Colton Price

Our little man entered the world after 4 short hours of labor on Thursday, August 26th at 11:49am. He weighed 8lbs 7oz and was 20 1/2 inches long. As my last post indicated, I was induced Wednesday night and expected to have him sometime in the late afternoon, early evening....similar to Caitlin. Well, there is something to be said about the second time around and the body's ability to remember how things go! Around 5am I was having contractions that were 3-4 minutes apart. They were intense, but I could definitely talk through them. That pattern didn't last long and pretty soon my contractions died down to practically nothing. Around 8:30-9am they hooked me up to Pitocin and I began walking the halls around 10am. I was 2cm around 10:30ish so my doctor broke my water to speed things up. Before this, my contractions were totally no problem, but once my water broke, I entered a whole new world! My plan was to get up and walk again, but my contractions became much stronger and closer together than I had anticipated.....so I decided staying in bed was my best option. Around 11:15am I was 3-4cm and requested my epidural because my contractions were becoming REALLY painful REALLY quickly so I didn't want to miss my window of opportunity. Well, turns out my body had other plans! Laying on my back was no longer a comfortable, so I changed positions and then my contractions and pain exploded into something I had never felt with Caitlin and was not prepared for. Then I had a contraction that didn't go away and soon discovered I was a screamer. That was something I desperately wanted to control, but my body (or vocal chords rather) would not let me. Things were changing and it was all very weird....which is what I kept repeated because it was such a weird/strange feeling. After laying back down the nurse checked me and then got the doctor. The doctor checked me and said it was time to push. Quietly, "Oh, sh**" was my reaction because I realized I was going to have to do this WITHOUT an epidural!!! A bit of panic set in wondering if I could actually deliver naturally. That was quickly wiped away by reality! They moved me into position while my doctor QUICKLY dressed and the nurses stood ready to catch Colton if I delivered him before the doctor was ready. And TWO pushes later, he was out! Yes, in just 35 short minutes, I went from 3-4cm to delivery!.....without any meds!

As crazy quick as my labor and delivery was, my recovery has been even quicker and much less painful than with Caitlin. We got home around noon on Friday and it was been so nice. My wonderful sister had been staying with us and helping out in so many ways! Thank you Brenda!!!!!! After an awesome night of sleep for everyone, we enjoyed spending time together today as a perfect family. Caitlin has taken to Colton quite well and is all too willing to give him kisses. She definitely wants to help out and be with us in any way possible.

I'm so thankful to have such a wonderful family. It's so fulfilling and I feel so complete as a person. Thank you to everyone who has called, stopped by, or sent well wishes. We really appreciate your kindness and generosity.

First ride home.

So handsome!

Big sister and little brother.

It's Time!!!!

The induction is TONIGHT!!!!! I have to be there at 7pm! Wish us luck!

Not my day.

Seriously, I coulda swore it was Monday! All the following occurred before 11am:

1. Caitlin woke up an hour early and didn't go back to sleep.
2. The itching in my hands and feet came back this morning with vengeance!
3. I shattered a glass on the kitchen floor.
4. After sweeping up the shards, I realized I desperately needed to wash the rugs....so I did.
5. Then realized that the whole kitchen needed to be swept.
6. THEN was horrified at what was left on the floor and decided to mop.
7. Ate a bagel w/ cream cheese to ward off a sugar low.
8. Discovered that the caffeine free orange soda I've been drinking contains CAFFEINE!! Poor Tater!
9. Dropped an unopened can of soda on the floor that EXPLODED EVERYWHERE on my newly mopped floor!
10.. Cleaned up soda spray in practically every square inch of my kitchen!
11. Suffered a sugar low...apparently I ate the bagel a bit too late....drat!

After all of this and a phone call to a friend, I decided that Caitlin and I needed to get out of the house ASAP! So we headed down to Ferndale to hang out with some friends. And I'm so glad we did! I desperately needed to get out of the house after my morning and it was really nice to socialize with some great girlfriends. Unfortunately, Caitlin's nap suffered and she only slept for 20 minutes on the way home and was WIDE awake by the time I shut her bedroom door. Thus, she was a bit sensitive this evening and FINALLY went to sleep around 9:15! I'm hoping she'll sleep through the night and not get up at a crazy hour again!

Thank goodness there are only 118 minutes left until tomorrow!

