Ethan's Girlfriend

Ethan: I have a real live girlfriend
Me: You do?
Ethan: Yeah, I don't know where she lives or what her name is. But she is Bee-U-Tee-ful! she always wears fake eyelashes.
Me (huh?)
Ethan: We're gonna get married someday. I love her.

Wesley's Birth Story

So Wesley's here. He is amazing! I need to write the birth story... Here it goes:

Brian and I decided to have more kids about a year ago. We didn't want to get pregnant again while in school, and I'd already tried to get on medicaid and had been denied so financially it didn't seem like a good idea. But the feeling wouldn't go away, it was time.

I looked into the costs at a traditional hospital, but really I wanted to give birth naturally at home or a birthing center. I'd always wanted a midwife. I'd loved my doctor in Texas, but I wanted someone who sat with me, who knew what was going on every minute of my laboring process, who listened to all my concerns and didn't try to force anything medical on me. I wanted someone who looked at birth as a natural process, not a medical one.

One problem, my husband REALLY liked hospitals, and really didn't like the idea of having a baby outside of one. I did some research, crunched the numbers, and like all smart women, I convinced him by making him think it was his idea. First, I got him to agree with me that it was indeed time to have another child, then I showed him the cost of different types of labor and delivery, and last I had him meet with a midwife at a birthing home. She was amazing, the birthing home was beautiful. She answered all our questions and was exactly what I wanted. Brian (after really looking at our finances) agreed!

I got pregnant very quickly- especially after having dealt with infertility with the first two pregnancies. But I was able to get on Medicaid and my midwife didn't accept Medicaid. I was devastated. Financially I couldn't pay for something that I could get for free. Luckily, I found out about an office that had midwives and accepted Medicaid (Mt. Timp Women's Healthcare). I was very excited. I was back on course for finally having the natural birth I'd always wanted. I would only have to give in on one thing, the baby would be born in the hospital. I could deal with that.

Enter heart problems... I'd always known that something wasn't quite right with my heart. But with each pregnancy I could tell the problem was getting worse. I mentioned this to my midwife and she recommended I see a cardiologist. I did, and I was shocked at the laundry list of problems I was presented with. Once again I thought I was going to loose my chance at a natural birth. But since there are OB's and midwives at the office I was going to, I was able to stay with my midwife as long as the doctors reviewed my charts. The doctors said I also needed to see a perinatologist. I went to see them, and I've decided that they are the worse pregnancy fear-mongers around. I went home from my first appointment thinking I was going to die (seriously.) They had misread my heart charts and thought one of the conditions I had (pulmonary hypertension) was much worse than it actually was. When this is the case, the mortality rate is 56%.

Fortunately, a few days later I got a call from their office telling me they had talked to my cardiologist and I was not, in fact, dying. Oh, gee, thanks for getting back to me so quickly! Unfortunately, they were recommending I get weekly ultrasounds and non-stress tests. The midwives weren't allowed to go against the recommendations. As time went on I felt like nothing was going like I planned. At this point I made a very serious decision. After much thought and prayer, I decided that I wasn't going to have any more children. I'd always wanted at least four children, but I'd also always wanted to be the one raising my children. So I decided that after I had my son I was going to get a tubal ligation.

I knew I wasn't going to go full-term, both my other children were born two weeks early. I tend to dilate and have contractions for about 3 months. So it was getting close to when I thought I was going to deliver. Some nights the contractions were so bad I thought for sure I was going into labor, but I'd wait it out and they'd go away. Once I went to the hospital to make sure, and the contractions stopped. A week later, I knew it was the real deal. Right on schedule, exactly two weeks early.

