Little Baby

No, this isn't a post about sweet Miles... Quinn is convinced that he is little all over again! My fella, who completely lost interest in his binky at around seven months, now insists on having one like the baby. He has completely taken over the bouncy seat. When I nurse Miles he begs in his heartbreaking little voice, "Please, Mom, a bite? Please, Mom? Quinn turn?" What a sweetie!

A Whole Different Experience

Last Friday afternoon (the 19th), Travis and I decided to head up to the hospital around three-thirty. They hooked me up to the monitors and watched my contractions for an hour or so.

Dr. Noorda made a quick appearance to break my water and wish me luck at 4:45. The contractions got pretty strong, pretty quick. I stuck it out on the IV meds for a little while and around 8 took the epideral. I asked for pitocin to speed things along and then had them turn the lights out in our room.

They came back to check my progress every so often, but mostly from 8 pm until 1 am Travis and I peacefully slept in the delivery room!

When my nurse came in at one o'clock she told me I was dilated to an eight. Before she had the chance to leave the room I told her that she needed to check again. She did and said, "Okay, you are at a nine," and within two minutes she checked again and said, "I will go call Doctor Noorda, you are ready to go!"

The roads were really snowy and it took him half-an-hour to arrive. It was so tough to just breath through the contractions and wait for him!

Once he was there I pushed for three contraction (around ten or fifteen minutes) and had a beautiful little baby! There was a little scare because the umbilical cord was wrapped tightly twice around his neck. The doctor cut it before he was born and all was well!

When he was born, he just looked around for the longest time. The nurses slapped his feet, gave him shots, turned him from side to side, and did all sorts of other things to try to get him to cry, but he wouldn't make a peep! I was kind of worried, but they said they weren't concerned because there were no signs of distress! It was almost a full day later when I finally got to hear him cry! (My mom was in my hospital room with me around eight that night and I had got up to use the bathroom. I heard the faintest little sweet cry and shouted to my mom, "Don't comfort him! I want to hear it!")

I feel so lucky! I am just in a constant state of "warm and fuzzy" (and absolute sleep-deprivation)!

The Best Feeling in the World

Miles Winslow Howard

December 20, 2008

1:51 am

6 pounds 11 ounces

20 inches

I am absolutely in HEAVEN!! I am so in love with my sweet little fella! I will post the details of it all soon, but for now here are some pictures:

TODAY??!!

I am supposed to be taking a nap right now, but I can't sleep. I am really antsy because in about an hour I am going to head up to the hospital and have my new little baby (that sure makes it sound quick and easy, eh?)!

Just as I predicted: I went into the doctor's office today and he said there has been no further progression... however, between now and Monday morning he will be on call so go ahead and head to the hospital anytime before then and he will give the order to start me. He said that tomorrow or Sunday would work best for him; that is why I am going in today... ;) Not really, I am just SOOO ready!

Everyone cross your fingers for a four hour painless labor and delivery! My next post will have pictures of a little guy that I can't even kind of picture in my head yet... Crazy!

F***!

I went to the hospital this morning. I had labs drawn. Dr. Noorda called to say that he planned to start me, but he wanted to come in and talk to me first (to make sure I was up for it after another long and sick night). He said he'd be there before he headed to the office. He never bothered to come in (they finally called around 9:30... "oops, ran out of time").

My labs came back saying that my potassium was really really low, so they administered IV meds. Doctor Noorda finally made an appearance, long enough to say he wants me to be dilated to a three before he induces. Yep. Yesterday he wanted me to be a two and today I was. At seven o'clock this morning he said that everything looked favorable. At three o'clock this afternoon he said that perhaps he was misunderstood. So I am home now.

Oh well. At least Vicky didn't win the Biggest Loser.

Tomorrow??!!

