David has been doing awesome so far. He love to sleep, eat and poop. Pretty easy right now, other than the fact that I have to wake him up every three hours to eat. His pediatrician just gave me to ok to change it to every four hours at night, so I can get just a little bit more sleep.





So far, Carden loves his baby brother. He loves to throw away all the dirty diapers, and say "EEWW!" and plug his nose when he does it. He loves to "pet" him and pat his back to help burp him. I'm actually surprised at how much easier it is with the two of them than I thought it would be. But now I've probably just jinxed myself, dang it!

Seriously, what a cutie!

Here he is in his "cage." We have to put the bassinett netting on the pack n play, because Carden loves to throw things right now and we're afraid he'll try and play catch with David...



First family picture. I think we're all a little tired at this point. (And white. We are all very white in this picture. Good thing summer is here).

And what a cheeseball!

A mini Carden?

David--5 weeks



Carden--5 days

What do you think?

Too tired to write much, so here are some pics:

He's had a doctor's appointment on Friday.

Weight: 4 lbs., 11 oz
Length: 19 in.

Guess who gets to come home tomorrow?!?!

The Birthstory: Part 2

On my way to the hospital, I noticed that I was starting to have more contractions and they were a lot stronger. I think I had three contractions in a 15 minute car ride. I got to the hospital and didn't know where the labor and delivery entrance was so I just went in the ER. No one was at the ER desk when I got there and I had a least two more contractions in the ten minutes before I even saw someone walk by. I stopped a nurse and asked for help and she let me know that everyone was "busy right now so you need to wait." 5 minutes more of waiting and I was not very happy. A security guard walked by right as I was doubled over and offered to take me to the labor and delivery area. THANK YOU!

I got to L&D at 6:26 am. The triage lady was very nice and reassuring and told me about all of the reasons for false labor and lots of times it turns out to be nothing. My contractions were about 5 minutes apart on her little chart so she sent me on back to get checked and I was certain I just had a UTI or something and they'd give me an antibiotic and send me back home to rest. The nurse checked me and I could tell by her face that it was not good.

Me: Am I dialated?

Nurse: About a six or a seven.

Let me summarize this: I DROVE MYSELF TO THE HOSPITAL WHILE DIALATED TO A SEVEN! And I had NO idea that I was in labor. Am I an idiot?

My doctor was luckily at the hospital for a scheduled C-section so he was there to check me right away. I only had time to hurry and call Josh and my mother-in-law again to tell them to come to the hospital because I was dialated and would probably be here for awhile until they could stop the contractions. (Again-I'm not very bright about this labor stuff). My doctor checked me and declared that I was an 8.

Me: Ok, well lets hurry and get some medicine to stop everything.

Doctor: No, we can't stop it now, you're too far. We're having a baby right now.

Me: (Freaking out now) WHAT?!?! I can't have a baby! He's not ready yet!

Doctor: I know, but we can't stop it at this point.

Me: OK, well then lets get the IV going so that I can get an epidural.

Doctor: There's not going to be time for an epidural.

Me: (giving a serious death glare) Oh, THERE WILL BE TIME FOR AN EPIDURAL.

Doctor: (somewhat amused). Ok...we'll see.

Have I mentioned that I hate to be wrong?

They hurried me off to the delivery room and it was just me and the nurse. After about 15 minutes i told her I was feeling some pressure so she checked me again.

Me: What am I dialated to?

Nurse: Well, there's not really any cervix, just a bag of waters. Um...is your husband coming soon?

Luckily Josh got there 2 minutes later, just about the same time as the doctor and the team of about 20 pediatric nurses/who knows what, who stayed there for the ENTIRE delivery. Why is it in the movies they always show a woman with a towel over her and the doctor carefully raising it to deliver so no one sees? Because at my hospital it is not like that AT ALL. Here world, enjoy the view!

ANYWAY. Needless to say, I did NOT get my epidural. I was pretty proud of myself through the contractions. I had complete control and bit on a washcloth when they got bad and I really didn't make a sound at all. David's heart rate kept on dropping when I contracted so I made sure to control my breathing which seemed to help his rate stay up. Overall, it wasn't too bad and I thought I could totally handle the rest with no problem.

Then came the pushing and holy burning. I pushed on 2 contractions and seriously wanted to die.

Me: Just pull him out!

Doctor: Wow, you are just not stretching AT ALL.

Me: WELL THEN JUST CUT ME ALREADY! I DON'T CARE JUST GET HIM OUT.

Doctor: (amused? Annoyed?) OK ok. just let me numb you a little. (I found out later he was embarassed to be cutting a 30 weeker, which I though was pretty funny).

So he cut me and one more push and David was out at 8:13 am. And instantly the pain was gone. So crazy how I was in the worst pain of my life (up to that point) one second and the next it was completely 100% gone.

