After the birth

 Mike's grandparents had come out for Jeremy's wedding, and we were hoping they'd get to see Aiden before they left, but didn't think it was likely, since their flight left at 1 yesterday.  But as soon as they told me I was dilated to a 9 at 7 am, one of my first thoughts was, "Grandpa and Grandma will get to see him!"  My mother-in-law went to get them as soon as she heard he was born, so they were at the hospital before he was an hour old.

 Then Mason came that afternoon to see his baby brother.  We had planned out to try to help him accept Aiden.  When he came, I made a point of not holding Aiden, and he came and climbed on my bed and cuddled for a moment.  Then we brought Aiden over, and he lay on his lap, supported by me and Mason's big book.

Mason was fascinated by Aiden.  He looked at him like, "Wow, what's that?" and said, "Baby" when we told him this was our baby.  It was like he realized, "oh this is what Mommy has been talking about?"  He kept grabbing my hand to get me to uncover Aiden so he could look at him.  We have a Cabbage Patch doll at home wrapped up in the same kind of blanket the hospital uses, and I think Mason recognized that and wanted to see what was underneath.  But Aiden was asleep the whole time, so he got bored pretty quickly.  We gave him a present "from the baby" of a few matchbox cars, and he spent the rest of the time on my bed playing with the cars.  When Aiden woke up, we tried to get his attention again but by then he was bored with the fuss over the baby, and wanted to play with his cars. 

When it was time to leave, I gave him a goodbye hug, and he grabbed my hand and tried to tow me out the door.  He let his auntie pick him up and carry him out though without too much of a fuss though.  He does love his aunties, and at least he got to see me.  He'll be coming over again tonight for the pizza party the hospital is throwing us.  It's part of the extra package we paid for so that Mike would get meals as well as me.  This hospital doesn't automatically feed the spouse, and they don't have a setup to pay just for meals for him yet, so we get all sorts of little extras when we buy it, like a bathrobe and a candy bag, and a "special" meal.

Aiden's birth story

I have been praying from the beginning of this pregnancy to be blessed with a natural child birth.  I was induced with Mason, and it was not pleasant, I came too close to a caesarean for comfort, and I didn't want a repeat of that experience.  As time has gone on, it's become more urgent for me.  My midwives urged me to be induced at 42 weeks, but I made the decision to wait an extra week for induction, wanting to give him as much time as possible.  My mom had me 3 weeks late, and my sister's second was three weeks late, so there was some precedent for it.  I felt the baby just needed a bit more time.  As the time got closer to the date, our prayers became more urgent and intense.

I was grateful to be able to make it to Jeremy's wedding last Friday, which would have been less than certain if Aiden had been born early in the week, but I was uncertain as to what would happen.  Mike had given me a blessing promising a birth free of complications, and I was doing my best to maintain that faith, but doubts kept creeping in, especially with all the false alarms I kept having, when labor seemed to be starting, and then stopped.

Sunday morning, I woke up around 5 and went to the bathroom, and on the way there, I had quite a bit of fluid drip.  I thought perhaps my water had broken, but apparently not, because there was nothing else the rest of the day.  But I had had trouble falling asleep that night, and wasn't able to get back to sleep that morning.  I was having some contractions, and I ended up throwing up, so I made the decision not to go to church.  Mike went and took Mason with him, but came home early after being lectured by my uncle (leaving Mason at church with Auntie April in charge).  My Aunt Liz came over and gave me a foot massage, then we went to my in-laws for dinner, after loading the car up with our hospital bags and Mason's bag.  I was scheduled to check into the hospital at 5 pm for induction.

Before dinner, my father-in-law gave me another blessing, with the help of Mike, Jeff, and Mike's grandpa, who was visiting for the wedding.  We ate dinner, said goodbye to the family and Mason, and went to the hospital.

When we got here, there was a bit of mix-up, they apparently didn't know we were coming, so we had to wait awhile for them to prepare a room.  I spent a lot of time walking around, because it seemed to be having a good effect on my contractions, but around 8, I had to get in bed and stay there for 2 hours after they inserted the Cervidil, which is supposed to help the cervix get ready for labor.  They were planning on removing the Cervidil at 5:30 am, and then start the pitocin at 6.  The nurse brought me an Ambien to help me sleep, and before we went to bed, Mike prayed that things would start on their own before the pitocin was needed.

