Monday, March 9th: HAPPY BIRTHDAY HENDRIX FINNIAN BOSTON!!!

The day my 2nd baby was born. This is mostly going to be pictures because I've had a lot of requests for them. :)

Just to catch you up to current though:

We were discharged from the hospital Tuesday evening. After spending Monday night in the hospital and having the AC go out,I was ready to get outta there asap! Buzz, as you already know is the best doctor ever, helped get us out of there in record time! He preformed Hendrix's circ. right after we talked and then the paperwork was all taken care of. We decided to stay for dinner because they did a special Mommy/Daddy dinner that evening. I had steak and Ryan had fish. It was actually pretty good! They had a heaping side of broccoli on my plate, and if you know anything about m broccoli incident with Elijah, then you know I left my brocs untouched! My advice to all those soon-to-be-Moms out there, when the hospital tries to feed you broccoli, PASS ON IT!! Really, I can try to blame our wanting to leave on the AC, but this is the real reason for our wanting to get home:

We missed our big baby boy. :)

Oh, it was so nice to sleep in our own bed! Since then we've been doing great! Hendrix had his first check up Thursday and his pedi gave him an excellent review! My milk came in Wednesday night, so since then we've been changing diapers nonstop it seems like! And, thank God for friends and family who have kept us fed since we got home. Mary Liz brought us dinner Wednesday and Thursday night, Kim brought us dinner Friday night (tonight), and Randy is bringing us dinner tomorrow night. Our neighbors Ryan, Allie, and Audrey came to visit and our friends Ryan and Stacy Lambert dropped by, too! When you're stuck in the house (especially for a social butterfly like me) visitors are the highlight of my day! My cousins Chuck and Angie are coming by tomorrow to visit. I look forward to seeing them as they live in San Antonio. My friend Marianne might try to stop by, too. I think that's all for the lineup. ;)

On to the good stuff:

L to R: Dr. Moreno, Penny, Ryan, Hendrix, Me.

The one, the only, Buzz; Ryan cutting the cord.

My little dude saying Hi!

Conked out. See that square thing on the white thing sticking out of his diaper? They tagged my kid! It's great! It's like a clothes sensor that sets off alarms if the baby goes beyond a certain point. The tag is attached the clamp on his umbilical cord.

Angie holding H.

Cute, cute, cute, cute, cute!!!!!!!!

More Cuteness.

Family shot.

One of my very best friends, Erin (who's 5 months prego), William, and Neal

Kit, my bestie, with H.

Mother-Son photo opp.

Big Yawn!


Bitter Beer Face...

Awww....

Happy Meesh, Stoic Ryan, Slumberin' Hendrix

The Hospital

Sunday, March 8th:

Dr. Moreno was the doctor on call. We got to the hospital and I stripped down and put on one of those awful hospital gowns. Dr. Moreno came in and checked me. I was dilated to 5 cm and 80% effaced! She put me around -2 or -1 dissent, too (how far down in my pelvis the baby is, going from -4 to +4 which is crowning). She said since I was at a 5 I was staying in the hospital!! She was so impressed and surprised because I wasn't huffing and puffing! She was coming back in like an hour to check on my progress. After that check up I was at 6 cm!! She said that we had a couple options since me and baby were healthy and my water hadn't broken yet. She could either break my water then and see what happened or we could wait and see what happened and try to get some sleep through the night and then break my water in the morning if things hadn't progressed. After her initial exam my contractions had started getting more regular so I decided to wait through the night to see what happened and see if we could get some sleep. They always ask you on a scale of 1 to 10 how the pain is. So I ranked my contractions through the night from like a 1 or 2 to 3. Not painful just there.

I tried sleeping on my own first, but I just couldn't drift off, so they gave me the lowest dose Ambien and I was out for the count!! I should mention, Penny had met me at the hospital and she was with me the whole time at this point! Kit and Travis had come up, too, but left after I made the decision to sleep. Mary Liz, or course, came up, as did my father-in-law, Randy, but they also left after I made my decision.

Monday, March 9th:

When I woke up in the morning things hadn't really changed. Kit came back around 6ish with breakfast for my troops. There's a reason why she's my bestie. ;) Mary Liz came back, but I'm not sure exactly what time that was. Dr. Moreno came in around 7:30 to check me and confirmed that nothing had really changed since last night, so we decided to break my water! Luckily, my doctor chose this time to make his appearance because things went pretty fast after that! Leave it to Buzz to come bursting through the doors complaining that they hadn't called him until this morning to let him know I was there! lol. So, he left to go put some scrubs on, and I decided I should go to the bahroom, before my contractions got too bad. If your bladder gets full it can make your contractions feel worse, and if you have anything in the other end it can come out when you're pushing, so I obviously wanted to avoid both issues if I could!!

