Two weeks later...the looong story of Daniel's Arrival

Baby D's Arrival

Background:

The past three weeks were filled with sporadic painful contractions. Tuesday early morning was the same as many recent nights, minimal sleep between the contractions. If I get a two hour stent of sleep that is good. I spent the night tossing and turning but refusing to look at the clock. Aidan had Christmas Chapel in the morning and we were really excited to go see it. The contractions were still coming sporadic(but other signs of labor were brewing however, it still could mean labor was a few days away). We made breakfast and got ready to head to preschool. I was so happy I could go. Afterwards I had errands ot run but asked Andrew to come with Logan and me. I was STILL having the sporadic contractoins and we thought this might be one of the last times we both had time with Logan while he was the Baby of the Family.

By naptime the contractions had stopped for a while. They would come anywhere from 10-45 minutes apart. I decided to try to nap just in case this was the start of the real thing. My Mom called to "see how I was feeling" and after that Kate called to check in too. I tried to get a little rest but the Boys were up 10-15 minutes later (Aidan with hives..AGAIN!).

After naps, I packed up their travel bag "just in case." I did not want to be too hopeful that this was going to be "the day/night" but I wanted to be prepared. I also needed to figure out what to do for dinner I had plans to get out some chicken to thaw but as lame as it sounds it was too cold in the garage and I did not want to go out there. I folded laundry and pondered why on earth Aidan had hives again. I decided on Breakfast for dinner because the Boys usually ALWAYS eat bacon. I thought we had some open but I couldn't find it (turns out in was right in front of my face) and a frozen pack which wouldn't thaw in time. I texted Andrew and asked him if he could pick some up on the way home. Turns out he never responded because he was super busy/things at work were falling apart and he ended up coming home SUPER SUPER SUPER late. Needless to say the Boys and us had dinner at 8 pm. Yeah...right at bedtime AND they needed baths. I was STILL having sporadic contractions of the same intensity I had for weeks and I would say they hurt but I felt like I was just being a Baby. I haven't slept well in weeks. Andrew did bathtime with the Boys (like he always does) and I got laundry put away and moved around. I was moving slow and pretty tired. We got Logan in bed and Andrew told him, "Goodnight, you may be a Big Brother soon!"

It was 9 pm now and we moved onto the nightly ritual with Aidan which finishes with one of us having to lay with him for "just a few minutes." Tonight he requested for "Mommy lay with you" so he did his potty break and I layed with him. We talked about Baby Daniel (which Aidan patted my Belly) and went through telling him he and Logan would have a sleep over with Grandma and Grandpa just like when Logan was born and they would come visit Mom and Dad at the hopsital to meet Baby Daniel and he would go back to their house and we all would meet back home to live together in a few days. He like normal asked to go sleep at Grandma's right away. Meanwhile, I had a pretty painful contraction and I decided that I needed to get out of his bed because I did not want to lay there with him wiggling anymore. I said, "Good night" and went downstairs with Andrew.

We cleaned up the kitchen and watched TV. The contractions were still all over the place but still hurt like they had been maybe a little more, I wasn't really sure and was looking for a "for sure" sign. We headed up to our room with the intent of folding laundry and maybe present wrapping if we felt up to it. I sat on my exercise ball and tried to help fold laundry. The contractions were still pretty darn sporadic. I tried to sit next to Andrew but it was super uncomfortable to sit on the bed and back on the ball I went.

Around 11:30p we decided to try and get some sleep but it seemed like another sleepless night for me. I couldn't get comfortable to lie down and paced a bit, tried to sleep while sitting on the ball and resting my head on the bed. Andrew was snoring in minutes. I tossed and turned and finally went downstairs to get my iPod to fidget with. I hopped on Facebook, played solitare and started playing with the contraction timer. I was having a hard time concentrating but thought it was sleep deprivation and some distraction with the pain. I watched the next two hours roll by.

