What happened to summer?

Fall is in the air! I LOVE it! I love the smell of the breeze, the cool mornings, and not having to turn on the air conditioner first thing in the morning! I especially love fall because I am not pregnant anymore! Woo Hoo!!! Here's the story of how our last little man came into our family:

I started having contractions July 22 after church. My due date was August 13th. I was excited! 3 days later I had my doctors appointment and was dilated to a one. The baby was still high and my cervix was thick. 2 days later we ended up at the hospital at noon after I had been contracting all morning. I was dilated to a two but my contractions were coming every 3-4 minutes. The nurse let Russ and I stay for an hour and walk to see if my labor would progress but it did not! We went home later that afternoon and my contractions finally stopped that evening around 7. That following weekend we had Anna's birthday and she got her wish, no baby! July 31st I had another doctors appointment and was dilated to a three. I had more contractions that day from 4-7ish and then again from 9:30-10:30 and then nothing! I was getting pretty annoyed! We ended up at the hospital again August 2nd, thinking I was surely in labor and that they would keep me, but by the time they got me settled and hooked up to the monitors, my contractions decreased enough that we went home once again! At that point I was just over 38 weeks. That evening I swore to Russ that I wouldn't step foot inside another hospital until my water broke or the baby was falling out of me! I decided that our little man would not be born until I was 40 weeks. The next evening my water broke after 5pm just as Russ walked through the front door after work!

I could have shouted "Halleluiah"!!!

So we were off to the hospital to STAY!

After we got all settled and poked and hooked up and papers signed, my nurse checked me. Still dilated at a three but my cervix was soft but I forget how much it was effaced. The baby was still high and his head was not tight against my cervix and I was gushing lots of fluid so they got me on pitocin to get me contracting regularly so the baby would drop. It was a slow process that took 4 hours just for his head to engage tight against the cervix. During those 4 hours I had a dose of pain medicine that was heavenly until I could get my epidural and then we got a bit of a scare as the baby's heart rate decreased with every contraction. My nurse and the resident kept a close eye on me and baby and they started flipping me from side to side to try and get his heart rate to stabilize. I really thought I would end up having a c-section but by 2am he finally stabilized after they had flipped me to my left side and so I stayed put, so grateful that everything was turning out okay! (most likely the baby's cord was being compressed during contractions, and at some point as I was moving positions, he moved just enough that the cord was fine and his vitals stayed up and looked great until he was born)

 We LOVED our nurse, Maggie and we loved the resident...but at the moment I cannot remember her name! They were the best we have ever had!!! They were funny and easy to talk to and just awesome!

After the baby stabilized, I dilated quickly and before 4am I was checked and they told me if I wanted, I could push, since I was feeling a great amount of pressure. I wasn't dilated to a 10 yet and after talking to the nurse we decided to let my body do as much of the work in moving the baby down before I started pushing. The longer a woman can hold off pushing and let her body do it for her, the less work she has to do in the end....if that makes any sense.

So, I actually fell asleep for a bit and my nurse came in right before 4am and told me, "Okay, I am off at 5 so let's have a baby!" They checked me and I was ready! Once they moved me onto my back and got my legs in the stirups I suddenly felt huge amounts of pressure and had the most overwhelming urge to push! They had me do one practice push, then got everything ready, and during the second push his head was crowning and after that I gave just some little tiny pushes and out he came! The delivery could not have been more perfect! I did not even tear! The second the baby came out he was crying and it was the cutest little tiny cry I have ever heard! My next thought as they put him on my tummy was how small he seemed! I really thought he would be our biggest baby but Carter and Kya were both bigger. He peed all over the nurse as she was cleaning him off which we all had a laugh over and we were just so happy to finally get to meet our little man after over 38 weeks of pregnancy and 10 hours of labor!