We headed to the hospital at about 4 am and we were all checked in and hooked up at about 5 am. The thing I hate the most was the IV, but at the hospital they require all women delivering to have one. My midwife came and checked on me, I really did love her! She would come in and unhook things the nurses had done that I didn't want (too bad she couldn't take out the IV). Also, because I was getting a tubal after I delivered, I had an epidural. By this time nothing had really gone how I'd planned, so I had prepared myself to not be disappointed when I didn't deliver without drugs. Then, they decided to give me petocin! I was not happy about this. I told them it wasn't a good idea because my babies come very fast. But they insisted because after I got the epidural my contraction pretty much stopped. They started the petocin and then my baby's heart rate started dipping every three minutes- which confused the nurses since I wasn't having contractions... Then I checked the monitors on my stomach, and sure enough the one measuring my contractions was upside down! I fixed it and then the nurses saw that I was indeed having very hard and close together contractions. My midwife was with another woman during this (who was pushing). So after she was done with that delivery, she came in and took me off the petocin. Then she stayed with me. I loved that. She pulled up a chair and talked with me, for about an hour. My dad called and while I was on the phone with him I was taking deep breaths. When I hung up I noticed my midwife getting her gear on and calling in the nurses. She said, "It's time!". I asked her if she was going to check me and she said she didn't need to, that she knew I was ready. When they put me at the end of the bed and lifted the robe, there was a little head, ready to come out. My midwife asked me if I wanted any of the equipment on me, and I said no, so she took off all the monitors. It was very quiet and peaceful. Very different from my other labors. After pushing for about 10 minutes, my sweet little boy was born. He was a bit bruised from coming out so fast, but to me he was perfect. Wesley Owen was born Nov 15th at 9:09am 6lbs 13oz. And even though so many things didn't go the way I'd originally wanted them to, I realized that I didn't care because I was holding my son and he was healthy and safe. That's what mattered.

Firsts

Remember this first?


Now it's Nora's turn.....

First day of primary.

My kids are growing up so fast! The last year flew by. Ethan's in school, Nora's going to start preschool soon, Brian's only got one semester of school left, I'm almost 30, my youngest brother is getting married, and so many more things. I like the saying, "The days are long, but the years are short." So true! Ethan and Nora are getting bigger so fast.

Speaking of getting bigger:

Wesley's not wasting any time either!

Wesley!

Here are some pictures of Wesley. Enjoy.

Wes and Me

UPDATE: Not Pneumonia! I had extra fluid on my heart the entire pregnancy, and the cardiologist said the only concern he had about my delivery was that they would give me too many fluids... Well, looks like they did. I'm just too full of liquids and when I lie down it feels like I'm suffocating. The doctor said I should feel a little better everyday as my body sheds the extra fluids. Guess I'm sleeping sitting up tonight.


Man I love this kid. He eats every three hours like clockwork, he sleeps great, hardly ever complains, he's only leaked a few times, and peed on me about 3 (pretty good for a boy!), and he's as cool as the cats pajamas.

I on the other hand am having a heck of a time getting better this go-round. My body has been achy and sick and so very tired. On Saturday I felt horrible, I could hardly breathe all night. Sunday I went to the emergency room and got some antibiotics for mastitis (6th time's a charm?). But that night I still couldn't breathe very well and my body still hurt through my chest.... The ER doc called me today and said I should probably get a chest X-ray, it may be pneumonia as well. That would explain a lot. I just want to feel better!

Wes has been very obliging for all my inattentiveness. I'm about to feed him and head out the door to go get a chest X-ray. I hope he's good for his daddy.

November 15, 2009

This will be quick, sleep is calling...

On Sunday November 15, I gave birth to sweet little Wesley. He is so peaceful and precious. I adore everything about him.

Wesley Owen

6 lbs 13 oz
19 inches
Born Nov 15, 2009, 9:09am

Guessing Game

So the end is near! I officially have less than three weeks left until my due date: Nov. 29th.

Ethan was born 12 days early. Ethan was 6 lbs 6 oz
Nora was born 13 days early. Nora was 6 lbs 9 oz

Sooooooo...... I think it would be fun to have a contest. Guess the time, date, and weight and put it in the comments. I will make a handmade gift for whoever gets closest. I don't promise it will be before the New Year that you receive said gift.

Good luck! Contest officially ends when I go into labor, so if you guess after I've headed to the hospital, sorry you're outta luck.

Current guesses:

Tara- Nov 13th, 12pm, 6lb 5oz (that's kinda scary, Friday the 13th at Midnight!... My bad 12pm is noon, not midnight), sorry Tara, but I sure was hoping you were right!!!
Amanda- Nov 14th, 1:19 am, 6lbs 3oz, unfortunately not...
Emily Burk- Nov 14th, 2:22 pm, 6lbs 12oz
Andrea- Nov 15th, 8:01 am, 6lbs 15oz
Megan- Nov 15th, 11:15am, 7lbs
Ami- Nov 16th, 7lbs 4oz (need a time)
Sasha- Nov 17th, 6:07 pm, 6lbs 2oz
Patti- Nov 18th, 11:20 am, 6lbs 12oz
Becky- Nov 19th, 5am, 7lbs
Laura- Nov 20th, 2:30 pm, 7lbs 1oz
Jennifer- Nov 20th, 7pm, 7lbs 3oz
Ben/Alicia- Nov 21st, 10am, 6 lbs 10oz
Janette- Nov 25th (really?!), 7:32 am, 6lbs 5oz

Finish Quilt

I finally finished the baby's quilt. I think it turned out just the way I wanted it to. I was a bit nervous because I was trying out some new ways of doing things. I definitely learned a lot. And truthfully it took me less time than I thought it would. Which if I added up all the hours would be somewhere around 100 or so.... But worth it for something I hope turns out to be a family heirloom.
I'll put a better picture up later when I take one of the quilt hanging up in the baby's bedroom.