1:45 am I woke Andrew up because I needed to squeeze his hand. It was hurting enough that just my hands resting on my legs increased the pain. Andrew let me squeeze his hand and then got out of bed and looked at me and said, " I think we need ot make some phone calls." I apologized for acting like a baby and complaining how it hurt. I called my Parents and did not have a contraction the entire phone call, I told them if they needed to take their time and wake up (It was 1:59a..as later noted by my Dad) just so long they were here in the hour. I hung up and had a contraction that I couldn't talk through ( a sign the doctors say you need to call at...) Andrew paged the Doctor and spoke to her and called his Parents to let them know what was going on. We changed clothes and Andrew took our bags downstairs, we got things as ready as we could and a loooooooong 15 minutes later my Parents pulled up(2:20a). I told Mom and Dad, "I WANT DRUGS..THIS HURTS!" Mom said, "I don't think it will be long after you get to the hospital that Daniel will be born." Andrew and I walked out the door and had to wait getting in the car because of another contraction.

We started the adventure. We hit a big intersection and the light turned green. A minute or so down that road I started squeezing Andrew's hand. Turns out my squeezing made him drive faster. Not much later I thought I was about to use the bathroom on my self. Hmm...next thing we know there are blue and white strobe lights flashing in our mirror. Andrew pulled over in a right hand turn lane. We sat there for what felt like forever and I started to panic that I was going to be "one of those ladies" you hear about on the news who has their baby in their car and the fear that the may Officer not believe us.

Then someone knocks on the back passenger side of the car and Andrew rolled down my window. Andrew and I both start babbling to the officer. Andrew was apologizing for speeding and explaining that I was in labor. I was rambling about my third Baby and he is coming really fast and tears were welling up in my eyes from the panic. The officers eyes grew large and he told us to go. (We were still 7.5 miles from the hospital. Later we found out the traffic stop was recorded at 2:36am) We pulled away from the officer and I grabbed my cell to update my parents.

Mom tried to calm me down because at this point she and I were realizing that the baby would be here soon. It was a long fast ride down a curvy road. I began making a horrible grunting noise and this was no help for poor Andrew. We turned onto the road the hopsital is on and Mom was saying to go to the ER. (You have to drive around the hospital in order to get to the birth center and she knew we wouldn't make it.) I hung up with Mom and told Andrew, "ER, GO TO THE ER!" Well, they were no help! We pulled into the ambulance bay and Andrew went to the first doors he saw in which he was stared at by everyone at the nursing statio and no one came to see. He ran to another entrance and the security guard told him to get back in his car and drive around the hospital. Andrew explained that the Baby was coming NOW! No help. A women with a badge in plain clothes came running to help. She opened the set of doors we were parked in front of. She ran inside and came out with a wheel chair. FINALLY a security guard came running over to us. I thought, "OH THANK GOD HELP!" As it turns out he was running over to YELL at Andrew to move his car. Andrew said he peeled a wheel out of the ambulance bay and went and parked. He came back to the security desk at the ER and asked, "where can I go to be with my wife?" The stellar guard was trying to get him to fill out paperwork for ER admittance. The lady who helped us yelled at the guard and told him, 'NO HE WILL NOT!" and told Andrew to run as fast as he could down the hallway to the birth center.

MEANWHILE, I am in the wheel chair entering the ER they are asking me my doctors name, how far a long I am and if my water has broken. I answer and finsh with, "No." and with impecable timing is the SPLASH of my water breaking like a balloon all over the ER floor right in front of all the patients in the beds. In the chaos I could see big eyes staring at me from all the beds. Two people were with me a girl pushing the chair and a man by her side and we started RUNNING. I was rigid in the chair, had one hand underneath me and was almost standing in the foot plates of the chair. I kept saying, "OH GOD" and " I am SO SORRY." We were running down a long corridor with windows to my right and I start informing them that the Baby was crowning (we sped up) and not long later telling them his head was out. I see a hand coming down in front of me to confirm and they start running even faster. We blew through the birth center triage and someone said, "HERE IS A BED!" Somone yelled, "NO!" and wheeled me straight into a delivery room. I was swarmed by people they pulled my pants to my knees and someone bare handed grabbed Daniel. In this instant the umbilical cord snapped and they are yelling for clamps and there is a gory blood bath from the cord. The took Daniel who was definitely not pink by any means and within seconds he was screaming. My body was shaking uncontrollably they helped me to the bed and the OB walks in. A few seconds later Andrew comes running into the room. I had not even realized that he was not with me the whole way. As it turns out we had only the camera on Andrew's cell. The OB instructed drop jaw Andrew to take a picture and if he did not have his phone she would take one and send it to us. We stayed in the recovery room with wonderful nurses and the OB while I continued to shake and ask a thousand questions. They said the shakes were from adrenaline. The shakes eventually subsided and about and hour later I realized I could unclench my fists and relax my legs. The nurses decided that Daniel's time of birth was 2:50am.