I woke up at 4 am, needing to pee, and then I couldn't get back to sleep.  I had some contractions (probably all night long) and felt that labor was starting.  By 5 am, I was sure of it, and when the nurse came in, she confirmed that things were starting.  No pitocin needed!  I was thrilled!  We texted Mike's brother around 5:30 to tell him that if Alexis was going to be there, she needed to come soon.  He decided to drop her off before work, which was a good choice.  She was there around 6.

The nurse checked my dilation, I had dilated to a 3, was still 75% effaced, and the baby's head was moving down.  She monitored me for twenty minutes, then took me off the monitors and brought in a birthing ball.  I asked about the Jacuzzi tub, and she said they preferred I wait until I was dilated to a 4 or 5 to use that, as it might relax me too much.  A bit after 6, I was in so much pain, that I asked the nurse again, and she said it was ok, so long as I didn't spend more than half an hour at a time in the tub.

Of course the tub took awhile to fill up sufficiently, so I wasn't able to get in it until about 6:30.  I remember, I was practically whining to Mike, the pain was so bad.  The tub helped a lot, but it was still extremely intense, and I started wondering if I was cut out for natural childbirth.  I felt that if this was going to be going on for hours, I would have to ask for drugs, which made me feel I had failed.  And that maybe I hadn't prepared properly.  I was feeling very down, and very wussy.  And I was afraid I was setting a bad example for Alexis, I had hoped this would have been a good experience for her.

Around 7, which was the time I would have had to get out for a bit, I started feeling like I needed to go to the bathroom, and couldn't stop the urge to try to have a bowel movement in the tub.  It was the strangest feeling. I knew, intellectually, that the urge to push felt like needing a bowel movement, but I couldn't believe that it was time to push.  I got out, and went to the bathroom.  Every time I got back off the toilet, I would get back on when another contraction started.  Mike reminded me that it sounded like I needed to push, and I told him there was no way.  Finally he insisted on calling the nurse, and when she came in, she shocked me by telling me that I was now dilated to a 9 and yes, it was time to push.  All that was left was a bit of a lip over the baby's head.

I have to tell you, this made me feel a WHOLE lot better.  I had been feeling so wimpy, and the whole time, I was going through transition, and my body was booking through the labor process, so of COURSE it was painful, and of course I started thinking I needed pain meds.  I think most people feel a desire for meds during transition.

She called in a doctor and another nurse and they started getting stuff ready.  Someone said that if I wanted my midwife to be there I'd have to hold on, and I asked where she was.  When I was told she was at least half an hour away, not counting rush hour traffic, I said I wasn't waiting.  I couldn't NOT push when the urge came, and I wasn't waiting for that long.  I stood by the bed, pushing with the urge for several minutes, until my legs started to give out, then was on the bed without the stirrups.  It was interesting, I didn't feel the "ring of fire" with Mason, I didn't feel anything at all when pushing him out because of the epidural.  So I was surprised how quickly I could feel the head moving down, how quickly the "ring of fire" started, although it was obviously much more intense when he crowned.  I was actively pushing for about 17 minutes, and he was born at 7:55 am.  My midwife came in 3 minutes later.  She later said the nurses would be reminded about what to do when a patient is in that much pain.

Thermometers are mean!

He was (relatively) clean, there was a bit of meconium on him, and some blood, but they were able to put him up on me right away.  I held him for at least half an hour before deciding to let them weigh him, then got him back with just a diaper and nursed him for a bit.  He weighed 9 pounds, 4 ounces, and was 22 inches long.  I had a second degree tear which was stitched up quickly, and that was it. 

Mike having me taunt the IV machine I never had to use

It's funny, Aiden pushed it as close as he could go.  An hour longer and I would have been on the pitocin.  And then, when he decided to some, he came FAST!  I was so grateful that I was able to do this labor on my own, without the pitocin.  I had started to wonder if there wasn't something wrong with me, that I couldn't labor without the help of pitocin.  I thanked my Heavenly Father last night for letting me have this birth work the way I hoped, and even faster than I had hoped.  I had figured it would go faster than the (two days!) labor with Mason, but didn't think it would be THAT fast.