I got into the bathroom and almost instantly my contractions started getting real rough and real close together. I was worried I wasn't going to be able to make it out if the bathoom! Everytime I tried to time it between contractions and stand up to get out of there, another one came rolling on. In the end, I got a sensation to bear down and knew I had to get out of there now! Of course, everyone was asking if I was ok during this time, and I had said yes, so please don't think that I was abandoned or anything. I just didn't realize I needed to get out of there so fast until I felt the urge to push all of a sudden! 30 min after I had entered the bathroom, I came barreling out of there saying I had to make it to the bed quick!

Everything had happened so fast and some of it's a blur, but after I got into bed, it felt like almost immediately they were slapping an oxygen mask on me and getting me to move onto my left side. Keep in mind moving is no easy thing when you're having intense contractions. Apparently, the baby had slipped further down into the birth canal and his cord was wrapped around his neck (which they say 1 in 4 babies have the cord around their necks. It's usually not a problem), and the cord was being pinched. That is a problem. So the oxygen was actually for Hendrix and once they got me on my left side things seemed to be ok. Ryan quickly asked Buzz if he had time to go the bathroom, too, before the baby was born and Buzz said yeah, that we were probably looking at another 30 to 45 min at least. (I didn't know this conversation was happening until a couple hours later.) Ryan had considerately used a bathroom in the hall in case I needed mine again. Anyways, I remember them getting me to my left side and everything calming down for a contraction (Ladies, at this stage that's how time is counted. In contractions.) then all hell breaking out again! They're screaming, "She's pushing! She's pushing!!", I'm screaming, "Where's Ryan?! Where's Ryan!!?". Buzz goes banging on the bathroom door telling Ryan, "Baby's coming!!" while they're moving me to the end of the bed to deliver. Buzz is there making sure my cervix is all the way dialated. Ryan's there holding a leg and my hand and Penny is there holding my other leg and my other hand and I push and apparently the head is out. It all happened so fast that I'm asking Buzz what he's doing to me not realizing Hendrix was already coming!! Push number 2 and here comes the rest of him! All of a sudden I have this floppy slimy beatiful baby boy on my chest just eyeballing me and blaming me for disrupting his beauty sleep and I just can't believe Mr. Hendrix has already made his debut!! He was born at 8:29 AM. That's right. About an hour after my water was broken. FAST. I deliver the placenta, which I feel it's delivery this time and they check me over and clean me up. Mary Liz was in tears and as happy as can be with her beautiful new grandson and her amazing and talented daughter-in-law. :D Everything was great. I didn't even tear!! And then my body starts shaking slightly. Penny tells me that I'm just in shock because everything happened so fast and they give me an Ibuprofen to help.

So everything is great! Randy and my brother-in-law, Zach, were in the waiting room and got to see little Hendrix and Kit was, too. Mr. Hendrix Finnian Boston weighed in at a whopping 8 lbs. 8 ozs and was 20 1/2 inches long!! He has the chubbiest little cheeks and a double chin, but tiny skinny little arms and legs and body! lol...too cute!

Going back a little in time...

The last post I wrote was March 2nd and a lot has happened since then, so I thought I'd start at the beginning. Sort of...

Saturday, March 7th:

Ryan, Elijah, and I went over to our friends, Travis and Kit's, house to celebrate one of my very best friends, Erin's, birthday. Her mama, Penny, was there and we started talking about my going into labor. She told me that since my body was so ready for labor that I could get some contractions going, even if it wasn't true labor, and they could break my water and it would send me into labor for sure! As I'm sure you've already guessed, I jumped at the opportunity. :)

Sunday, March 8th:

So...what can I do to get some contractions going??? I know!!! I'll sing at church! Nothing like some good old fashioned adrenaline to jump start my uterus! I had previously decided to not get on stage for that very reason. Anyways, that helped a little bit.

We went and had Taco Bell for lunch with my family. That helped a little bit.

Went home and took a nap and Ryan contributed to the uterus contracting. ;) That helped, a lot!

We headed over to Mary Liz's for our routine Sunday night dinner. Ryan, Elijah , and I walked to the playground in her neighborhood and had some fun playtime! That 1 mile walk there and back was awesome! We made a new friend at the playground and her daddy said they were expecting again, too! They were pretty much just like us just 2 months behind. We had fun talking about the kiddos and comparing notes! :)

After we got home and put Elijah to sleep, I called the on-call nurse to see if I passed the test to go to the hospital. I got a call from Penny saying they had just called her and said they had me down to come in!! So, I passed! (In case I didn't mention this before, Penny is a L&D (Labor and Delivery) nurse there at Seton)

I called my Aunt, who came to stay with Elijah, and she was here in in a jiffy! Ryan and I finished up some last minute things (I washed dishes and Ryan updated my labor mix on the iPod.), we packed up or things in the car and we were off!! Yay!