So, yes, that is the long drawn out story. Very sitcom/movie like in every way. Our pretty little plan went out the window (like normal) and I was most definitely flying by the seat of my pants...

Welcome to the World Daniel!

The eventful birth story will be posted lately. In the mean time here are the few pics we have grabbed with our camera. Other than two cell phone shots there are no "early" first born photos of Daniel.

Daniel Henry

12/15

2:50 am

7 lbs

20 in

(cell photos below)

Around 4am ish in the post-partum room.

37 weeks

Full Term!!

And Here is our Precious Boy!!

Yesterday, we headed to the OB's office for an ultrasound to check his growth. My weight gain and belly size have been on check however, since Logan was such a little bitty they wanted to get a measurement of Baby D and a check on my fluid level.

Everything looks FANTASTIC! I have to say I am LOVING those cheeks they just make my heart melt. Andrew and I were thrilled with the appointment. He is measuring spot on for Dec. 28. He was weighing in just over 6 pounds. Now, they say give or take a pound to their estimate. However, with Logan they were all spot on the weight and size. We'll see. I am pretty uncomfortable which is expected at this time. It is hard to sleep, hard to keep or stay comfortable, reflux is just fantastic! He puts pressure on parts of my pelvis where I have pains over the front of my legs, my sacro-iliac joints are agitated and hurt most of the time. I have been told the fix is getting him out. We're ready to meet him and get our new life as a Family of 5 started.

Baby D enjoys listening to the Boys going wild. In the ultrasound we saw a hand in his face which in the following pictures is the talon-esque thing in his face and he also (like Aidan) enjoys having his foot in his face too. (No wonder it hurts in my pelvis...the entire Baby is curled up in there!) Both Aidan and Logan enjoyed being folded almost in half too. Blah! We are anxious for the next few weeks. I have had some days of feeling fantastic and days of feeling absolutely horrible. I have the regular Braxton Hicks and then I have days where it feels like early labor just very irregular and inconsistent. Who knows??! I keep getting my hopes up that we meet him sooner than later! It's to the point where the end seems so far away and surreal.

We plan on keeping every posted as much as possible even on here! In the meantime we want to stay busy so time doesn't drag on too much until his arrival.

Mario Kart Wii

Yup....the title says it all. Everything in our house is a race car and a race track. All sounds made are consistent with the sounds on Mario Kart Wii. Aidan just started asking for Andrew to play it again. It's the million dollar questions every night the moment Andrew walks in from work. "Daddy, will you play Mario Kart with me? Daddy, will you play Mario Kart with me? Daddy, Daddy, will you PLAY Mario Kat with ME?!" Here is Logan's food choice of the day.

The Crib Goes Up!

Aidan has been asking about Baby D's Big Bed. The Boys really want to get into the bassinet of the pack n play however, both of them out weight the recommended maximum weight. Aidan has proven though it is sturdy enough to handle his weight, but we don't condone him climbing in there. We have told him he could get in the big bed. It's been 2 weeks since Aidan switched to a new room. He sleeps in there better than the old room (which we've called the "nursery" so it has no ownership). Our biggest fears were a horrible time switching and being possessive over his old room. So far no signs of that, we'll see when Baby D get's here how the Boys respond. Anyways, Aidan helped Andrew put together the crib and was super excited. Logan preferred staying aways from the construction 98% of the time and hanging out in our room on our bed. Here's a little collage of the few pictures we got. Aidan was hard to get once the photo would snap he was up and moving elsewhere so they're a little blurry.

