Sorry For Leaving Everybody Hanging

So, I can tell by some of the comments on my very last post that I've been leaving everybody hanging about this baby! :)

But, right now is actually the first time the kiddo is not attached to my boob, so I'm getting a free moment!

I had a "feeling" on the morning of the Tuesday, the 16th, that something might be happening either that day or the next day. The contractions I was having were stronger than the previous few days, but they were still sporadic throughout the morning. By the afternoon, I was having some bleeding (TMI, I know...but it usually indicates something's going on...hehe). I called my mother-in-law to let her know to be "on alert" just in case. My mom was also on her way here from Texas because my step-dad had an interview on Wednesday, the 17th. They are thinking of moving back to Phoenix, and it just happened to work out that they would be here and the baby still hadn't been born. So, I was excited that my mom might make it here for the baby's birth.

After dinner on Tuesday night, my contractions were definitely coming in a more regular pattern, but still about 20 minutes or so apart. By 8pm they were getting closer to 10-15 minutes apart, so I called my mother-in-law again to let her know she might not want to go to sleep because we might be going to the hospital that night. She decided to come over just in case we had to leave in the middle of the night. The girls had already been put to bed, and we sat around and watched the Olympics and timed my contractions. By 10pm they were still about 8-12 minutes apart, so I decided I should go lay down to get some rest. As soon as I laid down to rest, the contractions started coming about every 4 minutes. I thought "Darn! Just as I get settled down to rest, here they come!" So, I waited until about 10:45 when I was sure they were consistently coming, and told Aaron that we should probably go to the hospital.

We packed up my stuff, and drove to the hospital and got checked in. I think by the time they were able to check my progress it was about 11:15pm or so, and I was dilated to 7 cm. They asked me if I wanted an epidural, and I declined. I had my last two girls completely natural, and I wanted to have this baby natural as well - but I have to admit that the contractions were pretty uncomfortable so I asked if I could have something via IV to "take the edge off"...and you know what they said? "No". I was like "What?" And they said "You are so close to delivering, that if we give you something in an IV, it will make the baby sleepy." OK...so much for that idea. So, I declined the IV altogether, because those things HURT, especially if the nurse isn't skilled enough to get the vein the first time.

At about 11:45pm they checked me again and I was 8 cm, so they called my doctor. She arrived at around midnight and they broke my water. My water NEVER breaks on its own for some reason. Weird. Anywho, I continued my labor standing up - it just felt better than lying in the bed, and I figured using gravity to help the baby make his or her way out would be good. They told me to tell them when I began to feel "pressure". That happened at about 12:10am, they checked me and said I was 9cm. My doctor said to try laying on my left side to see if that would help bring the baby down so I could push - but baby did not like that, and the heartrate went down. So, I had to roll over on to my back. The next contraction I had came with such force that I told the doctor I needed to push...like NOW. She told me to wait...umm...yeah, to wait. She hadn't got on her little paper gown thingie yet, and they hadn't dropped the end off of the bed to prepare for all the messy stuff that comes with babies. So, I "shhhhhhhed" through that one, but the next one came right away, and I pushed.

I didn't care if they were ready or not, I was pushing because this baby wanted out. And you know what happened? That baby's head came right out on my first push, and the doctor said "Well, I guess we are delivering this baby IN the bed". Ya think? On my next push, the baby was out!

And guess what, we had a BOY!! At 12:39am on Wednesday, February 17th, our first son was born. He weighed 9lbs, 1oz, and measured 21 inches long. I couldn't believe we had a boy. My husband cried...I just kept asking him "We made a boy?". hehe

It took us a whole day to name him because we hadn't really discussed names a whole lot since we didn't know if we were having a boy or a girl. We named him Aaron James Edward - and we're calling him "AJ". Aaron is after his daddy, James is my dad's middle name, and it's my husband's dad's first name, and Edward is my grandpa's name.

