Peterson Family

I'll give a quick version of the story and I put the pictures below. Saturday morning we decided to strip my membranes to see if that would help put me into labor. My doctor was leaving the next week so I probably would have been induced on Tuesday (today) before he left. I was at a 7 when I left his office. We went home and I helped Jared fix part of the flower bed retaining wall. Still no contractions. His parents came that afternoon and after we were done with the wall we went to dinner at Sonny Boys BBQ (seriously awesome food). I had only had maybe 3 contractions that weren't even painful from about 6 pm on, until dinner. We got our food and sat down to eat. I had gotten the boys' food dished up (we got a family deal so it wasn't on individual plates) and pulled my plate in front of me to get my food on it when I felt a warm, wet sensation. I looked at Jared and told him either I just peed my pants or my water broke. Luckily it wasn't all over but it was pretty obvious from the back what had happened. We decided we had better get to the hospital so we took my in-laws' car and left them there with the boys. We went home to make sure it was my water (it was) and got my stuff and headed to the hospital. Jared had texted my doctor to let him know and he told us to hurry over there and not dawdle. About half an hour after my water broke I had my iv in, with the antibiotics going (I was group strep b positive) and was starting to have a few contractions, but I could still talk through them. Three hours and ten minutes after my water broke, she was here. And it hurt like crazy. I didn't get an epidural and during the pain I couldn't figure out why but after she was born, I instantly remembered why I didn't want one. It was a different pain than Cooper which I wasn't expecting. After one serious pain I thought I had gotten her shoulders through and the doctor said that her head was out now and we just needed to get the shoulders out. SERIOUSLY?!?! That wasn't even the shoulders yet? Anyway, it went well and she was healthy so I was glad. The boys (all three, including daddy) are loving having her here. Our friends kept the boys for us that night and said Crue kept crying until 2:30 am for us. I felt so bad! We just kind of left the restaurant quick because Cooper came so fast and we didn't know what this one would be like, and didn't have time to tell them goodbye or anything. They came to the hospital twice the next day to visit (Sunday) and we got to go home that night so we saw them the next day. Jared and I were glad I went on my own this time. That and having her come early were both firsts for us! And she's so tiny, at least for our family. We took her to the doctor yesterday for her first checkup and she was down to 6 lbs. 14 oz. The boys had always gained, even when it was only a day or two after delivery so we weren't used to this. I was joking that this was the first time we've actually had one that looked like a newborn. The boys were both bigger (Crue was about 2 lbs bigger and Cooper was almost 1 pound bigger) so they didn't look much like newborns and they grew out of newborn clothes fast. She sure is cute though and the boys LOVE her.

Just wanted to let you know that Alyson came on Saturday April 16 at 10:55 pm. She was 7 lbs. 7 oz., 20.5 inches long with a head full of dark hair (we're wondering where that came from). We got home tonight and I am so glad. :) I will post more later (including pictures). Everyone is doing well. The boys love her. Mom and Dad are ready for naps. I wonder if there's much chance for them now with 3 kids? We'll find out soon!

She might be coming! I had another doctor's appointment yesterday. Funny story. Last time he had joked (actually two weeks ago when he first checked me) and asked if I was going to be at a six the next time I came in. Last week I was about the same as the first time but this week, another story. He's worried about me not making it to the hospital in time. The last couple times he's had a hard time getting where he needs to, to check me. This time she was right there and he was shocked with how far dilated I was and how soft I was. As he put it, "you're a good 5 1/2 and I can easily stretch you to a 6". He doesn't think it'll take much to put me into labor. He asked if I wanted to get started, have him strip my membranes, or break my water, or, because he knows I want to go on my own, just wait. So now we have a bunch of stuff to decide. Part of the problem is that he's leaving in the middle of next week and will be gone all weekend. Since my body is pretty much ready to have her just fall out, if I wait there's a chance he won't be there to deliver. The good things about starting would be that I know she'd be born at the hospital and I'm positive for the Group B Strep so I could get antibiotics before delivering. But we've been hoping with all three that I'd go on my own (the boys wouldn't come - Crue was 2 weeks late, Cooper 10 days late) and this one might actually happen. So we'll see.
Part of his worry I think is how fast I went last time (to read about that go here). I was at a 4 or 5 when I went in to get started. I went from a 7 to water bursting and Cooper crowning in less than a minute. My entire labor was about 1 hour 20 minutes. So if I go faster this time, well, you do the math. :)
We'll probably try a few things this weekend since I have been having contractions and am quite ready to go. If she still doesn't we're considering having him start me Tuesday so he can be there for the delivery. If anyone has any tricks let me know! I know of one thing that'll get my contractions going. When we were talking to one of the assistants before we left she said to try that and then walk around after to keep them going. So we'll have to see if that works. We were going to borrow a four-wheeler this weekend but we might skip that now so that we aren't trying to race back to the truck to get to the hospital. Of course there is a field kind of across the street from us so we could always ride there and then ride the four-wheeler to the hospital. So we'll see. If anyone has any ideas please feel free to leave a comment, email, or call me. I'll probably be calling my neighbor this afternoon (just warning you Jessica!) because she said she knows a few tricks. So maybe my next post will be when she arrives. I decided that I really need to get my house cleaned and go grocery shopping first so my day might be filled with that today in case she comes this weekend. Wish us luck!

My brother wants me to update our blog (even though he lives with us). I'd post pictures and make this an interesting post but our hard drive is gone so I'm borrowing a computer and can't upload any pictures. Which stinks even more considering I got a new camera that I've had fun messing with and have some pictures to post from it. Oh well. That'll have to wait for another day. It's the Canon Powershot SX130 IS if you want to check out the camera. It's got lots of pretty cool features. I'm not into photography (I do like looking at everyone else's pictures though) but I wanted a newer camera. The one we had was from when Jared got home from his mission and it was a pretty nice one but it was a 3.2 mp camera. And it was slow when I'd try to take pictures of the boys. This one is a lot faster and I can adjust settings so I can take better pictures of the boys. I'm loving it.

Another thing we've been up to lately is finally starting on our front landscaping a little. We got some retaining wall blocks and are building up our flower bed so that it is level from the porch to the sidewalk. We'll fill it in with dirt and I'll fill it with flowers. I'm really excited. It looks really good. Some day I'll post pictures of it!

The last thing I was going to write about is the waiting game. As of two days ago I have two weeks left until my due date. Last week when I went to the doctor he said I was a 4 and 60%. He was asking if we were going to have a Conference baby. I might have wondered if we were except that I did the same thing with both boys. I was always at a 4 or 5 when I went into the hospital to be induced (after going past my due date) and usually at a 3 or 4 a month before I was due but could never seem to go into labor on my own. So we knew we'd be back for my appointment this last week and sure enough we were. He checked again and I was pretty much the same. I'm hoping the 3rd time's a charm and I'll be able to go on my own this time. But if I don't and have to be induced, at least I know what to expect and I'm not too worried about it. I was hoping to be scheduled on my due date if I didn't go by then (for several reasons but not because I'm done being pregnant - I'm ok with going over) but he said they'll be out of town so I can either go a couple days before or the week after. I don't want to get started early - still holding out that I can go on my own - so we'll probably schedule it for the week after and hope that I go on my own. Until then, we're just playing the waiting game and hoping I go on my own. We're going to borrow a four-wheeler next weekend and hope that helps. I didn't try that with Crue when I tried pretty much everything else and since I like riding four-wheelers I'm all for trying it. :)

That's about it for us. Sorry for the post with no pictures. Maybe we'll be lucky enough to get our computer working soon. I'm hoping before she comes so we can post pictures when she's born!