3 Days to Go!

37 Weeks with Caitlin

37 Weeks with Tater

Only 3 more days until my induction!!!!! Having a scheduled induction is very odd. My anxiety level is way up there compared to not knowing when and where I'll go into labor. It's all very exciting. And this being my second labor, I keep wondering what it's going to be like. Last time I psyched myself out thinking it was going to be very long and painful.....but it was the complete opposite. I'm trying to do the same this time, but I keep on thinking about my first labor and hope it goes very similar.....which means that it'll probably be the exact opposite of what I hope! LOL! I had my last NST today and it was nothing new. The baby is doing great and I'm having contractions.....not enough to put me into full blown labor or for them to keep me since I'm not dilating or anything. My last doctor appointment is on Wednesday and then Thursday after dinner, we head to the hospital!!!!

Caitlin seems to be handling this all very well so far.....actually, I don't really think she has a clue on what's going on. I'm hoping she'll be helpful and mothering like I've see her at daycare and with all her stuffed animals....we'll see! And as you can tell from the picture above, she's very much into the potty right now. This is the second roll of toilet paper she has destroyed. The first one barely counts since there was only about 5 squares left on it. Thankfully, she wants to sit on the potty as much as possible and 30% of the time (or more) she actually goes pee! Very exciting! But we're taking it really slow and won't really step things up until we all get settled in with the baby.

Oh, and it was HOT today! Okay, maybe not for everyone, but tonight around 6pm it was 72 degrees.....that's a scorcher for us! So Dennis got out the water balloons and let Caitlin play in the sprinkler. I can't wait until next summer so we can take her to a water park with her cousins!

No more stitches!

This afternoon Caitlin got her stitches out! She didn't really like the process, but was happy to be in daddy's arms during it. As soon as it was over, all crying ceased immediately. Now she'll have a scar to show off to all her friends! The doctor said it will stay on the red side for a few years before it turns white. We can use vitamin E, aloe, or Mederma to help reduce the scarring. Her hair covers most of it, so I really don't see it as an issue anyway.

OOooooo, and a BIG congratulations to my friend Nancy who just got a new 4th/5th grade teaching job!!!!!!! She found out last night and school starts on MONDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She only has 4 days to plan before the first day! But because she's so awesome, I know she'll rock it! Go Nancy!!!

Daredevil

Even the day after her stitches, Caitlin was back to her usual antics while I was trying not to have a heart attack! She just doesn't have any fear! On Sunday we went to a birthday party at a park and she was right there with the older girls climbing the structure and going down the slide like it was no big deal. Meanwhile, I'm trying to keep my cool and not bite all my fingernails off! Thankfully, daddy handles these situations beautifully!


Tonight Dennis held his fantasy football draft. Nine adults and two kids under two! And I believe Caitlin was willing to party all night long if they all had stayed. It always cracks me up when she's a crazy social butterfly! I'm sure she's going to sleep well tonight!

The Stitches

Yes, she is posing for the camera! It seems with or without stitches, she is still a ham! We've been changing her band-aids four times a day and so far she isn't bothered with the whole process. In fact, she hasn't even really tried to take her band-aid off. She has a doctor appointment on Thursday afternoon to take the stitches out. I'm a bit nervous about it, but knowing Caitlin, she'll be just fine.

Today I had a doctor appointment and we set up the official induction date.....the evening of the 26th. There still is a chance I will be induced earlier if my nerves and itching get the better of me. Thursday I have another NST and ultrasound so we'll be able to see how big he's getting!

First ER Visit

At approximately 7:45pm, Caitlin made her first appearance in the ER after falling off the couch and hitting her head on the window sill. The gash went through her skin and muscle to her skull....so she had to get stitches instead of glue. Thankfully, by the time we got to the ER (10 minutes after the fall) she had stopped crying and the bleeding had also stopped. She was such a trooper! And ended up being patient of the day! She really only cried when they had to hold her down to stitch her up. They even commented on how strong she was! We are very thankful to the staff in the ER for being so sweet and caring. The only waiting we had to do was for the numbing gel to work all the way. We were back home just a few minutes past 9pm.


And this is how she was when we got home (and after a grape popsicle from the ER). She even helped daddy play Super Mario on the Wii!

As awful as it was to have to take her to the ER, the whole thing went pretty smoothly and she handled it all in stride! Brave little girl!