So, there you have it. Our son finally arrived on his 10th day of being overdue. He's officially one week old today, and we're just trying to adjust to family life with a newborn again. It's been wonderful and challenging all at the same time. Just about every one of my daughters is sick - so NOT what I needed right now, but we're chugging through.

Here's a picture of AJ from the hospital - I'm sure I'll be posting more later. :)

Dude...Seriously??

OK...we are now 6 days past my "due date" - or the estimated, they-really-have-no-idea-what-the-heck-they're-talking-about, due date...aka EDD.

Thursday night I was having contractions about every 15 minutes for 4 hours, but they never got closer and they never got any stronger - and finally when I went to bed at around 11pm, they went away completely.

Friday morning, I had to go in to the hospital for my first monitoring appointment - which consists of a fetal non-stress test, and an amniotic fluid index - NST and AFI for the hospital staff. They listen to the babies heartbeat for 15 minutes, and then they do an ultrasound for the AFI. For the AFI, they are checking to make sure the baby still has enough fluid to swim around in. hehe. The results were that the baby's heartrate sounded great, and my fluid levels were within normal range. The baby is pretty much comfy, cozy, fat and sassy in there. They showed me the baby's face on the ultrasound, and the cheeks were really chubby and the lips were really full. I got a little teary I have to admit - so I told him or her "It's time for you to be out here now...come out of there!" hehe.

I went to lunch Friday afternoon with my mother-in-law, and during the day yesterday, every time I stood up I would have a contraction, and they were pretty decent intensity. But again, no consistency. I was also having some good ones in my sleep last night.

But...this morning, Saturday...not a whole lot going on. I got up with the girls, we ate breakfast - Aaron had to do some work today so he left around 8am. The girls played outside, we had a snack of sliced apples and then my oldest daughter came home from spending the night at a friend's house. She had a school dance last night. Aaron had called and said my mother-in-law was going to come over around noon to give Baby Pants her birthday present. This whole "not knowing when the baby is coming" thing royally screwed up my ability to schedule an actual birthday get-together for her. We usually only do family anyway, instead of trying to have a big production with a bajillion friends - but I still wanted to be able to give her a 'party' of sorts. All she really cared about was cake and ice cream. :) So - after my oldest got home, she babysat while I went to the grocery store to pick up ice cream and a small cake.

After we ate lunch, my mother-in-law got here, and we sang "Happy Birthday" and let Baby Pants blow out her candle and eat her cake and ice cream. Then, she opened her presents - which were two new Signing Time videos! YAY! Baby Pants was VERY excited - she yelled "Signing Time wif Alex an' Leah!" (Alex and Leah are the two main character children on the videos). So that's what we're doing right now - watching the new videos. :)

I also called my Dad, because today is his birthday. We never thought I would make it so far past my due date that it would be a possibility that the baby would be born on his birthday - but we still have 11 hours of today left. Tomorrow is Valentine's Day - and both my grandpa and my best friend were born on Valentine's day. :) Maybe baby would like to be a Valentine's Day baby. I just wish it would be a 'sometime soon, like right now' baby. hehe

Alright, well Baby Pants and I are going to go take a nap now - YAY for naps!! :)

Happy Birthday!

To my Baby Pants. She turned TWO today.

Ha! You thought this was going to be a post on the new baby didn't you? No...that little booger is still in there.

My little Baby Pants is Two...I can't believe it. Two years have gone by already? Really?

This morning after Baby Pants played with her sisters for a few minutes, she came busting into our bedroom and was singing as loud as she possibly could..."Happy BURTDAY to MEEEEEEE!"

Then she kept telling me " 'Ahna burtday cake" (where 'ahna' equals 'I wanna')

I told her I had cookies to take to her babysitter's house. She was excited, but even after she saw them, she kept calling them a 'burtday' cake. I bought a package for the babysitter's house and a package for our house, so that we could celebrate tonight after dinner. We're not going to have her birthday party until after this baby comes, because I knew as soon as I would plan a birthday party, THAT would be the day I would go into labor. So, we didn't schedule it for this past weekend, and I only 'tentatively' scheduled it for this coming weekend - so we'll see when we actually have it.