A few months ago I asked my mom if she would watch Quinn while I was in the hospital having Miles. I told her that I would try to make it convenient for her... "How is mid-morning on the seventeenth of December?" And it has been in my mind ever since that my fella just might make his appearance on the 17th! Fast forward to last night:

I spend a couple of hours (I really have no concept of the time I spent there) up at the hospital last night because I have been MISERABLY sick! I was super-dehydrated and they pumped me full of IV liquids and medicines. I was having contractions, but the nurse explained that they were because I was so dehydrated and that they would fade away soon. Umm... no.

After I got home from the hospital the contractions were SOOOO bad! They were coming every two-three minutes and they were really strong. The doctor tells me every visit to wait for an hour after contractions start before going to the hospital. After forty-five minutes I woke Travis up. As soon as he was downstairs with me I started shaking and shivering uncontrollably for a few minutes (freaked Travis out!). As soon as that subsided, the contractions were gone, too!

This morning I was still feeling pretty rough, so I headed up to the doctor's office. There, they hooked my up to a maching to monitor my contractions (which have calmed down a LOT but were still coming pretty regularly) and Miles' heart beat. He was "moderately unresponsive" so Dr. Noorda got out a funny little buzzer thing that has a TON of power. He buzzed the baby through my belly and my sweet little baby jumped and twisted and turned and his heart rate shot up! Super-good sign!

The doctor said that if I was dialated to a two he would send me straight over to the hospital... nope (a one)! He almost sent me over anyway, but as soon as he would have himself talked into it he would talk himself out of it again (kind of funny to watch). He said, "Come back tomorrow," and he gave me an 80% chance of delivering Miles then!

I am mostly planning on having my second son tomorrow! It's nuts! I am going to spend the day with Quinn doing whatever he wants to do today! We are going to start with making a snowman. I am sure that the day will involve going somewhere to get a hamburger (meat-bread as Quinn calls it), and who knows what else my little big-kid will want to do... whatever it is I will be taking a ton of pictures!

NO WANT CLAUS!!

It sounded like a lot of fun to take Quinn to see Santa. He has seen Santa in movies and talks about him like he is an old buddy, however...

As soon as Quinn was within four feet of Santa he was crying hysterically, "Pleeease, no Claus! No want Claus!" As soon as we turned to walk away he yelled, "Bye Claus! Thanks! See you soon!" Travis called us a few minutes later and when he asked if he'd visited Santa, Quinn told him, "Cry, cry, cry. Nanta Claus." So I didn't end up with any pictures of Quinn with the big guy like I had hoped for. But we stopped by the Play Land while we were at the mall and I got a couple cute shots of him there:

After we got home, Quinn pinched his finger. I think he has the cutest little scrunched up face when he cries and asks for kisses, so I got the camera. When Quinn saw the camera -even thought he was still sobbing- he couldn't help but try his best to smile ("cheeeeese"). Super cute.

As soon as he was feeling better he was back off to his room to play. From the next room I asked him, "What are you doing?" and he said, "A doctor." Then, as proud as he could be, he came in to show me that he is Doctor Quinn... Medicine Baby!

Merry Christmas Tree

I sent Travis out to choose our Christmas tree this year. He came back with a tree that is perfect for our living room! He bought it on Saturday, but we just today got around to decorating it. Quinn could not love it more! I am trying to teach him not to touch the ornaments; his way around this rule is to act like he is smelling the tree, and then move around until he bumps into the ornaments with his nose!

I tried to teach Quinn to say, "Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas." Instead he walks around saying, "Ho, ho! Merry Christmas Tree!" (If those of you who aren't around him enough to catch all of his words were to hear it, you would hear, "Ho, ho! Mayee Mas-Mas Ree!") He is also very excited about the Christmas Stockings (Mas-Mas Tock-eens)! We are going to visit Santa for the first time tomorrow!

Today marks week 37 of this never-ending pregnancy! I love my baby so much, but HOLY COW... I AM SO READY TO HOLD HIM IN MY ARMS INSTEAD OF MY UTERUS!! Absolutely no progress, more annoying jokes about being pregnant forever, etc., etc. at the doctor's visit. I just have to keep reminding myself that it is going to happen, and it really can't last that much longer (deep breath). As long as he is not born on Christmas or during the Biggest Loser Finale, everything will be okay (and if he is born on one of those two occasions... I'll get over it)!