Ouch!

This baby is getting too big for my tummy! He is a vicious little kicker too. But that's not the worst of my problems.... We have NO idea what we are going to name him!
Help!
Just leave your ideas for boys name in the comments section, we need some inspiration.
Otherwise we will have to go with Ethan and Nora's ideas:
Buffalo Gracias Hall
Tree Love Hall
Ian Nathan Hall (think anything that sounds like Ethan)
Mark Rick Hall
Some are better than others, but any ideas would be helpful.

Wienerschnitzel

I have never taken my kids to Wienerschnitzel, and as far as I can remember I've never been there myself. But today my brother Tim watched the kids while Brian and I went to an etiquette luncheon at BYU (fun!). I gave him some money for lunch, so he took the kids to get hot dogs.
When they pulled up to the drive-through I don't know what picture it was that my kids saw, but I'm assuming it was similar to the one above. Anyway, here is how the conversation went:

Nora: What the heck!
Ethan: There's poo on that hot dog!
Nora: Yeah! Poo!
Ethan: Actually I was thinking more like diarrhea.

Yum.

Cornbelly's '09

There are some things that are just wonderful about living in Utah Valley... There are so so so many things to do as a family. We live about 5 minutes away from a place called Thanksgiving Point, if you've ever been to Utah, you'll know where I'm talking about. Anyway, we decided to forgo season tickets to BYU's football games this year and instead get a membership to Thanksgiving Point. Although we are sad that we weren't going to be attending all the home games, when we thought about the traffic in and out of Provo, it really didn't seem that bad to watch it on TV (not to mention we'd have to get a babysitter for 5+ hours!). Back to Thanksgiving Point, it is a really cool place, and we've already used our pass so many times. Right now they have a festival called Cornbelly's- a kids wonderland. Here are some fun pictures from the lovely evening we spent there:

Ethan and Nora with their best buds, Cayden and Emma.

And if you were wondering, we have had a chance to go to a BYU football game, the first home game in fact. Let's just say it was, well, disappointing. Take a look at these faces....

Brian and Ethan, hiking

I'm not even going to try to put these in order. This summer Ethan and Brian went hiking, A LOT. These weren't wimpy little hikes either. Some of them took hours. One of them they ended up hitch hiking back to where the car was parked because they took a different trail down which ended up being a few miles away from where the car was parked. These pictures are a treasure to me. I love that my men enjoy spending time together and already have a hobby they do together. Enjoy.

Grid Paper

This post is totally for me....
Kendra, if you want to print out some grid paper to draw a quilt to scale, use one of these links:
Grid Paper PDF
Grid Paper PDF
Thank you.

One Step Closer

I had a coupon and an opportunity to go to JoAnne's ALONE. Do you think I passed it up? Heck no! When I pick fabric I sit and stare at it for a long time. Then I hold a bunch of it together, see if it seems right together. Then, I put some back, ask innocent bystanders their opinions, and stare some more. That isn't very fun for anyone who has to come with me. Just ask my kids. So going by myself was an absolute delight!
I really wanted to go see what the quilt stores had, but right now $8+ a yard is NOT in my budget! So I just avoided those stores altogether. But, I was very very pleased with what I found at JoAnne's. And I'm very excited to get started on the quilt for the little man baking inside of me. He'll be done soon, so I need to get my act together.

Here are the fabrics that won a chance to go home with me:Hopefully, they will be transformed into a quilt in the near future. But I've misplaced my magic wand, so chances are it will be done about 24 hours before I give birth.See, No Wand.

Inspiration

I was realizing that I haven't made a quilt for a couple months now... And I need to get busy, seeing as how I only have about 2 1/2 more months before baby #3 joins us. So for inspiration I've decided to post pictures of the quilts I've made, I know there aren't that many, but someday when my kiddos are all in school it will be my hobby, passion, and maybe even a source of income.