Ross

First, happy 3 week birthday little Tyler! I have been having issues with post-partum healing and my milk suppy has not been what it always has before, so he hasn't been gaining weight how I would like. However after nursing for about 5 days straight, non-stop, my milk is finally picking up and he's at about 10 pounds now. Yay! And he's beautiful, let's not forget that.

The above picture is of him in his new outfit Grandma Audrey and Grandpa Dave brought last night. It's a 3 month outfit, but fits him surprisingly well.
Smiling for Daddy. Of course.
And he's adored by women.

Second, Ethan, you rock! We had parent/teacher conferences last night.

• 3 A+
• 1 A
• 1 A-
• 1 B+
• 2 B
• 1 B-
• 6 A's for his "Characteristics of a Successful Student"(how he uses his time and acts)

And his teacher said he has the best handwritting in the class! Yay! I was just telling him the other day how ironic it is that he's Brett's son. Let's just say that his handwritting is much better than his fathers, haha. Mr. Schaffer says he's exactly where he needs to be so the only thing I could be working on is just having him practice reading. I'm always so relieved after I go to these meetings. It makes me feel better hearing first hand that he's doing well. Especially math, I always had a hard time with math until I was older so that's something I really want him to avoid from the start. He got an A in math though, so I guess I had better focus more on reading now.

So I don't forget, Ethan told me about a boy in his class pushing him down when they were standing in line. I asked why he didn't tell his teacher about it right away and told him that bullying or physically hurting someone will not be tolerated in any way so we told his teacher about it to fix the issue. Mr. Schaffer was very surprised and said he couldn't think of anything Ethan would do to make another kid mad like that. He says Ethan is a very nice friend and gets along with everyone. In the end I really didn't find out what the kids issue was, but I guess Ethan hadn't done anything, the boy was just having a mean moment I guess. I will continue trying to stiffle the urge to beat anyone(more their parents) who hurts a child of mine. But I won't deny that a white hot flame of anger sparks up in me anytime I find out about it.

Third, me! I've now lost 50% of my pregnancy weight. Thank goodness. Twenty-four pounds to go still, 121 feels like it's a very long way off. I guarentee it will be about 11 more months until it's all gone, or more. I'm feeling pretty discouraged about it as I'm still stuck wearing my maternity pants since not even my biggest fat pants will squeeze on. My size 5-6 pants wouldn't even get past my thighs I'm sure. Haven't tried that yet, I'm trying to avoid depression.

And here are my girls after a morning of picking out their own clothes. Yes, we made another visit to the closet to fix things, but first we had to take a picture of course.

Tyler today at nearly 2 weeks old.
Meeting his great-grandma T.

Tyler is such an easy baby. Adding him to the family has been no big deal at all. He's nursing like a champ. The hardest part of my day is keeping his adoring big brother and sisters away from him when he's sleeping. Me on the other hand, well, it's a good thing he was our last baby. My body isn't handling the whole post-partum healing stuff quite as well as is has before. I'm crossing my fingers that I can start into a good workout program in a couple more weeks.

PS: I made a Creamy Carrot Soup recipe today for dinner. One word to describe it, disgusting. I couldn't even gag it down. It's pretty much like pumpkin soup, which is vile in my opinion as well. Brett and I had to promise the kids that we would never make it again. Gag.

I think I might have enough time to write this before he wakes up. I hope anyway.

It's pretty short. I started having contractions at 10:50 in the morning. I got checked at the birth center and I was a bit more than 4 1/2 cm and fully effaced. Brett had run home to get our kids settled with their Grandpa Dave who was sitting with them, and then he got back just in time for my contractions to really get started. I warned them that my labor would likely be very fast, I was right. I asked to get into the jetted tub at a few minutes past 11, so the nurse came and got it ready.