Baby-Legs

I started a "ten-minute" sewing project about and hour-and-a-half ago, and just now finished! All of the sideways sewing, unpicking, wrong-ways cutting, and trying to re-sew really added some time to a simple project!

Quinn was sound asleep by the time I was done making his new little "baby-legs", but after all the work I put into them I took a risk and changed him into them so that I could see my work serving its cute little purpose! (He slept right through it.)

Raw Potatoes

Today marks week 36 of pregnancy! I had an appointment with my doctor this afternoon and there was some good and bad that came out of it...

After checking me for progress, he said, "Well, it looks like you might just be pregnant forever." Yep, that's right, nothin's happening! But for the good news, he said that even though I have been losing weight, the baby is gaining weight and doing great! Quinn weighed seven pounds and four ounces when he was born, and Dr. Noorda says this one is noticable bigger. (I think his words were "not a monster, but a big baby.") I questioned his tentative idea of an induction on the 20th or 21st, and he said we can still aim for the twenty-first. He promised me that I will either be feeling better and keeping food down or else have a baby before December 22! I will be grateful for whichever of the options gets here first!

18 days to go (or, ya know, forever)...

It's time to get ready!!

Christmas is almost here!!

These are the stocking that I made this year!

An End In Sight

I had my thirty-four week checkup yesterday, and my doctor finally told me that he (AGAIN) will not be around for my due-date. I have been asking him at every visit what his plans are for Christmas time and he has always assured me (until now) that he will be the one to deliver Miles. He says he still plans to be the one to do it... as long as my body 'seems to be getting ready' on the 20th or 21st of December. That is the tentative weekend for an induction! So as far as I am concerned, I will have a brand new baby on the 20th or 21st of December! Otherwise some other doc will be the one... and I think I will find a new doctor if that happens; I chose Dr. Noorda as my baby-havin' doc because I want him to deliver my babies, not so he can plan vacations for my due dates! (He had a sudden family vacation to Hawaii the week that Quinn was due!)

Thinking back to when Quinn was born:

It was on a Saturday that I woke up and told Travis, "Honey, I am not sure what we are laying in; if I wet the bed I am SO SORRY!" Even though we weren't totally sure if my water had broke we decided to go up to Labor and Delivery and find out (I just kept thinking how embarrassing it would be to be wrong). Before we could head up there I was convinced that I needed to complete my Hospital Bag. The only thing from my checklist that I didn't have yet were toothbrushes for Travis and me. We lived about a block away from the Dollar Store, so I walked over to buy some. On my walk it became VERY clear to me that my water had indeed broke! With each step there was less and less doubt. I probably should have turned around and headed home, but... I decided that walking around the Dollar Store "like that" was okay in this situation. I even stopped to shop around! When I got home we called the hospital to let them know we were coming. They said we should hurry right up... but I wasn't ready quite yet. Being a baby magazine junky, I had read an article that said the only thing of your own that you are able to wear during labor is your bra. For some reason at that time, it seemed really important that I buy a new bra! So, we headed to Kohls to do some bra shopping!

Eventually we made it to the hospital (it was almost noon by then). That's when they told us that Noorda was in Hawaii and Dr Fowers would be delivering my baby. I had met him quite a few times before (he is one of three doctors in my doctor's office) so it really bugged me when he came in and introduced himself. HELLO.. if you have been down there you should at least remember that we've met! I hadn't had even a single contraction so they decided to give me an IV with pitocin to hurry things along. My nurse... well, what can I say about the first nurse? I'll just tell the story and you can probably get a feel for what I am trying to say... My nurse tried three times to put my IV in. The first time she went all the way through the vain, the second time something else, and another excuse the third time... she blamed my veins. She then told us that the policy was that after three misses another nurse would be in to try. The other nurse came in, told me how beautiful my veins were, and put in a painless IV within seconds! My nurse returned a minute later and I asked her if she would take a picture of Travis and me. She said, "Oh, I can't take pictures because of my tremors. The pictures turn out fuzzy because of how bad I shake. I will go get the other nurse again and she can take a picture for you." WHAT!? If you have horrible tremors then why the hell were you poking big needles in me??