My Baby Pants is SO much like her daddy, it's not even funny. She comes at life with full force, full of energy, and ready to take on whatever challenges come her way. As soon as she is dressed in the morning, she is ready to be outside doing something - her daddy is definitely an outside dog. It's been an adjustment for me, because I'm not really an outside person - but I'm getting better at it. :) She loves dirtbikes, quads and monster trucks - she watches UFC with her daddy and yells at the fighters - "No BITING boys!" (but her 'biting' means 'fighting'). She's rough and tumble and doesn't mind getting extremely dirty.

But don't get me wrong, she definitely has a girly side too. She likes to dress up like a princess, and if she gets TOO dirty, she tells me she needs to wash her hands.

She's a goldfish addict (the snack, not the actual fish)...she has taken to sleeping with her 7 yr old sister...she goes potty on the toilet...she loves to read...she still pulls on my ears when she needs comforting...she turns everything into a song (kinda like me)...she likes to wear my lipgloss (and when it gets returned it's REALLY gross and slobbery)...her favorite movie at the moment is 'Lilo and Stitch'...she still loves to use the sign language that she knows, and to learn more signs...she thinks its funny to tell me that she "fahted", but then she says "excoos me"...she's obsessed with Sponge Bob Square Pants...when she pretends she is leaving to go somewhere with my keys, she says "I going to church" or "I going to ride da bus"...she has extremely long hair that she tolerates me putting into two ponytails every morning...she loves her sisters...and she calls the new baby her 'baby butter' (butter=brother, even though we don't yet know what we're having).

I'm thoroughly enjoying watching Baby Pants grow up...she does have her moments, as all toddlers do...because she has discovered the use of the word "No", and when I start my warning counting, she just counts along with me and thinks it's hilarious. But every day she does something that makes me smile or laugh - tonight's laughing thing was "teeth kisses". She wanted to see my teeth while she was in the bathtub - so I showed her. Then she showed me her teeth. Then she came in for a kiss with her teeth showing, so I copied her...and we both giggled and gave each other a bunch of teeth kisses.

Seeing her get this big reminds me that my older girls are getting even bigger - I'm trying to focus more on their individual stages as well. It can be easy to let what they are going through get lost in the shuffle because they are "older". And now with the new baby coming, I'm kind of afraid of losing the experiences I'm having with Baby Pants. But all of this is exactly the reason I started my own business last year, and fully intend to make it my full-time work so that I can be with my children more often because it's a business they can be involved in too...and will hopefully require much less working hours away from them. It's time for life to be about them, and making whatever sacrifices are necessary to make that happen. It's just where I am right now, and where I think God wants me to be. Sorry, didn't mean to go off on a tangent. :)

So, Happy Birthday to my Baby Pants - I love you with all my heart. And lucky you, it looks like your brother or sister won't be sharing a birthday with you after all. :)

4 Things (aka 'The Cop Out Post')

So - I don't really have anything cool or noteworthy to post about today, other than complaining that the baby isn't here yet...so instead, I'm totally just using an email that I got from my mom today and posting my answers here. It was one of those "getting to know you" type emails, except it's just 6 questions, where you enter 4 things for each question. Feel free to participate if you wish. :) You can post your four things in my comments, or create your own post. Happy Friday!