Logey and his TV Shows

Logan loves a TV show on Nick Jr called, "Ni Hao Kai-lan" and he will sometimes sing the ending of the theme song. For ONCE I got it on record. I always tell Andrew about it but he never follows through when Andrew is around. So I caught it on tape! OK, well, he watches TV in constant motion...as you can see at the end of the video. The TV is merely white noise in our house with a few "songs" thrown in that they zone out on.

The Momma Perch

36 weeks

Technically, 36 wks 1 day...but hey..give us a break...at least we got a picture! Like the outfit?! Comfy clothes are hard to come by and aren't the most fashionable.

Worn out

This is what it looks like when Mom makes you run errands all morning and Brother is at school. I thought he perked up enough and sat him on the couch took his coat off and hoped he would wake up enough to eat some lunch then try and take a little later nap. Nope... As you can see he finished napping here until he rolled off the couch. Don't worry I had a crash zone set and of course went to help Aidan and that was the time he decided to roll. He landed perfectly on it the pillow and blankets and was not mad or hurt. Just decided it was time to get up and not nap anymore!

So Much to Be Thankful For!

We have so incredibly much to be thankful for. This Thanksgiving was special since it was Aidan's Birthday also. We have two great Boys and one more precious on the way. We have our home, our family, Andrew has a steady job, we have our health and so much more. We attempted to get both sides of the Family together for Thanksgiving. It worked for the most part. Aidan woke up so incredibly excited for the day's events. We started out the morning with our Family time of present opening and a special breakfast. Then started the finishing chores before the party. Aidan however got a little grouchy. Luckily a nap cured that up. Here are the videos of him going downstairs first thing and present opening.

The collage below is pictures from Mr. Rogers. The Boys had a blast playing with their cousins. Since this was only a Family party there weren't as many kids as typical. The kids had a blast in the backyard, thankfully the drizzle stopped and they got to expend energy. I love Anslely's golf stance in the pictures.

Of course lighting the candles and singing can't be missed! This collage is a mixture of Andrew's pictures and Mr. Rogers'. I LOVE the blowing out the candles picture. Aidan and Tabitha have the same face to blow out the candles.

Here we have the present opening! Aidan was a little overwhelmed and let his cousins do most of the work. I think he was partied out by the end.

Today, we went to the pediatrician for Aidan's 3 year check up. He was a very good Boy. He willing did all the tests and did very well with the new ones. This was the first time he got his blood pressure checked and eyes checked. He passed with flying colors and a short attention span. :-)

He weighed in at 34.75 lbs (75%) and is 39.75 in tall (92%).

He answered the Doctor's questions and did not lose it until he looked in his mouth. Something that is a pain for us at teeth brushing times. He then continued to be upset when they check his belly and legs out. I don't blame him though. He had enough by then. The Doctor was impressed he said the last three year old he saw (the nurse said it too) started screaming from the weight check.

Aidan is adapting very well to his new Big Boy Room and has even told us Daniel could sleep in the laundry room or maybe Andrew and I's room. We're currently working on calling his old bedroom the nursery and are hoping to put the crib up on Saturday. Aidan is very interested in seeing Daniel's Big Baby bed. We just don't want him to feel like his old room is taken over. However, I think that is not on his mind. He is over the moon with his new room and made the change to it much more gracefully than we could have even dreamed of. He is sleeping better in the new room than he has in his old room for a looooong time.

We're very curious to see the Boys response when Daniel makes his arrival. The other night on one of Aidan's many potty breaks before he falls asleep he walked by me reached to pat my belly and said, "Hey there Baby Daniel!" Logan is currently clueless to the idea of a Baby. Logan though goes with the flow pretty well. A little too well at times, he likes early to bed but some...well OK most nights we run late and he is just fine with that too. He finally is slowing down enough at night to enjoy having a book read to him and some nights two books! He is just usually way to busy to want to sit down for even a second. He's a run by hugger, in the midst of chasing Aidan or running to do something else he'll stop for 1.5 seconds and give you a squeeze or stop want you to pick him up to instantly put him back down.