So here are some pics of the cute baby to sum up my adventure.  Sooo worth it!

Mason's birthday celebrations

Mason turned two today!  I can't believe he is so big!

We took him to a restaurant on Thursday (which was Grandpa's birthday) and Grandpa, Grandma and aunties came too for a combined celebration.  We took him to a restaurant called Fritz's, which is cool because they deliver the food using little trains.  When we first got there, he was really cranky, because it was an hour past dinnertime, he was hungry, he wanted me to hold him.

 Then the first train came out.  We were in a really good place, we could see all the trains coming out to deliver food.  The first couple he saw didn't have any food for us, but he still liked them and was watching where they went.

We ordered a fruit cup for him as part of his kids meal, and for some reason they brought it separate.  Maybe it is a hot food, cold food thing.  Anyway, he was eating his fruit cup when the train brought our food.  You gotta love the look on his face!

Later, Grandma ordered some more food, because she had shown up a bit late.  I got a video of Mason's reaction.

We tried to take him to a free dinosaur exhibit later, but he freaked out.  He was scared to death of the room.  So instead we wandered outside for a little bit and then had ice cream.

 Hey there trouble!

 This morning we went to a picnic by the lake for breakfast and presents.  Here is Mommy putting on his shoes.

 The people at the picnic: all his local aunties and uncles!  We missed almost-Auntie Shawna though.

We started opening presents before food was ready.  He didn't end up eating much.

 First present: Cars 2 from Mommy and Daddy.  He wanted to open the DVD case too.

 Second present:

Third present:

Auntie April's present.  You can't see the second thing well, it's a spoon and fork with Cars characters on them, and wheels on them.  I don't think he'll be eating much with them.

He got really mad when Auntie Missa took off with them to cut them off the plastic ties, and Uncle Jeffrey brought him back.

He also got a really cool present from Grandma, Grandpa and Auntie Tiffany, which I will show in a minute here, after I tell a funny story.  Grandma had just poured herself a cup of chocolate milk, and when she went to put it down, she dropped it, and it virtually exploded.  All over Mason, who just happened to be sitting on the floor playing with his new cars right underfoot. 

He was MAD!  And I couldn't stop laughing.  I was trying to calm him down, but I couldn't stop laughing, which I think made things worse.  Eventually, his aunties carried him off to look at the lake, then Auntie April took him home and gave him a bath while Mommy and Daddy went to get the oil changed (it was WAY overdue).

 After lunch, while Mason was napping, Mommy and Daddy set up the cool present from Gma, Gpa and Tiffany.

Isn't it cool! They included some cars, a plane, a couple of boats for the lake, and little animals.  We laid it out in the living room and put the animals in the zoo, etc.  Mason loves it, he hasn't even asked to watch any movies all day!  I think it even made him forget about the new movies he got.

Here are a couple of pictures of him wearing the cape from Tutu.  He doesn't quite get it yet, but he likes it.

And here's happy boy playing with his new car toy.  Surprisingly, he already drives the cars mostly on the roads.  Him's so smart!

Humbling experience

This afternoon after church, Mike dropped Mason and I off at home and went back for a meeting.  I fed Mason and myself and put him down for a nap, and after he was asleep went to take one myself, since last night was one of those nights when I just couldn't sleep.  About an hour later, I heard Mike come in, and a couple minutes later Mason started to cry.  I wasn't inclined to do anything about it, because Mike was there, but when the crying didn't stop, I decided to get up and check if everything was ok.

Mason was lying in bed crying, obviously still tired, and Mike was kneeling beside the bed, trying to calm him down.  Nothing he was doing seemed to be helping.  But the moment I went in the room and Mason saw me, he calmed down.  I knelt down, gave him his water, and kissed him on the cheek, as his eyes closed, and he was asleep in moments.

I made a joke to Mike about how he didn't have the magic touch, but when I went to lie back down, I was thinking about it.  It's humbling, and a little scary that I can be that important in someone's life, that just seeing me can calm him down. 

Don't get me wrong, he loves his daddy, but there are some things that he wants Mommy to do.  He always comes to wake me up first thing in the morning, and he tries to drag me out of bed each morning to get his breakfast.  On the days Mike is home and tries to help, it makes him angry, he wants Mommy.  Not entirely sure why. 