1. Four places I shop: Target, Costco, Safeway, Frys

2. Four people who e-mail me: Mom, Nana, Sandie, Gina

3. Four things I like to smell: Ocean, Babies, Cinnamon, Citrus

4. Four places I would rather be: California, Mexico, Getting a massage, Having a baby (hehe)

5. Four people I think will respond: I don't like these questions..hehe

6. Four TV shows I watch most: NCIS, Gilmore Girls, Sponge Bob (not by choice), Ghost Whisperer (just started watching this again)

Update

So, remember a couple weeks ago when I was all shocked and surprised because my OB/GYN bumped my due date up to Feb 1? Yeah, well, when I went in for my appointment this past Tuesday, Dr. S goes "Well, you're measuring about a week behind, but that's OK". So, I casually mention the confusion there had been surrounding my due date. So, she scrutinizes my chart a little bit more in-depth, and finds, that "Oh yes, after the ultrasounds..." (I had to have a couple cuz I had some issues early on) "...it appears that we should have your date at the 7th or the 8th, so I think we're going to go with that." I calmly say "That's kind of what I thought"...and she says "Wow, I don't think I've ever moved a date back this late in the game without the woman crying." But, in all honesty, for about 8 1/2 months, I was thinking it was later in February anyway, and was more in shock when they started saying Feb 1st again than I was when she put me back to the later date. BUT - it was kind of nice to think I would be having a baby closer to now, versus closer to next Sunday - but we shall see what happens. I rarely have early babies -I've only had one come early. Cita (daughter #2) was born 2 days early - she was due on April Fool's Day - but at my last doctor appointment prior to Cita's birth, I had them do a procedure called 'stripping the membranes' - tooooooootally gross sounding, I know - but it's supposed to kick-start labor. My doctor was on call that weekend, and I really wanted her to deliver Cita, so I had her do it, and I delivered her that weekend - two days early on 03/30/02. SAM (#1) was 8 days late, they induced...Monkey (#3) was RIGHT on her due date, and Baby Pants (#4) was 4 days late. So my babies really like to cook until they're completely done. :)

Yesterday, I taught my last baby signing class to my group of 4 families. They did GREAT! It was so funny how all the toddlers that I had in class were pretty shy on the first 3 classes, but then by the last class on Saturday, they were best buddies. Really cute. And one of the little boys kept running around the classroom signing "Grumpy" because we were singing a 'How are you?' song - and one of the lyrics asks "Are you feeling 'Grumpy'?". I made graduation certificates for all of them, and I bought these really cute animal hand puppets when I was at Ikea last weekend as their graduation gift. All the kiddos love the animal signs unit, so I thought it would be fun for them to have an animal to play with while they practice their animal signs.

Then after class, we had lunch at home - and then it was time to do Saturday cleaning. I'm really hoping that the baby comes in the next couple of days while the house is still somewhat clean, because I don't really want to have to do the whole cleaning routine again before the baby comes. hehe. I do have the carpet cleaner guy coming tomorrow at 9am to do the whole house, and my two sofas. So, once that's done, THEN, I'll be ready to have a baby. As far as house preparation goes anyway.

I have a few more things at work that I need to wrap up. The latter end of this week was swallowed up with conference calls, so I didn't get much actual 'work' done. So, hopefully this Monday and Tuesday will be all I need to get everything closed off. Then I can feel comfortable walking away from that for a couple months.

Oh...and how can I forget to mention the Mexican Food I got to have with my BFF last week? I had a cheese enchilada with rice and beans - I think I was "this close" to licking my plate. We followed lunch with the MOST yummy fried ice cream ever made on the planet. OK, if you ever visit the Phoenix Metro area of Arizona - you HAVE to go to Ajo Al's (ajoals.com) - their fried ice cream is SOOOOO good. Most places just roll the ice cream in the oats and put some whip cream on it and call it good. But Ajo Al's rolls the ice cream in the oats, soaks the whole thing in honey, pours strawberries and strawberry sauce over the entire thing, then puts the whip cream on and sprinkles that with cinnamon. It's the B-O-M-B. And now I totally just made myself want some Ajo Al's fried ice cream dang it - and it's 8am on a Sunday morning.