Sorry for the delay!

I'm sorry I've kept you guys on the back burner for a bit, but I've been super busy and tired. N0t what you think, unfortunately! :) I had contractions all Wednesday night and Thursday, but they've died down today. So, in an effort to throw myself into active labor I had been running around like a crazed june bug running errands, CLEANING, and having Elijah time.

My doc is going out of town today for a Father-Daughter weekend at his daughter's college, so I'm 'laskin', as my nephew used to say for relaxing, for the weekend so he can come back and deliver H. So get this, my very very good friend almost like a mom to me, Penny, is an L&D nurse at the hospital where I'll deliver and is actually the one who recommended my perfect-fit OB/GYN (I know, probably not the best choice of words...) for me was working the night shift with my doc last night. Penny said he leaned over and said his daughter was only a little more more important (pinching his fingers together with only a smidgen of air between them) otherwise he would stay in town. Then later on that night, I guess when he was leaving so that would be this morning, he screams...yes SCREAMS down the hall to Penny, "Tell Meesh to keep her legs crossed and to keep Ryan out of there until I get back!". Oy vei. LOL. Let me say it again, I love my doc!!!!

So, I've made plans (major jinx, I'm aware) this weekend and I'm keeping my legs crossed and Ryan out! My birthday is Sunday, March 1st. Our plans are dinner at Korea House and cake at my house. I prefaced the invite with, "Of course, I'll probably have to cancel...", so maybe that will undo the jinx.

I'm shooting for the 3rd. Let me tell you why. My birthday is March 1. Elijah's is May 1. Ryan's is June 3rd. So I think it would be great if Hendrix's was March 3rd. :) Anyone else agree??

Ok, time to go feed the bun in my oven. Fish Tacos at Berryhill are $1.99 on Fridays during Lent. Mmmmm. Soooo good. I'm not going to proof read, so sorry if it's incoherant or if things are misspelled. (mwah!)

Sonogram News!!

I had my weekly appointment with my wonderful, amazing, fantastic doctor on Friday complete with sonogram! I'm at 37 weeks and they wanted to check little dude's weight. The sonographer said everything looked great! I had good fluid still, his bones were measuring well, I was measuring right on for my due date! She said that's something they don't see often. The verdict is 6 lbs. 10 oz. Makes me so, so very happy! :D

Here's a facial for you guys. The big ball on the right is his massive head! (She did say it was measuring BIG. She stopped being worried, though, when I told her all the babies in our family tend to run on the big-headed side. ;) He's lying on his left side. The dark hole is his eye socket and the darker splotch under that and to the left is his nose socket. The other side of his face is shadowed. His heart beat was resting at 128. Here's my baby!!!

Some sadder news is that Elijah still has that pesky rash. It looks just awful now, but it still doesn't seem to be bothering him. Pray that it will start to fade tomorrow, or I'm going to have to call the doc again. Ick.

My wonderful mother-in-law has graciously agreed to kidsit Elijah tomorrow so I can go to church. I was a little sad that I would have to miss church (so E wouldn't contaminate the other kids in the nursery) because it very well could be my last chance to go for awhile. But, thanks to Mary Lou, I'll get to go. Thank you, Mary Liz! You're the best and I love you so much, even if you couldn't watch Elijah!! :D

I'll have to post a blog soon detailing my complicated and extensive family tree. I'm so, so sorry to those of you who might not be familiar with either branch of my families. That blog will probably just tie your brain in knots.

So, I'm supposed to dish all my dirty little secrets on here, right? I have something to admit. I'm very happy about finishing a project tonight that I have been working on for the last week, but has been in the making for over a year! Ryan, being the worship leader at our church, has binders full of disorganized music that he uses and goes through on a weekly basis. I, being the huge, organize-loving, dork that I am, went through all of his music, resorted it, made sure it was in alphabetical order, catalogued each song on an excel sheet complete with all keys the song is available in, how many different versions of the song we have, and what binder it can be found in, and arranged all the hard copies in brand new, non-tattered, working binders! It was a massive undertaking, but immensely rewarding! Now. If only I can organize and clean my house that way...

Btw, I'm definitely nesting. More to come later!

Jammin' With the Boys.

Our day was eventful.

Elijah had a dentist appointment. We show up at the office looking cute and we find out that we didn't need to come in until August! Apparently, the office clerk made a mistake. Well, no biggie because like I said...we looked cute today. :D Poor E was a bit freaked out by the big chair, the bright light, and, oh yeah, the people holding him down. But, he was very brave and didn't struggle too much. I learned that his first 2nd year molar is already making it's appearance on his bottom right side. The bottom left one can be felt right under the surface, which means it's next. We finished our adventure with a quick hello to our good friend PJ Hildebrandt (who works there) and an awesome big boy's Cars toothbrush!