I have to say how much I loved the birthing center and how great the nurses were! I mostly had an RN named Hazel there with me and Brett until it was time to push. I just sat in the tub for about half an hour. I've heard that being in water is a big help but I am still surprised at how much it helps. Seriously, if you have any chance at all, insist on laboring in a tub, it was awesome. The pain of the contractions was still pretty overwhelming, but somehow the jets on my back and the water made it more tolerable than I've ever had it. I knew I was at a 7 and told the nurse she might want to check me at about 11:30. I was at a 7-8. We decided that I would stay in for a few more contractions and then move to the bed to push. I made a two more and then said I had to get out then or I wouldn't be able to. I got into the birthing gown really fast and had to get on my hands and knees while Brett rubbed my lower back twice before I could even get to the bed. I knew it was almost time to push because I didn't have any time in between them, it was like a wave that wouldn't end.

So my doctor came in and I had just a lip of cervix left that went away during the next contraction when I pushed a bit. It only took two contractions and several pushes for him to come out. It was incredibly hard for me this time, even though it was so short, to push him out. It felt like the impossible task. It was so intense and I really remember thinking I was going to have a c/s because I couldn't do it. But he came out, tore me slightly, and the nurses and doctor all said he had to be a 9 pounder.

I was so happy to finally get to hold my baby and see what he looks like. He's basically Lily with the same hair Ethan was born with. So beautiful! I layed there holding him for a while and thought that I never have to do that again. I'm so glad to have that kind of work behind me. My family is complete.

Tyler is the sweetest baby! He's so content and nursing so well. As you can see from the pictures, he's super chubby. He likes to squeak, but very rarely cries. Right now he's asleep on my chest. I love his silky head. It's so soft to run my cheek over.

We stayed at the birth center for about 4 hours after he was born. We took our time cleaning up and then headed home once the release papers were taken care of. He scored an 8 on his first apgar and a 9 on the second. The one thing I hated was they had to check his blood sugar levels since he was 9 pounds. It turned out perfect, but they had to prick his heal to do it. That caused him to cry for the first time in his life.

So that's our birth story. Now we're off to my bed for our afternoon nap.

Don't mind the blood on his face, he was a bit large for me and gave a little tear that bled pretty bad.
This could be a picture of Lily with dark hair.
Simply fantastic nurses!!!

Born at 11:54 am on October 8th

9 pounds 20 1/2 inches

We're home and perfect.

Pictures soon!

So last Wednesday at my appointment my doctor told me as I was leaving that he scheduled an induction for Tuesday at 8 am for me at my birth center. I just stopped and looked at him like he was crazy and said that I was in no way interested in being induced. He said, "All I will do is break your water and put cervidil in."


Okay so I either get the chance of hyper stimulating my uterus(and putting my baby into distress) with cervidil, or I am put on a 24 hour time limit to a c/s because they broke my bag of water and introduced bacteria to the area??? No, I don't think so! Especially since I'm going to a birth center and drugs aren't even available there. Not to mention my body has already proven that just because my water has broken does not mean I will go into labor. I'd rather take pitocin and get an epidural before allowing my water to be broken.

Anyway, I didn't really argue with him too much since I thought for sure I would go into labor before then, but here I am having to make the calls and argue with my doc about why I won't allow an induction. They just called back, aren't happy with me, and apparently rescheduled an induction for Thursday and made a regular appointment for me for tomorrow at 3pm.

So here's looking forward to having to defend myself tomorrow at my appointment. The fact that me and the baby are perfectly healthy and nothing is wrong in any way doesn't seem to make a dent to this doctor. This on top of the fact that I'm very favorable to go into labor naturally at 3 cm dilated and 70% effaced as of a week ago. I'm so disappointed in him as an OB. I'd heard good things and thought he would be a good fit.

On a good note, I've been having stronger contractions and "other" things going on indicating labor is near. I'll leave out the gory details for those with sensitive eyes.

I think some of the studies coming out on exactly what causes a women to go into labor are very interesting. The two top causes they believe are the baby and/or the placenta sending out hormones that trigger it. I'm a full believer that the baby comes when it's ready, so this makes perfect sense to me. As horribly impatient and upset as I am to be going so far past my estimated due date, I will be waiting for my baby to let me know he's ready for outside the womb. Always have. And no, I'm not crazy.

Since I'm getting phone calls and emails, I thought I'd clarify my situation.

No baby.



Yet...