I have to say, for being our last baby, he sure teased us until he was born! But being our last baby, he has been the best newborn out of all of them! No constant crying night after night, no projectile spit up, no nursing issues....it has all been so much better this last and final time! I think there's no better way to end this chapter of bearing babies than to end on a sweet note with a sweet and very mild-tempered baby.

I had retained lots of water after I had Brennen. The day I went home, I actually retained more water in my legs and feet, but thankfully it went away!

The kids are loving him lots and even Kya has adjusted better than we expected her too. She has lots of naughty episodes but I think they are getting somwhat better as each week goes by.

Carter is the cutest of them all with Brennen. He is just in love with his baby brother!

 

But seriously, what is not to love about this cute little face?

 

I cannot get enough of him!

Guess who had a baby?

Brennen James Meredith, born August 4th, 2012, 4:07 am, 7lbs 2 oz, 20 1/2 inches
We are both doing great and I will post details soon!
We are lovin our little man so much already!

A bit of our Summer...

 In June, Anna and Carter had their first swimming lessons at the Community Rec. Center here in Pocatello. The kids LOVED it and I had a blast watching them learn. We plan on doing it again next summer for sure. I learned how to swim at a very young age and have great memories swimming with my siblings and cousins every summer at the city pool in Twin Falls, so I definitely want my kids to have the same experiences and memories growing up too. Plus, knowing how to swim well is such an important skill to have that could someday save their life or anothe'rs life.

And I just have to add that I LOVE the smell of chlorine....
Such a lovely smell! Hmmmm....

A long time ago, my cousin and I choreographed an underwater syncronized swimming routine that we performed in her hot tub! Yeah....gotta love swimming!

This is what happens when a certain 20 month old locks herself in the bedroom (and it has happened multiple times). Let's just say she likes trying on clothes and leave it at that.

Question for ya: Have you ever tried picking up a half dresser full of clothes off the floor with a watermelon in your belly?

I have been trying to get Kya to smile for the camera. She says, "Cheese!" everytime I pull out the camera but her face ALWAYS looks like that! Haha! It is so funny! Hopefully her smile-face improves before we have our next family pictures done after the baby boy is born!

Another "smile" attempt....

And yet another attempt....it's not looking too promising...

Speaking of that "watermelon" in my belly, there's the proof! In this picture, I am almost 36 weeks and feeling quite miserable. I have gained 31 pounds, which feels more like 50 when I have to go up and down the stairs in the house all throughout the day! I am retaining a bit of water, but it isn't too bad and I can still wear my wedding ring! I aviod going outside as much as possible now that it is so hot and have been trying to go walking later in the evening to help get this baby ready to be born in the next few weeks. I have felt sudden urges here and there to get things done and in order, and one night I was up until almost midnight cleaning the bathroom downstairs! haha! Russ came out of the bedroom asking me what in the world I was doing! He is used to my obsessive compulsive erratic behaviors by now, so he just looked at me like I was only half crazy and then let me finish!!!

The baby room is ready, I have had all the baby boy clothes washed, folded and organzied by size and neatly put away in the closet for a couple months now, plus we have all the bibs, burp cloths, and diapers, wipes, lotions, soap, and creams all ready too.A day ago I bought all the items I would need for my hospital bag and plan on getting that ready soon, so the only other things we need to do is get the cradle ready and get the carseat out of the garage!

I am stressing just a bit about all the other "things" I need to get done by the end of July. Anna and Carter have their birthday this month, but we are expecting the baby to come 2 weeks early, since all of them have come 2 weeks early, and that would mean the baby will be born right in the midst of their birthdays! (Carter's is the 24th and Anna's is the 29th) So, we are doing their birthday parties early, just to be on the safe side! I also have some projects I need/want to get finished before the baby comes so we will see how that goes! By the time I get the kids in bed, I am totally exhausted and all I want to do is shower and then climb in bed and not move again until morning!

That's just a bit about our summer. Maybe my next post will be pictures of a cutie bug baby we have been waiting to meet for awhile now!