Well, Elijah's trauma was soon assuaged with a little bit of TLC from Daddy. Mmm, and I'm sure the queso at Taco Cabana played a large role, too, along with some hits from Mommy's deliciously sweet strawberry slushie! My boys are huge fans of Taco C. I don't think there's anything that place couldn't make better for them.

Listening to a chorus of "Buh Brush" (toothbrush) E and I made our way thorugh World Market for some floral goodies and Babies R Us because, well, just because. He loves his new toothbrush! You'd never know the heartaches he endured for that thing the way he goes on about it. Anyways...I digress.

We'll skip naptime because Elijah mostly did, too.

Poor Ryan had to come home to a screaming child and his wife gabbing on the phone! We quickly rounded everyone up and made our way to Trav and Kit's place to jam. I enjoyed a very lazy evening at their house, beached in the middle of their big bean bag, eating pizza, and watching some of my favorite shows: Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy, and Private Practice. I could tell you what everyone else was doing, but the title of this blog pretty much sums that all up. And, Elijah? Well, no. It was just all about me. As it should be. But, of course, never is! Ha! So thank you to Trav for geting me that water, Kit for refilling my water and playing with my child, and Ryan for EVERYTHING! It was nice to just sit there and veg after my long, long day with a cantakerous kid.

Yikes! It's late. Get ready kiddos! I have a sonogram appointment tomorrow!!! :) G'night.

New Blog!

Soooo, I'm very new to this blogging business, and I must admit that I turned my nose up at it at first. Now? I find myself addicted to my friend's blogs! It just seems like fun and what a great way to keep up with everyone. (Or if we want to be honest, what a great way to be a snoop! Hee hee) Please be patient with me as I try to figure all this out and if you have any advice, feel free to share it. So welcome to my new journal!

Here's my family as of December. Ryan, my husband, the Daddy. Me, Meesh, and obviously the momma! Elijah, our first son, is the one flying. Hendrix hasn't made his debut quite yet, but is evidenced by the rather large bump in my tummy area. His due date is March 10, 2009, but I'm hoping he'll come in the next couple weeks.

Ryan is our bread-winner, and boy do we love him for all of his hard work! Due to his diligent efforts in the money making area, I can stay home with our child(ren)! He works for a large risk management company, which I'll refrain from naming because I'm sure I'll vent about them on here, and he's the worship leader at Marshall Ford Fellowship church. Elijah is my full-time job and sweetheart of boy...except when he practices for those 2s. Lord, help me!

One of Elijah's new big things is finding the Moon. "Moo! Moo!" accompanied with pointing in an upward direction usually tips us off that he has either found the moon or wants to go look for it!

He'll wake up in the morning and I'll hear him over the monitor babbling about feeding the cat or dog. Too cute! After our morning routine, he'll run into our bedroom saying "Daw! Bites!". Translation - "I want to give Rolf, the dog, a doggie treat!". Then he'll run into the dining room to the cat food bin saying, "Meow, Meow! Bites!". After explaining to him (again) that we feed Sasha in the evenings, he'll normally insist again with, "Sha Shash! Bites!".

And, you just think we're done. ;) After breakfast, it's "Ish! Ish! Bites!" and we then feed the fish. My day in a nutshell.

I'm so proud of my little man, too, because he has discovered the potty. He's doing pretty well with it at 21 months of age, too! I went out and got him a Froggy Potty shortly after he started excitedly running into the bathroom saying "Pee!" and tugging on his pants. He's successfully used his big-boy potty around 5 times now! Grandma Mary Liz has jumped on the band wagon and added a big-boy potty to her house, too. That one plays music when you pee in it. The first time it went off, his eyes got a little big, but then he started bouncing up and down. It was a hit! We've been at it for a few weeks now and he's still as interested as ever! Yay! It would be great to not have 2 in diapers at the same time for long! God, please be merciful!

I'm 37 weeks pregnant. For those who aren't familiar with baby speak, a pregnancy is based on a 40 week period. So, I'm HUGE and almost to the finish line. Definitely waddling and groaning everytime I stand up or get up off the floor.

It's funny the things that become important to you in the last gasps of your pregnancy. Sugar. My main things are sweet tea and ice cream. Not together. Mmmm. Cleaning the study. It could end up being Hendrix's room, so I think about that room constantly. Getting our vehicles up-to-date on stickers and maintences. I'm sure there are others.

Ok. It's late. I should at least attempt to get some sleep tonight. :)