Today consists of going to church in a couple of hours, having lunch, and then probably some laundry. I also have to get some work done today because I have a PowerPoint due tomorrow - but I'm not sure if I'm going to do it during Baby Pants' nap time, or if I'm going to nap with her. I napped with her yesterday from 3:30p to 6:30p - it was lovely...have I mentioned I love naps? Especially with a little toddler that snuggles up all close to you and holds your face while she sleeps? It's way cute and cuddly. I think I'll probably also set up the little bassinet that we have and wash the sheets and stuff for that. We have the Arm's Reach Co-Sleeper, it's a bassinet that you can drop one of the sides down and put it right up against your bed - so it's like your baby is sleeping with you, but they still have their own little space. :)

OK - that's about all - I can hear my two middle children fighting (but trying not to get caught because they shut their door) - so I better go break that up.

Hope everyone has a great week!

O' Labor Where Art Thou?

Sorry for the title, but my brain couldn't really come up with a clever title, and I was just thinking that my hubby was watching O' Brother Where Art Thou? last night, so just a switchy switchy of one word, and there you have it - my title.

I've been working my booty off for the last few days, both at home and work. We got a lot done this weekend as far as the home organization I wanted to do before baby comes. I'm really excited about the furniture we got rid of, moved around, or purchased (just one little cube storage shelf unit thingie - but it hides so many toys in its cute little neutral-colored canvas box thingies). I actually have a desk I can sit at that my laptop will fit on because we got rid of all the junk the other one was storing on top of it. There's still more to do - but I'm content with where we are and wouldn't be upset if the baby came now, like today. hehe

For work I put in a few hours last night, and 10+ hours today. It will probably be the same tomorrow as I'm in the "tie up all the loose ends" mode, since this should be my last week. Hopefully everything will be pretty well wrapped up by Tuesday or Wednesday - but it's not like I'm going to a faraway land, you know? My bosses and co-workers are like all freaked out about the stuff that I cover and I'm like "You can always call me" - and shoot, I might even do a little work whilst on my maternity leave if need be. I'm having a baby, not turning into an invalid. Maybe if it was my first go-round at this thing, it might be a little tougher to juggle newborn baby and work duties - but I think I'm a pretty good multi-tasker now...and I've been sleep deprived for the past 12 years, so nothing new there. hehe

Tomorrow my day is pretty well booked with doctor's appointments, meetings, data analysis, and a fun lunch with my BFF. yay! Mexican food - oh yeah! AND fried ice cream. woo hoo!

I really wanted to get a pedicure some time before the baby comes - my toenails haven't been painted since ummm...May? June? Somewhere in there. I've just never really been the type that keeps my toes up, except for clipping them - because I totally can not STAND long toenails. But for whatever reason, whenever I'm getting ready to go into the hospital to have a baby, I always want my toes painted - you know, for the nursing staff or whatever. But who knows if that will get fit into this week.

Parent-Teacher conferences are this week. I went to SAM's tonight - she's my 7th grader. The teachers were talking to me about how she's shaping up well to have a great start in 8th grade next year. I'm like "What?? 8th Grade? Can you please let me deal with 7th grade, before you start throwing 8th grade in my face for cryin out loud???!!!" Because guess what THAT makes me think? OMG...come this time NEXT year, SAM's 8th grade teachers are going to be talking to me about 9th grade - HIGH SCHOOL - and that is SO not cool. SO not ready to be the mommy of a high schooler - holy cow!

Cita's conference will be on Wednesday - she's in 2nd grade. This conference is "student-led", so Cita will be with me taking me through her schedule and her packet of schoolwork they've collected throughout the year. It should be pretty fun.

Then, Thursday & Friday both SAM & Cita have half-days at school, so they get to come home around lunch time and be with me while I'm telecommuting this week. Should be good times, as long as they don't beat each other up when I'm not looking...but I can HEAR it...I have ears like a rabbit...or whatever other kind of animal has really good hearing. Even if you know I can't SEE you, if you are under 18 yrs old, I can totally HEAR what you're doing from across the house. hehe

OK - I was up until after 2am last night, and it's going on 1230am now - so I better skee-daddle off to bed because I'm sleepy.