Just got there; still going strong!

Drugged up... it's about time!

Moving on... after a LOOONNGG and HOOORRRIBBLE afternoon of declining the epidural (WHY WOULD I DECLINE THE EPIDURAL??) I finally agreed to it around 8 pm. After that time went by a lot faster! At 1:45 am Quinn arrived! He was absolutely gorgeous, but his head was SUPER cone shaped! Travis tells the story of watching him be born. He was an upside-down baby (face-up) and Travis said he saw his head and waited for his face... more head... more head... Where's my baby's face?? It was a lot better by the next day!

Check out that Cone-Head!

Our first family picture... with that one doc (have we met?)

They cleaned Quinn up and let me hold him for a few minutes. His breathing was kind of funny so they took him to the NICU. They said it was probably because it had been so long between the time my water broke and the time he was born. I will not be going bra shopping this time around! I spent a LOT of time hobbling up and down the halls to the NICU and back to my room for the next couple of days!

These are the machines that they had Quinn on for his first two days.

I told Travis and my mom, "No matter what I say in the future, please remind me that I don't ever want to go through this again! I am not just saying it, I really mean it. Please remind me that I don't want more kids." That was about a year before I was pregnant again!

So, this may sound strange, but it is really just starting to dawn on me that I am about to have a baby. Another one... Already!

A really good friend of mine just had her first baby (CONGRATULATIONS BRANDI AND RANDY!!) and Quinn was thrilled to meet the new little guy! At the doctor's office we sometimes see brand new mothers with their little ones and he is enthralled with them. He hushes people when babies are sleeping, and yells 'hello' and waves to every baby in the supermarket, but for some reason I am absolutely terrified that Quinn is going to hate the new baby that comes to live at his house!

And I admit it... I feel kind of GUILTY for having another baby so soon! Even though it is what we wanted, I feel like my time with Quinn is going to be interrupted, and that is probably not the way I should be looking at things! I am already wondering how I am going to handle being away from him when I am at the hospital with the new baby (I am more worried about how I am going to deal with it than how he will handle it!).

He loves to talk about "Baby Mouse" (that's what he calls Miles). He kisses my belly and tells it good-night. He is going to be such an awesome big brother! I really hope that he adjust quickly to the enormous change that is about to happen! His pediatrician said that most babies his age are used to the idea of a new sibling within a week... I really hope so!!

I worry about the silliest things! We all know that Quinn has an enormous head, but I am worried that Miles will have a normal sized head, or even worse, a small head! Why would I worry about that? Because think of all of the pictures of them together! It would look so silly! Not to mention that all of Miles' hand-me-downs are coming to him with stretched-out necks!

Sigh.

A Happy (and long) Halloween

We started out the morning by bowling with Grandpa Neil. This is Quinn's second time bowling and he LOVES it! He laughs and claps the whole time!

Before we left the Fun Park he really wanted to ride in the "big truck" with Snoopy. He had a blast!

By the time we made it out of there he was ready for his nap...

After his nap we met up with Susie and Taiya for trick-or-treating at the mall. Quinn wasn't too excited about the whole crowded experience, but he got through it!

We went to Quinn's Aunt Jo-Jo's house and hung out with the family for a little while...

and then headed to his Great-Grandma and Grandpa's house. We stopped to visit Grandma Mona on the way home.

By the time we left there, Quinn was so tired he didn't know what to do. He would start to cry and then it would turn into a laugh and back into a cry.

It didn't take very long for him to fall asleep tonight. It is not going to take long for me to fall asleep either!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

The Fourth Picture

Here are the 'Fourth Picture' rules: Post the fourth picture that is in the fourth folder on your computer. Write a brief description of the picture. Keep the tag going by tagging four people (I was tagged by Sheena!).