Cholestasis of Pregnancy

That is what I'm being treated for and what is causing my HORRIBLE itchiness!!!! Thankfully, I got the prescription yesterday afternoon that should stop me from being so itchy. I'm learning how to deal with it and not start the scratching process, but I really do hope the meds kick in REALLY soon! And because of this complication, it appears that Tater will be entering the world sometime within the next two weeks! My doctor said he will induce at 37 weeks but another doctor said 38. I have an appointment with my doc on Tuesday, so by that time we should know the approximate induction date. Therefore, we will be installing Tater's carseat this weekend and setting up the bassinet. He's going to be here so soon! I can't believe it!!!!!

Itchy

Here I sit at the computer around 6am on Tuesday morning. I've literally been out of bed since around 4am and pretty much awake since 2:30am. Here lies my problem:

Early yesterday morning and more specifically last night after dinner, my hands and feet have become horribly itchy! So much so that once I start itching them, I just can't stop! I could literally itch them until they bleed!....and still probably continue. I took benedryl hoping that it would all go away, but I was greatly disappointed. At least it let me sleep for a few hours anyway. So here I am wondering what in the world is causing this horrible itchiness and how do I get rid of it! I haven't tried any new products or foods in quite some time. My new insulin seems to cause an all over itching if I was allergic to that and this is quite localized in my hands an feet. I'm calling the doctor as soon as it becomes a reasonable hour in hopes they can help. In the meantime, I can't sleep so I'm doing what ever I can to keep myself occupied so I don't scratch....thus, I blog. But then, even typing makes my fingers itch even more! Such a bizzare and annoying thing! I will keep y'all informed of any new findings!

Fun Filled Weekend

Our weekend began on Thursday with the arrival of Jonathan, Kelly, Brady, and Maddie....followed later by Dennis's dad and wife, and Erik, Rebekka, Bella, and Jack. In all, we hosted a total of 8 adults and 5 children! Thankfully, our house is big enough that it really didn't seem like that many people. This was the first time in years that Dennis and his brothers were together. The cousins also had a great time playing together. It'll be even better when baby Tater can join in on the fun too!

Later Thursday night I began to have contractions again. I took my meds and still they continued. Finally, around 2:30am, Dennis and I headed to labor and delivery because they were about 3-4 minutes apart. Thank goodness his family was here! Kelly happily took Caitlin and they went back to sleep. Dennis and I however, did not get much sleep. In LAD they ended up giving me two more doses of my meds to stop the contractions and around 8am they were mellow enough to send me home. Also they were not doing anything to promote an early delivery (whew!). Exhausted, we headed home and I went to bed not feeling well. Upon awaking, I had a slight fever and my stomach was really bugging me. I ended up coming down with a stomach bug and was in bed all Friday and didn't do anything on Saturday. Luckily, by Sunday I was feeling "normal."

That was a great thing because I had a baby shower to go to, which was really awesome and had super yummy food and friends (no one ate the friends, just the food was yummy). Thanks Dyani for putting an awesome party together!

Then I came home to my wonderful family! An awesome and incredibly eventful weekend!

Tattoo, Avacado, and Insulin

Last Friday night, Dennis finally got his wave armband tattoo! He has been wanting it for quite sometime....at least 10 years I think. And they are right when they say once you start, it's hard to stop. Although, this is probably going to be the biggest tattoo on his body. I was kinda worried about what the final result would be, but I was EXTREMELY excited to see how it turned out. I really, really like it! It's so pretty! Not in a girlie way, but the colors are just awesome!




On Saturday, while I was at Target, Dennis discovered Caitlin quietly sitting in her carseat (it was in the livingroom). Knowing full well that Caitlin's usually up to something when she's quite, he peeked around and found her eating an avocado like an apple!!! When he approached her, she promptly gave him the pieces of skin and kept on munching away....and she ate the whole thing!!! The only thing Dennis said when I got home was, "Look at the pictures." Now I guess we'll be keeping the avocados out of reach for a while. Hehehe!

34 Weeks

Today I went for my NST and the baby is doing extremely well. He's super active which makes my stay very short. Unfortunately, I have been having sugar lows in the middle of the night so they were kinda concerned about them. Thus, I ended up at my doctor's office later this afternoon and an appointment with my nutritionist tomorrow. Sometime in the next day or two, I will be changing insulin.....this will now put me back up to 4 shots a day.....a total bummer. The new insulin will stay in my system for 24 hours and then I need to also inject short acting insulin before each meal. I'm really hoping this works.....at least I only have a few more weeks to go!