Little baby - if you'd like to come out of there soon - that would be just fine by me. ;)

Good Thing

Well...I'm glad I had such a rockin Thursday because from Sunday through today has been kinda "bleh". Friday was OK, I just worked and we had family dinner night out, which did contain a bit of drama but nothing too big. Saturday was extremely busy - I had my baby signing class to teach in the morning, then I met up with two of my best girlfriends and their kiddos at the Phoenix Zoo, and then hurried home to get ready for Supercross at Chase Stadium. Saturday was also my 2 year wedding anniversary. :) We got to go to Supercross as our date. What? We aren't redneck. hehe This is actually our 3rd year in a row attending Supercross - it's really fun! But I realized that I've been pregnant for 2 out of the 3 times we've attended - I hope we're not on a 'every other year' type of schedule. haha!

But then Sunday rolled around...and me and my two oldest girls woke up with the tummy bug that Monkey had earlier in the week. Ugggggh. So, Sunday was spent just kind of being lazy at the house - but I did have one little project we were able to make it through, and that was to tidy up the back patio so that I could turn it into more of a play area for the girls when I wanted to send them out back to play instead of out front. I bought this really big patio set, and it was taking up a ton of room, and we only use it when the weather starts getting warm - so we moved it into the pool area because there is a big unused concrete slab on the other side of the pool that was perfect for putting the patio set on. And now the girls have their little play tables in the area where the patio furniture was, and it just looks a lot nicer out there. I'd like to also make this little dirt area along the back wall into a little garden. I've actually kept a plant alive in my office for the past year, so I might be able to graduate to little garden now. :)

Monday was MLK day...this was another "Ugh" day. So my 3 oldest girls didn't have school, so they were going to stay home with me because I started my telecommuting this week since it's T-minus 2 weeks until baby. And me and SAM were still dealing with the tummy issues. So, I get Baby Pants ready for daycare, and go to drop her off. When my daycare provider asks "Didn't you see this sheet last week? And didn't your husband tell you I needed you to call me and let me know if Baby Pants was going to be here today?". I say "Yes, I saw the sheet - and everyone was just writing their child's name if they weren't going to be here. And no, my hubby didn't tell me I needed to call you." My daycare provider is a licensed in-home daycare provider, so she has limits as to how many children she can care for at one time, and when she has the full capacity of all the kids that come, she has a helper there with her. But, this "list" was supposed to let her know if she needed that helper or not, and of course Baby Pants would put her one child over her limit - so even though I was supposed to try and work yesterday because I didn't have the day off, I had to bring Baby Pants home. I was a little peeved, but I know it's not her fault - but seriously, who has MLK day off besides government employees and schools? Needless to say I didn't get any work done yesterday. AND it was raining, so I couldn't even send the kids outside - so they had to be inside - all.freakin.day.

Today was looking a bit better...SAM and I were still having residual tummy issues, but SAM wanted to go to school. But then Monkey goes to the restroom after she wakes up, and guess what she has? Yep, diarrhea...again...the one who started it all gets it AGAIN. So, I had to keep her home with me. But everyone else went off to school as usual, which was good. Since this tummy thing really appears to just be tummy related, no fevers, aches, chills, or overall yuckies...it was a bit easier to get some work done today. And there was a little break in the rain, so I took Monkey to a nearby park to play. Don't worry, there weren't any other kids there for us to pass the diarrhea germs on to - and when other kids started showing up, we left.

So, now I'm back at home, writing this post - and I'm feeling really tired. I can't believe I have less than 2 weeks before the baby arrives. I still have a mega-long list of things to get done before then, but guess what? I just don't think it's all going to get done...and I guess I'm okay with that.

Hopefully tomorrow will be better. Sheesh.