McKay's Arrival May 2, 2014

So to give a quick synopsis of McKay's birth...Randy had been out of town working at his new job at Eli Lily in Indianapolis leading up to his birth and we only had 10 days for this bambino to join this family so we opted for an induction.  I don't really like inductions because my body knows how to go into labor on its own and has delivered many babies naturally so I knew it was not going to be pleasant to force my body to do something it really wasn't ready to do.  But I wanted to have as much time with Randy and McKay at the same time so we went for it.  I was induced at about 7 AM and it took 12 hours for him to make his debut.  It would have gone faster if I had waited but such is life.  He was a perfectly healthy 8 lbs 9 oz bundle of joy.  The special thing about this birth is McKenzie's desire to be in the delivery room with me to see McKay being born. I was hesitant because if I didn't have an epidural, which I was trying to do again, I would have been a little out of it potentially a little frightening for a girl of 13 to watch.  So we played it by ear and when she got out of school, grandma brought her over and by that time I was done and had gotten the epidural so we let her in.  She stayed for the rest of it and got to experience it all.  I was really impressed with how well she handled everything and she told us when it was all over that she was thinking about being a nurse when she grew up.  Apparently I didn't traumatize her enough, lol.  Here are some shots we got over the first couple of days of Kader's life.  Well except the 1st one is obviously before his first day ;)

 I know it's blurry, but oh so cute!

What? I'm having a brother?

WOW is all I have to say.  I cannot believe I have let this blog go for so long.  I have so many excuses I could use, but I won't.  Let's just act like there never was a gap and it's still Christmas time, lol.  Anyway, I am now in catch up mode so here we go.

The last day of school before Christmas break started, I had my ultrasound to determine the health of this little bambino and the gender.  We wanted to do something fun to tell the kids. I saw this shirt at The Children's Place a couple of days before and thought this would be a cute way to tell them. . .if it was a boy.  Low and behold it WAS and so we ran to the store grabbed the shirt and put it on this little stinker and waited for their reaction.  As you can tell, Masie is not very excited.

 Or maybe she was, lol.

 Very excited.

 or not, ha!

Born on the 4th of July!!!!!

All I can say is HALLELUJAH!!!!!  SHE'S HERE!!!!!!  I am no longer pregnant and uncomfortable, ok I'm not completely comfortable yet, but so much better and worth every second of it.  I'm not one of those women who enjoy being pregnant and so that moment that my baby enters this world is the most relief I feel.  

*WARNING*

If you do not want to read my boring labor story just scroll to the pictures now.  This part is so I when I have labor amnesia, I can go back and say "oh that's right, it did hurt like a motha." 

My last post says it all.  I did go into labor that night and little Masie was born the next morning.  The Castor oil helped, woot woot.  Contractions started at 11 PM and then took a break at 12 and then 1 AM started up again with a vengeance. So Randy and started to get ready for the fun awaiting us.  I took a shower, finished packing my bag (luckily when I got home from my Dr. appt. I decided I probably should start getting a little ready for what might come), and ate a small bowl of cereal knowing that I wouldn't be eating for a while.  We got to the hospital around 3-3:30 AM and went to triage to get monitored to make sure I was in labor and sat in there for 2 hours because I was progressing really slowly.  I was at a 3 when I got there and after walking and sitting on the ball only got to a 4 in those 2 hours.  But the nurse could definitely tell I was in labor and wasn't about to send me home so she set us up in a room and I immediately went into the tub for some relief.  I was in there for about 30-45 minutes and the doctor wanted to check me so I got out and was still a four and completely thinned.  So the doctor gave me the option of breaking my water cuz her head was so high and he knew that once it was broken it would go fast or to keep going on the track I was on. I was nervous cuz my contractions were already really painful and I knew once that cushion was gone they would be pretty much unbearable.  I was going to try and go drug-less with this one cuz I really think that why Malia's was sooo long, but once he broke my water I couldn't do it anymore.  Part of me wishes I would've stuck it out because I went from a 4 to a 7 in 15 min and probably would've be fully dilated within another 30 but I'm a wimp and just couldn't do it anymore.  And just as I suspected the epidural slowed my labor down considerably and took another 3 hours to finish dilating.  But I was able to relax and breath till she was ready to come.  So it was fine.  I pushed for about 15 minutes and she arrived at 10:20.  The doctor was funny, there was another mom who was almost ready to push as well at another hospital, but since it was her 1st and my 5th, he stayed with me knowing that I would go much faster, which I did.  The only complication we had was Masie had pooped sometime during labor so we had to have the respiratory team in there when I delivered.  She was fine though, just swallowed a lot of amniotic fluid and burst a couple of blood vessels in her eye (I've never experienced that before, poor girl)  She struggled with coughing up the fluid though and had to have her stomach sucked out once to get it out. Since then she's been fine.