David came out screaming and I started sobbing that he was too little! And he shouldn't be here yet! But he was doing good so they let me hold him and then everyone left except for me and the doctor and nurse.

In case you're wondering if there is anything more painful than delivery a baby au natural, the answer is yes. The doctor got to work on removing the placenta and surprise! It didn't want to be removed. He kept on pushing and pushing and it was oh so very very painful. I could see he was concerned and he mentioned that I was bleeding a lot so he didn't want to wait to let the placenta take it's time to leave. So out came the tools. And the digging and the scraping of my uterus AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN. For 45 minutes. I honestly had thoughts that I was going to die right there on the table and no one was going to even know it.

I had no pain meds at all. At one point I reached up and kicked the doctor's shoulder, it hurt so bad. Everytime he would take out his hand and the spatula/rake/meat grinder I would pray that he would have the placenta and be done, but nope. They eventually gave me a sedative which did nothing for the pain, just made me too loopy to kick the doctor again. Seriously, it was 45 minutes and it was horrible. Delivering a baby was nothing compared to this. Finally it came out and later I heard the doctor talking his notes into his tape recorder. He said that a complete D&C was performed. Oh, well THAT explains the pain. Because most people are under complete anethesia for a D&C but I got to experience the whole thing!

Eventually Josh came back and let me know how David was doing. I didn't get to see him untli later that night and couldn't hold him again for a couple of days. But he's here and he's healthy now, so we have a lot to be greatful for! And next time, I'm not going to question contractions-just get to the hospital.

The Birthstory: Part 1

I have a strange fascination with reading other people's birth stories. I don't know-they just interest me. So here’s mine.

The week that I had David, Josh was in California all week. We had gotten a notice from our HOA a week before telling us to clean up our weeds in the front lawn OR ELSE! We had until Thursday to get them cleaned up, so I spent a couple hours in the morning and then again in the evening on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday trying to clean them up.

On Thursday I woke up feeling not good. Just kind of achey all over and no energy. I assumed I had done too much in the yard and decided to take it easy that day. My lower back was hurting, but it had been hurting for a couple of months. I thought it was just because I was pregnant and dealing with a 17 month old baby at the same time. I had been trying to get the chiropractor for a couple of weeks hoping that would help, but just never found the time.

I was seriously exhausted on Thursday so I made sure to try and nap when Carden did, but my luck is always bad with that. Of course he only wanted a 45 minute nap that morning. I tried to put him down again in the afternoon but again, no luck. I was so exhausted that I put him in his crib and started crying, begging him to please take a nap so mama could sleep. He was surprised by my crying and was quiet for about 5 minutes, but that's all. So I brought him downstairs and laid down on the couch while he watched a movie.

It was when we were watching the movie that I noticed every time I stood up I had a contraction. No pain at all though. Throughout the evening I noticed them more often, but again they were painless and only happened when I was moving. I started to get a little nervous, so I went upstairs and researched Braxton Hicks contractions. My contractions were identical to what I found, so I managed to talk myself out of being too concerned.

Josh came home about 6ish and we played in the yard and went on a walk. I was still having lots of contractions and talked to him about it, but didn't want to make a big deal over anything. That night I took a bath and made Josh give me a back massage and surprise! the back pain was gone! I still had some contractions, but I felt sooo much better, had energy for the first time all day, so I decided that I was just fine and didn't worry anymore.

That night I woke up around 4 am and realized that a contraction had woke me up and it hurt. I can remember being surprised and thinking that this was not good. The contractions were all in my back at this point. I felt my stomach during one of them and it was completely soft, just my back was contracting. I knew that preterm labor could be in your back, but it just was so confusing to me that my stomach wasn't contracting at all. I decided that I would just go to the doctor first thing in the morning and tried to go back to sleep. Of course that didn't happen and I started to time my contractions, just for the heck of it. Surprise! They were 9 minutes apart. It was about 5:30ish and Josh was awake by then, so I called the doctor and talked to the on call nurse. She told me to get to the hospital ASAP and reminded me to go the hospital where we had Carden at (about 15 minutes from our house). There is another hospital right by our house but they can't handle preemies.

Josh and I tried calling his parents, but couldn't get a hold of them. Carden was still sleeping so we decided I would just drive myself to the hospital. I was pretty sure that nothing was wrong. If they were real contractions they would just give me some medicine and tell me to take it easy for a few days. No big deal. So I brushed my teeth and hair, changed my clothes, put on a little make up, and finally got in the car to head to the hospital.

To be continued....

Because the spoon is just too slow...

Got Milk??

Cause I do!! This is about 10 days of my milk supply. I now just pump and dump because as you can see, I kind of have a lot. Can I get a MOOOO?

Sometimes I hate blogspot

I totally know how to write with paragraphs, but sometimes it won't let me! GRRRRR!