This past year has been amazing and we can't wait for Daniel's arrival! Will do our best to keep everyone near and far posted! Some days it is quite the handful though!

The icing of "the Cake"

This year I vowed I would start right after breakfast working on the cake. That way I won't be up super late wanting to throw it out the window. I did not know exactly what I wanted to do. Aidan requested a PBS character "Super Why." I looked up how some people did them. Found one I liked but wanted to do it my own way. I was content enough with how it turned out. Had I knew exactly what I wanted to do other than the face I could have planned it better. As with all cake pictures my disclaimer is: I do this for giggles. I do not take classes, have not and probably will not ever. (When is there time?! and I have better ways to spend money!) I fly by the seat of my pants. Here is Logan helping make the icing. For not being a super sweet eater he sure was pleased that it was powdered sugar versus his normal tasting of flour. (He always has a measuring spoon ready to spoon out what I am measuring in a cup, spread it on the counter and then taste it.

Super Why's face with nothing else done to the cake other than a crumb seal/dirty ice.

The end result.

Aidan informed us tonight that he, "really wants a bite of my Super Why Birthday Cake."

35 week Belly

Yup...here it is in it's pasty wonder...

Cupcakes!

The Birthday baking began today. First started off with baking the cake layers for Thursday and tossed them in the freezer. Then onto making cupcakes this evening for Aidan to take to school as a snack with some healthy choices too. The picture below shows the cupcake that was made by Logan. Doesn't it look tasty?!

Luckily it baked well and was actually edible and just a little bit funny looking.

We did not need all 18 cupcakes for school so we saved 6 for ourselves. Aidan enjoyed his!

Logan our picky eater...did not really touch his. You see it on the fork? It never left it. The icing on his face Andrew smeared on there for his to "taste" some. Logan is more of a salty foods guy versus sweet....unless it's ice cream or chocolate.

Big Boy Room!!

Aidan is as excited as we are...well we're "relieved" to have the room complete enough to sleep in. Thursday night was bittersweet for me. Aidan asked me to lay with him (like normal) for a few minutes and I layed there thinking, "This is the last time I will lay with him in this room." Bright and early Friday morning we started dismantling his bed and Andrew brought it into the new room. Aidan was super excited to see this and then walked into the nursery (what we are trying to call it right now so there is no ownership of it) and looked at the old bed frame and said, "OH NO MY BED??!!!!!!" We told him, "Remember, it's in your Big Boy Room!" He smiled and seemed as good as gold with that response. Two naps and two nights of sleep later in the Big Boy Room he seems more than fine with it. Friday night he got up to pee around 1am and headed right back to the new room did not even make a slight bend towards his old one. He talks about it all the time. Aidan helped place all the decals on the wall and sometimes he received a little direction, but mostly he picked the engines out and told me/helped me where to put them. I am not completely done with this room, there are a few more pictures I want to hang, a shelf or two I want to get. I still have to clear coat his bookshelf we bought for him and I think I might paint his lamp base. Now the "to do" list is rearranging stuff and reorganzing the MOUNTAINS of clothing we have. Right now they are filling the nursery. I am going through stuff that will fit Daniel right now and soon will be putting it in Aidan's new dresser. There are bins and clothes everywhere!! We have a busy busy week coming up here!! At least we have one GIANT to do off the list. :-)

34 weeks

Here's the Daniel Belly...34 weeks...well I guess a day later since they were taken after the looong night of working on the Big Boy Room.

BIg Boy Room in the works FINALLY!