Here's Masie getting checked by her team.

 Getting weighed.  They said 8 lb 3 oz my guess is because she dookied and that must have been at least another ounce, lol.

 Not the most flattering shot of me but I figured what the heck, no one can say anything, I just gave birth for crying out loud, lol.

 Happy and very excited siblings.  Gma and Gpa had taken them to see the hot air balloons go up and then our ward breakfast and then were at the parade when they got the call.  They quickly packed up and headed to the hospital as fast as they could.  The kids had no desire to watch the rest of the parade.

 Masie really likes her binky and was not about let anyone get that from her.

 Proud Grandparents.

 While I was cleaning up, Randy went to the nursery to watch her first bath.  The kids and Gma and Gpa had to stay outside, but they took some shots through the glass.  She wasn't too happy about any of it.

 After bath and her cute bows. 

 Can ya tell they're excited?

 And a little nuts.

Pretty flowers that the kids and G-parents brought.    

 Her patriotic bows that the nurses gave her.  Oh and I'm not going to tell the entire story about naming this child, but let's say that having her born on the 4th threw us for a loop.  We thought it would be cool to try and make her middle name patriotic, but we couldn't make anything work that we liked.  So this poor girl wasn't named till the morning we left the hospital.

 I had some fun with my camera in there.  She is just soo stinkin cute I couldn't help it.

 I just pulled her binky from her mouth, gotta love that shot.

 All of the kids have been so good with her.  They just can't get enough of her.  Malia just looked so natural holding her.

 Just chillin

 The kids made a poster for when we walked in the door.  It was soo sweet to see them so excited for us (meaning the baby) to finally be home.

Welcome to the family Masie Kay!!!!!  Hopefully you will survive with all of the love that your siblings want to give you.

38+ Weeks and who knows!!!!

So I'm right on schedule, 38+ weeks, and 2 cm 80% effaced.  Every single one of my pregnancies seems to be the same at this time.  The last 4 weeks I start dilating and thinning and at my 39 appt. I get to a 3 and then go into labor shortly after that.  Today at my appt. I asked my Doctor to strip my membranes and he looked a little shocked and said are your sure (my guess is because tomorrow is the 4th and who wants to miss all of the fun activities going on.  I'm thinking, heck ya, I don't expect anything to happen right away, it usually never does.  Sometimes I've had to get stripped twice before I go into labor.  Anyway, he appeased my request and stripped me and then said, we'll probably see ya tonight.  I chuckled knowing that wouldn't happen.  Well as soon as I got into the car I was uncomfortable and have been ever since.  I don't think this has ever happened. I haven't had real contractions yet, but I definitely feel different/in more pain.  I'm trying to stay upright to let gravity help and I just took 1 TB of Castor oil to see if that does something, otherwise it will just clean me out, which is not a bad thing at this point, lol.  I've never really thought about having a baby on a holiday, but tonight would be a really convenient night since Randy's parents are coming over for some fun tomorrow.  Plus being pregnant in this Utah heat has been pretty miserable.  I wouldn't mind laying in an A/C hospital being waited on hand and foot.  So here's to hoping that something good happens tonight and that I'm not just miserable sitting on the pot.

Baby Bump and James is Gone :(

So I've always been really bad at photo documenting anything to do with me, but I really wanted to have a few pics of my bump this time.  I've only gotten 3 shots in the last 36 weeks, but hey it's better than nothing, right?  This one is at 20 weeks shortly after finding out what we were having.

 This one is 30 weeks. 

 And only 6 weeks later. . .I'm huge and still have 4 weeks to go.  I stayed pretty small for a long time and then bam, here is my belly.  I am sooo uncomfortable all of the time and my legs feel like they are going to detach from my hip sockets, my ankles are swollen every night, Randy laughs at me every time I try to get off of the couch and my AC is driving me nuts and we can't figure out what's wrong.  Oh well, I just need to make it through the next 4 weeks and then I can JUST be sleep deprived not uncomfortable, right?  Here's to hoping I go early (not that I will cuz I never do).

 On another note, Uncle James finished his Freshman year of college and celebrated his bday with us before leaving to go home before his mission.  We went to 7 Peaks yesterday with Alina and kids then came home, used the rest of his money from his meal plan at Jamba Juice (which BTW James know all of the secret flavors and has shared them with us and "Screaming O," (I know, awful name right?) is the best), made dinner and made my mom's infamous bday cake.  James wanted to learn how to make it, so he helped and even chose pink flowers to put on it, silly boy.

 I'm going to miss Zoolander face.

 He was really excited to light his own candles, can ya tell?  He's concentrating so hard. . .love it.

We are going to miss having you around James.  There is never a dull moment when you are here.