Daddy is his playmate.  Mason gets excited the moment he hears the key in the door.  And he loves to play hide and seek or tickle monster with Daddy.  He also loves to slam the door in Daddy's face as part of the bedtime routine.  After we have family prayer and Daddy says goodnight, he leaves the room and turns the light off, and Mommy sings to Mason for a minute.  While Mommy sings, Mason goes to the door, waits till Daddy comes to it, and then slams it shut, giggling madly.  Then he goes right down to bed.

And he loves to walk with both Mommy and Daddy. We've been taking walks at the mall to try to get the baby to come, and he likes to walk in between both of us, holding both our hands.  He is very insistent on it, actually, especially when we go on the escalators.

Anyway, I've been thinking a lot about all this for the last few hours and wanted to share some of it.  I hope that the new baby coming won't throw too much of a wrench in his life, and he will understand that Mommy and Daddy still love him, even though he will have to share us with someone else.

Update on Mason

Mason is getting so stinking smart!  He's started opening doors, at least doors that he can push open, and he's starting to talk more and more every day.  He's a serious babbler, and I have a feeling he'll be a jabbermouth as soon as he can really talk.  Some of the things he can say are "thank you" "doggie" "mommy" "daddy" "kitty" and "I did it!"  I think he said "Auntie" the other day too.

He has done some interesting things recently.  For example, he learned months ago how to plug and unplug the bathtub.  We just use a flat plug because our tub doesn't have plug hardware.  Anyway, he loves to put in on and he always lets the water out when he's done taking a bath.  But lately he's started doing something really smart, way too smart actually.  I usually had to take out the plug to adjust the water temperature, and then put it back on.  Well, the last couple of weeks, he has been waiting to put it down until the water is the right temperature. He's even been putting his hand under the faucet to feel the temperature the way I do.  Very cute!

Mason's auntie April, and I took him to the movie theater the other day to see Beauty and the Beast 3-D.  It was interesting, he'd never been to the movies before.  When we got there, the screen was blank, and the room was dark.  He was bored and frustrated and started fussing.  Right about the time we got him calmed down, the movie started and scared him pretty bad, because it was loud.  April and I were laughing hysterically, poor boy.  He calmed down pretty quickly though, and enjoyed the movie until about part way through when he got annoyed with the glasses and kept taking them off.  We ended up leaving early because of that, but I want to take him to a matinee sometime which is not 3-D.  He liked the big screen, but 3-D was not a good idea with an 18 month old, and 7:30 pm was too late also, that's his normal bedtime.

Mason turned 18 months old last Saturday, which means he gets to go to nursery at church.  It was a relief in a way, he's been so wiggly and can't sit still much.  He would sit still pretty well in sacrament meeting most of the time, especially because we usually sat in a bench and he couldn't go running off.  I haven't been to Sunday School in months though, because by that point he is too restless.  Then he would go with me to Relief Society or with Mike to Elder's Quorum.  He was pretty good most of the time, but he needed to go to nursery. 

Mike dropped him off the first time, we figured it would be easier that way.  He cried until they broke down and gave him a car to play with.  Then he was fine.  I had spies check on him every once in a while and I peeked in on him at play time.  He was confused by the singing time activities, but seemed to enjoy the playtime.  Afterwards, while we were waiting for a meeting I was having, he started playing with some other kids in the foyer.  Seems that nursery has given him a bit more interest in socializing already.

I cried.  I was sitting in Sunday School crying into a tissue about how he wasn't supposed to be so old.  My baby is growing way too fast.

Mason's cuteness

So here is an update on how my little bug-man is growing up!  He is almost 17 months old, now, and is starting to talk.  He has about a dozen words he uses regularly.  We noticed the other day that he says his own version of “thank you” when you give him things.   Today we played a fun game where he gave me his cars and then took them back and each time, we said thank you.  He is so cute!

I have weaned him off the middle of the night feedings, and he is sleeping better these days, which means I am too.  He wakes up once in the middle of the night, but calms down quickly, then he wakes up around 7 or so, and either sleeps in bed with Mommy or with Daddy on the couch. 

This morning, I was reading on the couch while he was playing, and he decided he was done and climbed up on me on the couch playing with my face.  He reminded me of some cats I’ve had in the past who liked to get in the way of my book.