Here is the progression from last Friday through 6 am this morning. Yes, 6 am. There are NOT enough hours in the day. Andrew is (Thankfully) super busy at work and is gone long hours. The Boys are wild ones and some nights it takes FOREVER for Aidan to calm down. So, our working on the Big Boy Room time has been limited especially to us getting the downstairs rennovation done so we could have a place to put all the things in the room. Anwyays, the pictures are in chronological order. I got the chair and baseboards taped yesterday afternoon while Logan "helped" me so it took A LOT longer than it could have. We then still had to measure the stripes which we did once the Boys got to bed. Then once they were taped it was 11:40 pm but we're so close why stop now??! SOOOO....by 1am we're done and climbing into bed. Crazy Preggo Carrie says, why not get the second coat of blue done early in the AM while the kids are still asleep. This way we can paint the chair tonight (which blogging is keeping me from doing...well that and the fact Aidan is doing his nightly 55 pee's a night ritual. I think his bladder is the size of a peanut...but hey...he sleeps in his undies in dry sheets consistently pretty well since he's been potty training since June. I've heard people that at a year after potty training started their kids are still in a pull up type deal. Aidan HATES pull ups. Only underpants..on a rare occasion does he request a pull up and 98% of the time it is dry in the morning...I am sure with my saying this we will change wet sheets at some odd hour tonight. OK, enough with the tangent..) So the painting the chair will commence shortly and luckily will be "fast" compared to all the other painting that is done. Aidan it pretty super excited. We'll see how he feels when he's ready to go to sleep in there this weekend. He's pretty excited about it and him and Logan spend a good hour or so a day running around in the room. He seems to understand and is excited about sleeping in there. He actually answers us when we ask him if he wants to sleep in there instead of his " yeeeeaaah" that he gives you when he doesn't understand the question you are asking. SO CLOSE!!

This morning...

Logan was "done" eating and went to go play. Do you think he was still tired??!

Veteran's Day, Birthday and "I DO IT!!"

Today is Veteran's Day. We are so Thankful and extremely grateful for those who are willing to give the ultimate sacrifice for our Country. There are quite a few Veteran's in the family. We hope they know our great appreciation for the work they have done for us. Thank you!

Today my one of my Grandpa's is 80 today! Happy Birthday Grandpa!! We hope it is a good one!!

Logan has a new fascination with hand washing. I was talking to my Mom today and that was the time Aidan needed to use the restroom and needed some help. I went in to help and Logan makes the mad dash in our tiny tiny powder room to climb the step stool and wait to wash hands. Or so I thought...he did NOT want to wait. So three of us crammed in a tiny space, Aidan singing, I am on the phone and Logan is shouting a new phrase, 'I DO IT!" I don't know how many times he repeated it and each time was MUCH louder of a demand than the last. My Mom left me to be take care of the crazy and reminded me, "Don't forget to wash Logan's hands!" He was really hilarious...a tad overwhelming but pretty darn funny.

Tonight when Andrew got home I got Logan to do it again, not the caliber he was this afternoon but, enough for Andrew to get to see it. I thought...WAIT...let's get the camera...well, the excitement pretty much diminished by that point and when I sat down to ask him what he wanted to do he turned looked at me and jumped off the step stool for me to catch him. Again, our bathroom is super small but it's still not very safe to jump off a step stool.

Tonight was also a "Breakfast for Dinner" night. The Boys LOVE bacon. Here is Logan showing us how much he likes it. He does usually EVENTUALLY eat his food but prefers this method. This is also the method he uses when he pretends to eat after cooking at the kitchen set.

Hmmmm...

More Progress!! YAAY!!

The collage above shows the steps Andrew and I took yesterday to take this project on the home stretch. We sent the Boys to my Parent's for the day and worked kid free. We top two rows show the evolution of the toy room and the bottom row is the office. The pictures below are the end result minus all of the furniture and pictures etc. But, to where the rooms are completely functional. We still want to put french doors on the office however, that requires framing down the opening so we can hang doors. That will be sometime but not right now. Right now, the rooms are functional. When we fram down the doorway, that will require more building, drywall , moulding and painting all over again. We are not 100% satisfied with our work but at that time will fix the bothersome items. The toy room (dining room) to kid-less people needs the light relocated but, that will be done eventually too and should be a "quick" weekend project. For now it turns on and off and is swagged so no adults knock themselves out on it. :-)