.....could we hurry the epidural up?

Apparently my contractions were NOT 10 minutes apart, but I was having double contractions every 10 minutes and so the in between contractions did not even phase me b/c the ones at 10 min. were so strong.  That is a sign that the baby's head might be the wrong direction, but thankfully that was not the case.  So, luckily I didn't wait at home much longer, waiting for my contractions to get closer.

The anesthesiologist that got off the clock at 7am said no to my epidural b/c he was going home.  Then the next anesthesiologist had to help 1 C-section and then another C-section right after that.  Needless to say I experienced the most amount of pain in my life for 2 1/2 hours waiting for the epidural.  I believe I went through "transition" at that time b/c I was throwing up a lot and actually groaning/yelling.  I NEVER did this with Breanna, but I never experienced that point of labor.  I am not a yeller, I am a crier and so this surprised me and probably Rob, but I started yelling at him.  I said, "I don't care if you have to drag the Dr., pay the Dr, wrestle the Dr.....get me my epidural!"   I was really scared b/c I hurt so much and didn't know if  I was going to get an epidural in time.

My nurse was great and had my Dr. wait til I got my epidural to check me again.  I got the epidural and then the anesthesiologist went and did another C-section.  Well my belly was numb, but below that was NOT numb and neither were my legs.  So, I waited another horrible 1/2 hour til he came back and tried again.

My Dr. then waited 10 minutes for me to "get numb" checked me and said, okay well it's time to push this baby out.  I said, "could we just wait, I finally feel good."  They couldn't wait b/c they had a c-section to attend to and said that if they left then the baby would be out before they could get back.  So, I pushed Ethan out in around 15 minutes and it seemed SUPER easy compared to the pushing of Breanna (2 1/2 hours).  Plus, Ethan was basically just waiting to come out....b/c I had been waiting for pain relief :)

On July 3rd Ethan Jeffrey Douglas was born 8 lbs. 1 oz and I believe 19 1/2 inches long (I'll have to check).  It was about 4 hours after we arrived.  He was very quiet and didn't cry when he first came out, which made me really nervous, but he was fine.  He had dark black hair and was kinda chubby.

I didn't have any tearing or stitches and that made it SOOO nice.  I was also numb for quite awhile after b/c the epidural had just kicked in right at the end.

The delivery was so quiet and relaxing once it was time to push.  I had a Dr. and a resident there, who delivered Ethan.  They were both so quiet, soft spoken and positive.  That part of the delivery was amazing. They helped me be calm and relaxed with their behaviors, which was different then with Breanna, but in a great way.

Debbie Downer

Today I had my Dr. check up.  I walked out of the appt. a bit disappointed.  I am dialated 1 cm right now.  At least I wasn't a zero, but I was hoping for more considering I have been having a lot of contractions.  Once I knew I was at at 1, I knew I wouldn't be having a baby today :)  Wishful thinking!!

Anyways, besides that Debbie downer statement, baby is healthy, I am healthy and now my body just gets to keep "warming up" and working on progressing more before real labor starts.

Train Ride/Museum (Warning lots of pics)

I bought a Groupon for a Christmas train ride and visit to the Colorado Railroad Museum.  It only goes 4 Saturdays in December and we went the 3rd out of 4th Saturday. It was quite crowded and they bussed us in from a parking lot (the kids loved it).

 Waiting in line to get our tickets.....lucked out with a beautiful, pleasant day! Especially b/c almost everything is outside (which I didn't know!)

 Short line for Santa when we got there, so we raced to get a moment with him....

 One of the cool old trains....

 This is the train we got to ride....and old steam engine.

 We got to sit in the cool passenger cars, which were refurbished but represented what they looked like when used in the late 1800's early 1900's.

 Figured out how to open the window during a stop at the water tower!

Ethan found a cute railroad doggy, I think "Spike" to hug and high five.

 Awesome miniature train village.

 Very fascinated.....

 Grampy and Ethan in front of an old train.

 Daddy helped each one pull the rope to ring the bell.....Breanna was using her whole body to pull on the rope.

 Snow plow train! We saw crazy pics of a 30 foot snow pack up in the mountains back in the 1900's.

 Checking out the view from inside......

 A caboose

 Grampy pushing them on the old luggage carts.

It was really fun! Even better was the fact that Rob and Grampy would lift each of the kiddos at the MANY different locations that needed lifting to see throughout the museum.  My pregnant body could not have done it without them! A fun and different adventure!

Baby Update

We went to the dr. today and had an ultrasound.  The baby's measuring in the 98th percentile....and the weight guesstimate right now is 7 lbs. 3 oz and I still have a ways to go...yikes!  His head is huge and so is his belly.  They could see hair on his head on the ultrasound, so i'm guessing he has quite a bit of hair! He is already turned head down and ready to go.  It was very fun to have a late ultrasound, we've never had one before.  It was great too b/c Rob was there, the kids and my mom was there (I've never had her come to an ultrasound before b/c we've always lived in another state :)


I could have been very happy without the information that he has a big head.  That, my friends, terrifies me for the birth coming soon.  I didn't have this information with Ethan or Breanna so their heads could have been just as big, but ignorance is bliss in this sort of scenario :)


They also checked my amniotic fluid level and it was a 12 something, which is good apparently.  The only measurement that was small was his leg bone.  The ultrasound tech said, well baby apparently wants to use all of his energy on his belly and head.  Dr. didn't think it was an issue, thought maybe it was the way he was positioned or something. They will start checking me next week at "full term" (37 weeks) to see if I am dialating/progressing at all.


Here's a picture of me at just over 36 weeks and 2 days (I believe)....kinda blurry pic, but you get the idea!

Putting up the Christmas Tree

Folks.....we did this a month ago, couldn't wait for Christmas!!!

*Yes, this is another day that Breanna decided to draw all over herself :)

Markers

Anyone else have kids who have decided to draw on themselves?

This is the 3rd time.  We have been lucky that it wasn't furniture or walls.  As of now markers are banned.  You should have seen the rest of their bodies......bellies, arms, legs, feet....all a variety of colors.