He’s had all eight of his front teeth for about 6 months now, and he has started getting his molars.  He has two that are mostly out on the bottom, and I felt one starting to come through on top this morning.  He is remarkably even-tempered while he is teething, the worst so far have been the two lower molars, I had to give him some baby Tylenol every night to help him sleep, but he is doing much better now.

He’s such a happy little boy!  I love him more every day!

Winter Wonderland! Sorta

So something different happened this morning.  Daddy took Mason out while Mommy was running errands.  Mason got all bundled up for the cold and was met with a surprise!

 

There was a bunch of wet white stuff on the ground that Daddy called snow! There wasn't alot, but it was enough to notice.  Mason doesn't remember snow. 

He was so surprised to see the snow!

He was very timid at first, but then started exploring.

  Then he started to wonder where his foot prints came from, and 

why they kept appearing wherever he stepped!

Then Daddy and Mason went for a short walk, Mason following after his daddy's footsteps.

Then Daddy started to doodle on the sidewalk with a stick! Mason enjoyed stepping all over them.

Finally it was time to head home. With stick in hand Mason led the way back into the warmth and away from this strange wet stuff.

Six months at home

So I've been a stay at home mom for a little over six months now, and we have settled into our routine.  Mason is almost 16 months old, and very happy.  He's had a cold the last few days, which has mainly been affecting his (and my) sleep and his appetite.  But our lives have gotten better in many ways.

It has been a bit of a stress financially to have me home, but I have been able to make a little money babysitting, enough to pay for a couple months worth of groceries, and we still have a decent amount of savings.  So things are going well there.

I really have no regrets about quitting my job.  Mason has responded so well to having me home, and I have enjoyed being home with him all the time, and being able to play with him and be there for him.  I love him so much more than I could have ever imagined.

It's been good for me too, in a lot of ways. I didn't realize just how stressed I was until I quit and the stress was alleviated.  I have high standards for how my house should be kept, and I wasn't anywhere near to keeping up with those standards while I was working, but now it's much easier. 

There are some interesting aspects though.  I have absolutely no sense of time anymore, as far as when things happened.  I remember trying to figure out when my niece was born and being totally off.  I never know what the date is without my calendar I rarely know what day of the week is unless it's the weekend, and I've started forgetting plans unless I check the calendar, which never used to be a problem.

There are some downsides to being home all the time.  I am trying to work on the social life aspect of things, I don't have a lot of friends outside of family, and they are all busy.  It makes it tough that I don't have a car the majority of the time, I usually have to drive Mike to work on the days I need to go shopping unless my sister-in-law has time to go with me.  A friend of mine from work asks me to meet her for lunch occasionally, which is nice, but once again, it has to be when I have a car, and it doesn't happen very often.  So I need to make some friends.  There is a lady who lives down the street who is always home with her two little girls, but I don't want to impose on her too much, and it seems like half the time when I do want to go over, Mason is sick, or I'm babysitting.

Overall, life has improved in the last six months, and I am very happy with the change, with no plans to go back to work until all my kids are grown up.

Halloween

 Halloween pics!  Here are some cute pics of him with his dolls that fit with his costume which was Winnie the Pooh.

Sorry it took me so long to get these up finally.

So Mason went to two different Trunk or Treats, one with our ward, one with Grandma Blake/ Auntie Lizzie's ward.

Here is a random picture of me that Mike took at our ward's activity.

(UPDATE: Mike insists this picture is not random.  It's when we went fishing.  I couldn't get Mason to hold the stick because he was so clingy.)

Mason was Mister Clingy at the parties, not letting anyone hold him but me.  It was bad when Mike tried to take him in the costume parade.  See him screaming? You can see Grandma next to them in this pic.

Here is Auntie Tiffany and her friends in their Harry Potter themed costumes.

He's so cute!

Mason's first haircut

Mike has been bugging me to give Mason a haircut, and I haven't really wanted to , but it's been getting more and more messy and all over the place. The other day, a bug got caught in his hair and couldn't get out because it is so long, yet thin. So I had a bit of spare time today and decided the haircut was needed.

Before:

It's not easy to see here, but when his hair got messy, it got really frizzy and all over the place.

After:







Here is the hair I cut:
Not terrible for the first try, I suppose.