Here it is:

It's not a trip too far down memory lane... I copied all of my pics onto CDs when my laptop was having issues recently, and it just so happens that the fourth folder is the folder where all of my recent pictures are! This is a picture from last Saturday (Oct. 18). My brother and his family, my dad, and my family all went to "Boo at the Zoo" at Willow Park. Quinn was dressed as a ninja (I forgot his pirate costume at my Grandma's house and this ninja one just happen to be around our house). We were waiting in line at one of the "Spooky Station" activities and Quinn sat on the pumpkins! I tried to take a few pictures, but he wouldn't look at the camera so I gave up!

I only know two people with blogs, and you have both already done this one, so I guess the tag stops here?...

Handome... no matter what!

I have done some calming down since last night and I just wanted to say: QUINN IS STILL A GORGEOUS BOY!! I know that it is a super-drastic and unintentional 'hair-do', but it has grown on me a LOT and I think that -in its own little way- it is ADORABLE!

Quinn seems to like it, too! He rubs his head a lot. When I brought the clippers upstairs to put them away he just had to play with them first. He rubbed them back and forth on his head saying. "Zzzzzz." What a good sport!

I have also done some reading and it seems like it won't be too very long before he doesn't look quite like this anymore! Yea!

OH SH!T

Okay, so I have been thinking for a few days now that Quinn was in need of a haircut. It was my job to cut his hair when it needed to be done with scissors, when it was too thin to just run clippers through it, but since it has thickened up it has been Travis who has kept it short. Well, Travis was at the grocery store tonight, when I decided that I should just hurry and get it done before it was time for Quinn to go to bed. I haven't been that involved in the hair-trimming process lately, but really, HOW HARD COULD IT BE?? I got the clippers out of Travis' drawer, strapped the kid in his booster seat, and gave him a sucker (the usually prep for cutting his hair)...

I turned on the clippers and ran them straight back down the middle of his head. And then I dropped the clippers and kinda screamed. I HADN'T PUT THE ATTACHMENT ON THE CLIPPERS!! MY KID HAD A BALD STREAK RIGHT DOWN THE CENTER OF HIS HEAD!!

I freaked out and I grabbed the phone. I called and told Travis what I'd done and said, "WHAT DO I DO?? WHAT DO I DO??" Well, of course there is nothing I could do, so I got the camera, took a few pictures, and then finished off the ABSOLUTE DISASTER.

When it was over I carried Quinn into the bathroom and showed him his reflection in the mirror. His hand immediately went to his head and he said (wide-eyed), "Wow." Since then he has also muttered things like, "Gone," and "Ohhh," while rubbing his bald little (big) head. Baby Boy, MOMMY IS SO SORRY!! WE WILL GET YOU NEW HATS TOMORROW!!

Does anyone know how long it takes for a little boy's hair to grow back?

Feeling Crafty

Due to overwhelming demand (if there are two of you who have seen my blog and one of you requests something, I can call it 'overwhelming demand', right?), I have taken a few pictures to share of things I have made lately!

• First of all, I have been obsessively making Boppy slipcovers for a while now. I am so lucky to have come across a couple of people with "naked Boppys" so my personal collection of the covers has narrowed! Here are a few of my favorites:

• I have also been experimenting with sewing burp cloths. These actually have batting in them, so if Miles is like Quinn was, these will definitely come in handy.

• For my niece and for Quinn I am starting to make 'felt food' for Christmas presents. Here is a very small sampling of what I have done so far (I have no idea where the rest of it has ended up!). This is a piece of bacon and part of a hamburger:
  

• My super-crafty cousin was sweet enough to let me in on the secret of making tile-art. Like everything else, I have taken this on as a new obsession! Here are a couple that I have finished and a couple more that are in the process. The Curious George one is made from the dust jacket of one of Quinn's books; I am also working on 'Brown Bear, Brown Bear' and 'The Giving Tree' from his book jackets!

• And let's not forget the most exhausting work-in-progress of them all:

30 weeks pregnant

(I am surprised by how difficult it was to take a picture of my own belly!)